World Languages

Framework for Quality Learning

Albemarle County Public Schools

DRAFT

July 2009

Framework for Quality Learning

World Languages

Table of Contents

Framework for Quality Learning Committee Members / 4
Introduction/Executive Summary / 5
Definition of Terms / 7
AlbemarleCountyPublic School Framework for Quality Learning / 9
Lifelong Learner Standards / 11
Philosophy for Language Learning / 13
Essential Strands of Language Development / 14
Concept Centered Instruction / 16
Habits of Mind / 17
Concept Spiraling: Communication / 18
Concept Spiraling: Communication – Level I / 19
Concept Spiraling: Communication – Level II / 28
Concept Spiraling: Communication – Level III / 37
Concept Spiraling: Communication – Level IV / 45
Concept Spiraling: Cultures / 53
Concept Spiraling: Cultures – Level I / 54
Concept Spiraling: Cultures – Level II / 59
Concept Spiraling: Cultures – Level III / 62
Concept Spiraling: Cultures – Level IV / 65
Concept Spiraling: Connections / 68
Concept Spiraling: Connections – Level I / 69
Concept Spiraling: Connections – Level II / 72
Concept Spiraling: Connections – Level III / 75
Concept Spiraling: Connections – Level IV / 78
Concept Spiraling: Comparisons / 81
Concept Spiraling: Comparisons – Level I / 82
Concept Spiraling: Comparisons – Level II / 87
Concept Spiraling: Comparisons – Level III / 92
Concept Spiraling: Comparisons – Level IV / 97
Concept Spiraling: Communities / 102
Concept Spiraling: Communities – Level I / 103
Concept Spiraling: Communities – Level II / 106
Concept Spiraling: Communities – Level III / 109
Concept Spiraling: Communities – Level IV / 112
Bibliography / 115

Original Design Team Members

Dominique Anderson, WesternAlbemarleHigh School

Kimberly Bowman, HenleyMiddle School

Adrian Lara, AlbemarleHigh School

Dr. R. David Larrick, AlbemarleHigh School

Sharon Lloyd, AlbemarleHigh School

Carlos Pezua, MurrayHigh School

Myriam Pitts, WesternAlbemarleHigh School

Wes Spence, WesternAlbemarleHigh School

Mary-Elizabeth J. Via, AlbemarleHigh School, Office of Instruction

Gail Wasulko, SutherlandMiddle School

All Albemarle County Public Schools World Languages teachers had opportunities for input and contributions to this document.

Introduction/Executive Summary

World Languages are an important part of Albemarle County Public Schools to provide challenging programs and enhance the preparation of students to compete in a rapidly expanding global society. Knowledge and skills that students acquire in a world languages class will reinforce and expand their learning in other subject areas, enable them to interact effectively with others, and give them increased access to information across the world.(Goal I: Prepare all students to succeed as members of a global community and in a global economy.) This standards-based, concept-centered curriculum seeks to guarantee that all students, regardless of proficiency, will be able to access the concepts that reside at the very core of world languages in order to relate to other cultures and comprehend a variety of discipline areas. (Goal II: Eliminate the Achievement Gap)

The emphasis on communication and interpretation ensures that students completing long-term, sequential world languages programs will be able to interact, within reasonable limits, with users of the language and understand their culture. The level of proficiency reached depends largely on the amount of contact with the target language. The ability to communicate comfortably with native speakers of the language about most topics is not obtained solely through classroom study. Students are encouraged to pursue opportunities beyond the normal classroom setting, including long-term contact with, or immersion in, the target language and culture(s). Students at any level should connect learning to each of the enduring understandings and concepts, and their depth of understanding should increase with language experiences. (Goal I)

The concepts and structures should be presented in a spiraling fashion that allows them to be reintroduced with increasing complexity at various stages of language development. As in Language Arts, Science, Math and Social Sciences, the World Languages curriculum spirals throughout the student’s school experience, acknowledging that much of the content must become automatic skill in order for the learner to access more sophisticated content. It addresses the facets of language instruction – Communication, Comparisons, Cultures, Connections and Communities - that must come together for a student to truly access and understand the richness of language.

The spiraling nature of the curriculum both embeds and extends the Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL)for World Languages. Teachers should access those standards and the Virginia SOL CurriculumFramework for the discrete skills and essential knowledge required for each level. However, the SOL areminimum requirements for proficiency; this curriculum articulates requirements beyond that minimum forlifelong learning (Goal II).

In addition to directly responding to the Albemarle County School Board goal of eliminating theachievement gap, this articulation also addresses Goal I: Prepare all students to succeed as members of aglobal community and global economy, and Goal IV: Achieve recognition as a world-class educationalsystem. Teachers will notice that this articulation requires students to achieve beyond the VirginiaStandards of Learning.

Although complete in its articulation, this document will continue to evolve as work across theDivision affects the world languages classroom. As such, the Division anticipates addingbenchmarks, assessment information, exemplar lessons and units designed through the Framework forQuality Learning, and instructional strategy resources on a regular basis.

This work reflects five years of research and conversation among world languages teachers throughout the division, professors at The University of Virginia andVirginia Tech,and other experts in the field.Many professional organizations and resources contributed to the thinking behind the conversation,including but not limited to the American Council on the Teaching of Languages (ACTFL), Foreign Language Association of Virginia (FLAVA), Virginia Foreign Languages Supervisors Association (VFSLA), Virginia Department of Education, and The College Board. Textual resources are referenced in the bibliography.

Definition of terms

Assessment for learning: assessments that happen while learning is still underway, used to provide feedback so they can improve

Assessment of learning: assessments that happen after learning is supposed to have occurred to determine if it did, used to make statements of student learning status (grades, tests, exams, etc.).

Communication: the imparting or interchange of thoughts, opinions, or information by speech, writing, or signs

Communities: a social, religious, occupational, or other group sharing common characteristics or interests and perceived or perceiving itself as distinct in some respect from the larger society within which it exists

Comparison: the considering of two things with regard to some characteristic that is common to both

Connections: association with or development of something observed, imagined, discussed, etc.; relationships

Cultural competence: the appropriateness of a response within a social context – knowing how, when and why to say what to whom (ACTFL)

Culturally authentic materials: materials that have been created for and by native speakers of the languages and that have been derived from the culture itself

Cultures: the quality in a person or society that arises from a concern for what is regarded as excellent in arts, letters, manners, scholarly pursuits, etc.

Language/linguistic proficiency: the ability of an individual to speak or perform in an acquired language

Language fluency: used informally to denote broadly a high level of language proficiency - to denote fluid language use, as opposed to slow, halting use. Fluency is necessary but not sufficient for language proficiency: fluent language users (particularly uneducated native speakers) may have narrow vocabularies, limited discourse strategies, and inaccurate word use, and may be illiterate. Native language speakers are often incorrectly referred to as fluent.

In the sense of proficiency, "fluency" encompasses a number of related but separable skills:

  • Reading: the ability to easily read and understand texts written in the language
  • Writing: the ability to formulate written texts in the language
  • Speaking: the ability to speak in the language and be understood by its speakers
  • Comprehension: the ability to follow and understand speech in the language

Level-appropriate (linguistic elements, skills, or instructional materials): content, process, skill, or material described should require students to function at the level consistent with their state of language development

Modern Foreign Languages: Include all spoken languages (Arabic, French, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Mandarin Chinese, Spanish, Japanese, etc.)

Realia: objects, as coins, tools, etc., used by a teacher to illustrate everyday living; things that are real

Spiraling: revisiting a previously taught concept or vocabulary theme, reviewing those concepts and expanding the knowledge base to the next level, typically associated with a higher level of Bloom's taxonomy

Target language:the language being studied (French, German, Japanese, Latin, Mandarin Chinese, Spanish, etc.)

World Languages versus Foreign Languages: Although many school divisions and language materials companies refer to the teaching of other languages as World Languages, the state and national organizations continue to refer to them as Foreign Languages. In this document, they are used interchangeably – with Foreign Languages being used when referencing state and national documents.

The Framework for Quality Learning

The Albemarle County Public Schools’ core purpose is to establish a community of learners and learning, through rigor, relevance, and relationships one student at a time.

The Framework for Quality Learning (FQL) guides and supports teachers’ development and implementation of a high-quality curriculum, assessments, and instructional activities that serve to fulfill the above mission. FQL places a premium on teacher professionalism: (1) deep knowledge of content, concept and skills, (2) lifelong learning and on-going scholarship and (3) the development of teacher-student relationships that invite students to work with teachers in pursuit of knowledge.

Curriculum design addresses the following questions:

  • What should all students know, understand, and be able to do?
  • What knowledge is truly essential and enduring?
  • What’s worth understanding (within the discipline and across subject areas)?
  • How can the curriculum we bring to our students engage them in meaningful questioning about the world?
  • What is the role of curriculum in eliminating achievement gaps?

Concept-Centered Teaching and Learning

The use of concepts to organize learning helps ensure that all students have access to a guaranteed and viable curriculum in the world language(s) being studied. Working with concepts – applying a conceptual lens to topics – allows teachers to ask probing questions and move beyond facts to identify and explain trends and developments, continuity and change, cause and effect. Concepts help teachers connect learning to student needs and interests, and provide opportunities to learn across disciplines. Questions drive learning and help teachers spiral the target language content with increasing complexity as questions become more sophisticated, open-ended, and higher level. Students learn to take ownership of their own learning when they (1) pose important questions (2) plan, monitor and evaluate their understanding of key ideas and content knowledge (3) compare multiple and diverse perspectives and (4) answer important questions.

Assessment

A balanced assessment system provides accurate and timely information about student achievement and learning. The assessment component of The Framework for Quality Learning is divided into five main parts:

  • assessment of learning and assessment for learning;
  • clear targets and use of Bloom’s Taxonomy of the Cognitive Domain;
  • assessment methods and development;
  • rubric analysis and feedback; and
  • student involvement in the assessment process.

Four key questions inform the construction of quality assessments.

  1. How can assessment support learning?
  2. How can assessment tasks and performances engage students in thinking and working beyond the SOL?
  3. What assessment strategies are best suited to certain content and skills?
  4. How can feedback improve future performance?

Students can expect a variety of assessment methods be used to elicit different types of student learning such as selected response items (ex. multiple choice test); constructed written response items (ex. short answer,essay); performance assessment (ex. problem-solving) and personal communication (ex. teacher-student joint assessment).

Lifelong-Learner Standards

The Division has identified 12 Lifelong-Learner Standards that set expectations for how students develop a wide variety of knowledge, understanding and skills. The Lifelong-Learner Standards serve as a guide for teachers as they develop units, lessons, and tasks. These standards articulate the necessary components of lifelong learning that allow all students to succeed as members of a global community and in a global economy. The Lifelong-Learner Standards are over-arching, process based standards, not discrete fact-based standards that can be addressed in a single lesson or even a single unit. These standards demand attention over time and across all disciplines.

Lifelong learning places emphasis on results (learning and doing), not focusing on efforts alone (teaching and receiving). To develop the skills and habits associated with lifelong-learning students must:

  • learn beyond the simple recall of facts;
  • understand the connections to and implications of what they learn;
  • retain what they learn; and,
  • be able to apply what they learn in new contexts.

Lifelong-Learner Standards of Albemarle County Public Schools

  1. Plan and conduct research.
  2. Gather, organize, and analyze data; evaluate processes and products; and draw conclusions.
  3. Think analytically, critically, and creatively to pursue new ideas, acquire new knowledge, and make decisions.
  4. Understand and apply principles of logic and reasoning; develop, evaluate, and defend arguments.
  5. Seek, recognize and understand systems, patterns, themes, and interactions.
  6. Apply and adapt a variety of appropriate strategies to solve new and increasingly complex problems.
  7. Acquire and use precise language to clearly communicate ideas, knowledge, and processes.
  8. Explore and express ideas and opinions using multiple media, the arts, and technology.
  9. Demonstrate ethical behavior and respect for diversity through daily actions and decision making.
  10. Participate fully in civic life, and act on democratic ideals within the context of community and global interdependence.
  11. Understand and follow a physically active lifestyle that promotes good health and wellness.
  12. Apply habits of mind and metacognitive strategies to plan, monitor, and evaluate one’s own work.

Teaching for lifelong-learning requires educators to provide consistent opportunities for students to work at all levels of Bloom’s taxonomy: knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation. Students move along this taxonomy of skills in a recursive manner, improving student engagement, content mastery, and higher-order thinking within each subject area and reinforcing skills across all subject areas.

When students have the opportunity to practice and apply Lifelong-Learner Standards over time and in multiple contexts, they develop skills and attitudes necessary to succeed as members of a global community and in a global economy.

Philosophy for World Languages

Achieving linguistic fluency and cultural understanding is a long-term endeavor, requiring experiences beyond the classroom setting. Within the scope of the level of study, students will be able to perform with reasonable success in each of the following areas:

Effective Communication

  • Students will learn to communicate with others in a language other than English.
  • Students will improve their understanding of and ability to communicate in the English language by comparing and contrasting another language with their own.

Enhanced Cultural Understanding

  • Students will develop an awareness of and an appreciation for another people’s unique way of life, the patterns of behavior that order their world, and the ideas and perspectives that guide their behaviors.
  • Students will learn about other cultures’ contributions to the world and how these contributions have shaped international perspectives.

Expanded Access to Information

  • Students will connect with other disciplines through foreign language study, enabling them to reinforce and expand their understanding of the interrelationships among content areas.
  • Students will access information in more than one language, giving them a greater range of resources and a richer base of knowledge.

Increase Global Perspective

  • Students will respond to and contribute to their communities and the world in a more informed and effective manner as a result of the global perspective gained in a foreign language class.
  • Students will gain additional prospects for further education and career opportunities as a result of foreign language study.

Essential Linguistic Skills & Enduring Understandings

Person-to-Person Communication (Not specific to Latin) – The communicative skills needed to exchange information in the target language with another person. When demonstrating skills in the person-to-person strand, students demonstrate their ability to initiate, sustain, and close a conversation or an interactive written communication, such as an e-mail exchange.

Listening and Reading for Understanding (Not specific to Latin) – The communicative skills necessary to comprehend speaking and writing in the target language. The student’s level of communicative competence is indicated by the degree of comprehension of spoken or written language, together with interpretation of other visual and auditory cues given by the speaker or writer. This strand differs from the person-to-person strand in that the skills involve understanding one-way communication with no opportunity for clarification through interaction.

Reading for Understanding (Latin only) – The focus of a Latin program is the ability of students to derive cultural as well as linguistic information from a Latin text. Students must be able to interpret a Latin text in order to understand the ancient world through the thoughts and information expressed by the author. Beginning students learn to comprehend basic Latin sentences and stories and are introduced as early as possible to authentic texts, such as graffiti from the Roman world or short philosophical statements of the ancient Romans.

Oral and Written Presentation (Not specific to Latin) – The communicative skills needed to present information in the target language orally or in writing to an audience. This set of skills calls for the student to be able to organize thoughts and deliver presentations to a variety of audiences. These skills involve both spontaneous and prepared presentations and, again, differ from the person-to-person strand in that students do not interact with the audience.