Facts & Myths about Achievement of Advanced Professional Level L2 Proficiency

(ILR 4)

a presentation for BILC, Prague, May 2012

Dr. Betty Lou LeaverAssociate Provost

Directorate of Continuing EducationDLIFLC, USA

Organizational Information

DLIFLC has four directorates, administered by the Provost:

•Directorate of Undergraduate Education•Directorate of Continuing Education•Directorate of Language Science & Technology•Directorate of Evaluation & Standards

Note: Provost reports to assistant commandant & commandant, who oversee military structure.

Organizational Information, cont’d

The Directorate of Continuing Education has five schools, 37 sites:•Distance Learning (sustainment & enhancement)•Field Support (non-linguists)•Extension Programs (lifelong learning for linguists)•Resident Education (enhancement)•Educational Support Services

– DAC (Diagnostic Assessment Center/DA specialist trainers)– ASC (Academic Support Center)– Command Language Program (360+)

Sources of Informationon Students Achieving ILR 4

This presentation is based on: 1.Experience with and feedback from upper level at

– Foreign Service Institute (US Department of State)– NASA– Defense Language Institute– University of Jordan (UJ)

2.Formal research funded by– National Foreign Language Center– Conference on College Composition and Communication

(National Council of Teachers of English)

Defining Advanced Professional Level (ILR 4)

• Usually equivalent to WEHANS; would not be mistaken for cultural native [ILR 3 over-self-assess; ILR 4 self-aware]

• Wide-ranging control of structure; nonnative slip may occur• Language rarely hinders in any task; can set interpersonal

official, semi-official and non-professional tone [tailoring]• Endurance & sophisticated verbal strategies: lectures,

conferences, debates• Native social & circumstantial knowledge; not under all

conditions• Shifts of subject matter & tone• Understands standard and major dialects [& street talk]

About the Students

Quiz: Which of the following characteristics have been associated with near-native L2 proficiency?

• Desire to integrate into the culture

• Motivated by compliments

• Tenacity• High grades• Quick learner• Good ear• Desire to do a good job

• Multilingual neighborhood in youth

• Multilingual home• Time abroad• Young age at onset• Global learning style• Female• Marriage to a native

speaker

Answers to Quiz in Bold

• Desire to integrate into the culture

• Motivated by compliments

• Tenacity• High grades• Quick learner• Good ear• Desire to do a good job

• Multilingual neighborhood in youth

• Multilingual home• Time abroad• Young age at onset• Global learning style• Female• Marriage to a native

speaker

Student Stories

• Student A (ectenic learner)– Spanish– US government classes: FAO– Duty in Colombia– Community work– Voracious reader– Motivation: Instrumental (lawyer)

• Student B (ectenic learner)– French– University classes– Study for degree in France– Voracious reader– Motivation: Vicarious (married to a French person)

More Student Stories

• Student C (synoptic learner)– Russian– University classes– No experience abroad (two weeks after Level 4)– Community work– Job use (broadcaster)– Motivation: Intrinsic

• Student D (synoptic learner)– German– University classes– Job abroad (publishing/editing English)– Motivation: Vicarious (married a German), intrinsic

Even More Student Stories

• Student E (synoptic learner)– Russian – After school tutor: Literature– University classes: C average– US government classes– Job use – Degree work in country– Voracious reader & writer– Discouraged by teachers– Motivation: tenacity– Demotivator: linguistic &

pronunciation error

• Student F (synoptic learner)– French– Childhood community L2– High school: creative writing – University classes – A/A+– Job use– No time ever spent abroad– Voracious reader & writer– Encouraged by teachers– Motivation: intrinsic– Demotivator: criticism for

regional accent

About the Upper Level DLI Programs

Success/Achievement

• Courses at DLI:• Nine languages, 1-10 students per group• Refresher, intermediate, advanced, DTRA, extension

• Course completion at graduation standard:• 95% enrolling with prerequisites (ability not considered)• 85% of all students• 54% exceed graduation standards

• Negligible attrition (only those pulled by DTRA)

Results

Syllabi

• Highly individualized/diagnostically oriented• Content-based• Language & culture focus• Task-based authenticity, research, & realism• Exclusively authentic; limited/no textbooks• Formal and informal immersion

Course Content

• Subject matter core (language through content)• Political, social, and historical events• Immersion programs

– University classes (integrated or duplicated)– Recyling vocab & grammar through all skills– Related excursions & exercises (e.g., surveys)

• Integrated skills • Focus on process and product

– Projects & portfolios– Presentations

Language & Culture Focus

• “Grammar in the wild”• Grammar manipulation through genre shift• Language exercises

– Packaging & re-packaging– Simplification of thought– Embellishment of language

• Sociolinguistics & pragmatics [tailoring]• Reading between the lines & beyond the text

Task-Based Realism

• Briefings to visitors• Teaching lower levels• Analyses & project reports• Student surveys (immersion programs)• True real-life tasks

– DTRA translations– Assistance to ROK

Lower Level Taskvs. Upper Level Task

• Weather report– Lower: Decide what to wear/pack– Upper: Parody the speaker; produce a local report

• Biographical interviews– Lower: Pairs interview each other & report out– Upper: Students analyze professional interview, then

interview each other & report out, using culturally appropriate text structure

• Grammar exercise: relative clauses– Lower: identify the clauses & give alternative– Upper: rewrite in a different genre

Lower Levels vs. Upper Levels

• Focus on form(s) vs. focus on text• Using context vs. refined knowledge• Intensive reading vs. extensive reading• Teacher direction vs. self-direction• Rote memory vs. associative memory• Immersions in class & in country• Requests for repetition vs. elicitation• Defossilization (upper): structure & lexicon (automatic &

correct); strategies; autonomy; pragmatics & sociolinguistics; level

Some References for Level 4(Few Publications to Date)

• CDLC: – Journal for Distinguished Language Proficiency (6 volumes)– Teaching and Learning to Near-Native Levels of Second-Language

Proficiency (6 volumes of conference proceedings, 2003-2008)– What Works: Helping Students Reach Native-Like Second-Language

Competence (MSI Press, 2006)• Leaver:

– Achieving Native-Like Second Language Proficiency (MSI Press, 2003)– Individualized Study Plans for Very Advanced L2 Learners (MSI Press,

2003)• Leaver, Ehrman, & Shekhtman. Achieving Success in Second Language

Acquisition (Cambridge University Press, 2005, chapter 10)• Leaver & Shekhtman, eds. Developing Professional Level Foreign

Language Proficiency (Cambridge University Press, 2003)• Shekhtman. Working with Advanced Students (MSI Press, 2003)

Some More References(For Lower Levels: 2+ and 3)

• Byrnes. Advanced Language Learning: The Contribution of Halliday and Vygotsky (Continuum, 2008)

• Byrnes, Heather, & Sprang, eds. Educating for Advanced Foreign Language Capacities: Constructs, Curriculum, Instruction, Assessment (Georgetown University Press, 2006)

• Byrnes, Maxim, & Magnan. Advanced Foreign Language Learning, 2003 AAUSC Volume, Issues in Language Program Direction (Heinle, 2003)

• Ortega & Byrnes. The Longitudinal Study of Advanced L2 Capacities (Routledge, 2008)

• Watch for Brown & Bown, forthcoming, possibly Georgetown University Press, possible title: To 3 and Beyond

Centers for Higher Level Proficiency Studies

• Center for the Advancement of Distinguished Language Proficiency, San Diego State University (ILR 4)

• Center for Advanced Language Proficiency, Penn State University (ILR 2-3)

Note: These are foreign language centers and generally do not address English.

Questions?