P R O F I C I E N C Y A N D P E R F O R M A N C E A S S E S S M E N T S

RAISE THE DISCOURSE LEVEL OF YOUR STUDENTS

PROFICIENCY VS PERFORMANCE

•What is the difference?

•Why do we or should we care?

•Do we need to differentiate when

assessing our students?

•Do we need to have both types of

assessments?

PROFICIENCY

• Proficiency: being able to function/communicate/understand in another language or culture. Things that one can make/do on behalf of oneself in another language.

• Why is proficiency important?: it is the only reason to study a language it enables cross cultural understanding and communication.

• How do you get proficient?: give them skills to communicate what they want to communicate and put them in situations to use it

• How do you know you’re proficient?: Being able to function in a language community by understanding and being understood in a variety of contexts and situations without thinking about it. When you are no longer restricted by your language ability.

PERFORMANCE

• Performance: not rehearsed but guided and connected to the curriculum. What you can do with the language in the context of what you know or what you’ve learned in the classroom. Students can display through reading, writing, speaking, listening that they can use the target language as a communication tool. Demonstrated ability in the language.

• Purpose of assessment: to see if kids have understood and if we can move on. For students to see/acknowledge what they’ve learned/what they know. Empowers learners shows them what they know/can do and motivates them to do more.

SAMPLE PROFICIENCY ASSESSMENTS

• Students have an un-rehearsed conversation with one another in the target language with no prompt, theme, or guidelines (speaking)• Students respond to a real email from an

exchange student in the target language and then respond (writing)• Students listen to a new, random song on the

radio and interpret meaning (listening)• Students read a children’s book in the target

language (reading)*none of these assessments are guided or necessarily connected to the curriculum

SAMPLE PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENTS

• Have a conversation in the target language with a partner based on a given situation (speaking)• Read a short text about a bakery in Vienna after

studying food and cooking vocabulary in German (reading)• Write a letter to a pen pal in the target language in

which you tell of a specific experience you had based on vocabulary studied in class (writing)• Listen to a news report in the target language

about the refugee situation in Europe after studying immigration laws/policy and vocabulary (listening)

*all of these assessments are based on material taught

YOUR TURN!

• With a partner (preferably same language group), come up with 2 performance and 2 proficiency assessments (speaking, reading, writing or listening) for two different levels• Beginner• Intermediate• Advanced

WHY SPEAKING?

• Tends to be lots of focus on writing• Speaking is what students want to be able to do• Speaking helps them with their writing• Speaking helps them feel more confident• Speaking is the most useful tool for travel• Success in speaking motivates them in other

areas

• Tangible results when they participate in

exchanges

SPONTAN SPRECHEN: SPONTANEOUS DISCOURSE

• What is “Spontan Sprechen”?

• Why is “Spontan” so great?

• In what levels can you use “Spontan”?

• How do students react to/deal with “Spontan”?

• How does “Spontan” affect other language skills?

• How often should you do “Spontan”?

SPONTAN SPRECHEN: LEVEL 1

• Exercise 1: You are a new student in the German school in Radolfzell. You arrive early to your first German class so that you can meet your teacher. You want to introduce yourself and ask her a few questions. Both students must ask and answer questions, use various forms of the verb sein, various singular and plural nouns and at least one compound noun. One partner is the American exchange student (der Austauschschüler/die Austauschschülerin), and one is the German teacher (der Deutschlehrer/die Deutschlehrerin). (Performance)

• Exercise 2: The German Exchange students are coming to our class on Friday. Each German 1 student must have a 1.5 minutes conversation with a German Exchange student. Be sure to ask and answer as many questions as possible and maintain conversation as long as you can. (Proficiency)

SPONTAN SPRECHEN: LEVEL 2

• Exercise 1: Your mother just announced that she got a new job in New York City and your family will be moving at the end of the school year. Express your opinion to your family and ask them what they think. Then compare the advantages and disadvantages of living in NYC as opposed to Wellesley. Be sure to use as much grammar (comparative, superlative, adjective endings, comparative as adjective) and vocabulary (especially new verbs!) as possible. (Performance)

• Exercise 2: You and your partner are old friends, but you haven’t seen each other in years. You randomly meet in the city. Have a 2-minute conversation in which you show me as much as you can do in German. (Proficiency)

SPONTAN SPRECHEN: LEVEL 3

• Exercise 1: You hear a student in your class talking poorly about another Turkish-German student. You decide to confront this student and ask why s/he is saying these things and tell him/her what you think. Be sure to use a variety of verbs and the grammar structures we have learned (passive, passive with modal verbs, subjunctive II). (Performance)

• Exercise 2: Mr Zeyben is a Turkish-German immigrant, who moved to the US in 2001. Have a conversation with him for 2 minutes. Be sure to use varied and correct German language functions (and the FORMAL!!). (Proficiency)

SPONTAN SPRECHEN: LEVEL 4

• Exercise 1: You and your partner will play the roles of Hans or Sophie Scholl and a parent. You have just been sentenced to death for resisting Hitler. You have been given 2 minutes to speak to your parents one last time before you are beheaded. Answer their questions about the situation and explain to them why you did what you did. Make sure to tell them how you feel and what is most important to you. Be sure to use the language functions we have learned (subjunctive II, passive, relative clauses). (Performance)

• Exercise 2: Anna Sophie is a German high school student that also just finished studying the Nazi resistance movement. Have a 2-minutes conversation with her about this topic. (Proficiency)

SPONTAN SPRECHEN: LEVEL 5

• Exercise 1: The adopted mother of Andri in the story Andorra by Max Frisch is having a conversation with the polics after the death of Andri, suicide of her husband and mental breakdown of her daughter. She tries to reason with the police about what happened and why the soldier should be arrested and hanged. Be sure to use as many language functions as possible in your discussion. (Performance)

• Exercise 2: We will have a discussion as a class about the current refugee crisis in Europe. Consider the following things: What is Germany doing to aide the refugees? How do the Germans feel about this? What should other countries be doing? What possible solutions are there? What long-term effects will there be as a result of this situation? (Performance)

• Exercise 3: After Andri is accused of killing the Senora, Barblin has a conversation with her father. Play the roles of Barblin and her father. Speak for 2 minutes. (Proficiency)

HOW TO VARY SPONTAN SPRECHEN

• Adding grammar• Write Grammar structures on the board• Use cards with grammar structures written on them• Pulling cards out of a hat that they have to use

• Adding vocabulary• Use vocabulary lists• Use 10-15 cards with vocab words written on them• Use “sentence starters” on cards

• In groups of 4• 2 speak while 2 analyze• Keep track of # of verbs, verb forms other than “I” and “you”,

and grammar structures• Make it a competition

HOW TO VARY SPONTANCONT’D…

• Practice before performance• Practice in groups of 2 before going in front of the class• Practice with a partner then record with a different

partner (or same!)

• Analyze after performance• Analyze 1-2 groups together as a class to set the

standard and make sure everyone is on the same page

• Bring in the real deal!• Find native speakers to speak with your kids (exchange

students!)• Find retirees in your community that would be willing to

be interviewed by your students• Use wespeke

HOW TO ASSESS SPONTAN

• In front of the class• According to 5 things:• Variety of vocabulary• Variety of verb forms• Correctness of language functions/grammar structures• Naturalness of conversation• Fluidity of conversation

• Allow first 1-2 groups to go again at the end• Ask students to give a grade and justify it

SPONTAN RUBRIC

MaFLA Presentation Grade the groups using the following: Vocabulary: A B C D FVerbforms: A B C D FGrammar: A B C D F• Which grammar structures did they use?

 Fluidity: A B C D Fnaturalness: A B C D F

LET’S PRACTICE!

• Sample for the class—graded! YIKES • Find a group of teachers that teach the same target

language as you• Within your group, pick a performance and a proficiency

exercise from the ones you wrote earlier• Take the 10 blank cards and write 5 grammar structures

on 5 different cards and 5 “sentence starters” on the other 5 cards

• Decide who will speak and who will analyze• One analyzer will record how many different verbs were

used and how many different verb forms• The other analyzer will keep track of who uses what

grammar structures and “sentence starters” and distribute them as they are used

• Time yourselves: 2 minutes per round and then switch

LET’S ANALYZE

• How did you do?

• Was it hard?

• What grade did you get? WHY?

• How do you think your students will react?

• What advice would you give your kids?

• How do you think they’ll benefit from this?

QUESTIONS???