Teaching across proficiency levels

Definition

• The ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines (1986) a widely recognized proficiency standard in language teaching circles.

• They were developed by the American Council for the Teaching of Foreign Languages.

• They represent a hierarchy of global characterizations of integrated performance in speaking, listening, reading, and writing.

ACTFL guidelines: Speaking (1999 revised)

1. Novice Novice low, novice mid, novice high

2. Intermediate Intermediate low, intermediate mid, intermediate high

3. Advanced Advanced low, advanced mid, advanced high

4. Superior Superior

ACTFL guidelines (Speaking)

1. The Novice level is characterized by the ability t o

communicate minimally with learned material.

2. The Intermediate level is characterized by the speaker's ability to 

2.1 create with the language by combining and recombining learned elements, though primarily in a reactive mode 2.2 initiate, minimally sustain, and close in a simple

way basic communicative tasks2.3 ask and answer questions .

3. The Advanced level is characterized by the speaker's ability to:3.1 converse in a clearly participatory fashion 3.2 initiate, sustain, and bring to closure a wide variety of

communicative tasks, including those that require an increased ability to convey meaning with diverse language strategies due to a complication or an unforeseen turn of events

3.3 satisfy the requirements of school and work situations3.4 narrate and describe with paragraph-length connected discourse. 4. The Superior level is characterized by the speaker's ability to: 4.1 participate effectively in most formal and informal conversations onpractical, social, professional, and abstract topics 4.2 support opinions and hypothesize using native-like discourse strategies.

Benefits of the guidelines

1) They were created to guide any test maker/ designer in the process of assessment.

2) They provide a number of useful check points for curriculum development and revision.

Teaching Beginning Levels

• The most challenging level of language instruction. (students at this level have little or no prior knowledge of English on which to build)

• The presentation of material should be simple and should not overwhelm the students. (as students’ capacity for taking in and retaining new words, structures, concepts is limited)

1) Students’ cognitive learning process

• You can expect to engage in plenty of

repetition of a limited number of words, phrases, and sentences.

• Make sure your utterances are limited to short and simple phrases.

Don’t get overly frustrated if a considerable period of time

goes by with little change.

2) The role of the teacher

Students at this level depend on the teacher, so teacher-centered/ fronted classroom is appropriate at this point.

(as students gain in their proficiency, they will be able to initiate questions and comments Shift of control)

3) Teacher talk

• Your input is crucial. Slow your speech for easier student comprehension, but don’t lose its naturalness. Use simple vocabulary & structures that are at or just slightly beyond their level.

• You have to restrict classroom language to English (unless some advantage is gained by using Thai such as explanation of SIMPLE grammatical points) inductive approach to grammar with suitable examples and patterns will be more effective in teaching any complex grammatical points.

4) Fluency and accuracy

• The flow of language is important to establish at this level.

• Attention to accuracy should center on the particular grammatical, phonological elements that are being practiced.

• Be sensitive to students’ need to practice freely and openly without fear of being corrected at every minor flaw.

(BUT you need to give some treatment of selected grammatical and phonological errors so that students don’t assume “no correction = perfection”.)

5) Techniques

• Short, simple techniques must be used.e.g. choral repetition, drilling, teacher-initiated

questions.

• Group and pair activities are excellent techniques (as long as they are structured)

Teaching Intermediate Levels

• Students have progressed beyond novice stages to an ability to sustain basic communicative tasks, to establish some minimal fluency, to deal with unrehearsed situations, to self-correct on occasion, to use a few compensatory strategies, and generally to get along in the language beyond mere survival.

1) Students’ cognitive learning processes

• Phrases and sentences and structures and conversational rules have been practiced and are increasing in number, forcing the mental processes to automatize.

(automaticity placing elements of language into the “hard drive” of neurological computers)

Their ling. Info. available for automatic use whenever needed.

2) The role of the teacher

• You are no longer initiator of language.• Students should be encouraged to ask

questions, make comments, and negotiate certain options in learning where appropriate.

• More student-student interaction can take place in pairs, small groups. Learner-centered work is now possible for more sustained lengths of time.

3) Teacher talk

• Speak at a natural pace, as long as articulation is clear.

• You should not occupy the major proportion of a class hour.

• For Thai teachers, you should be using less of Thai at this level.

• At this level, students sometimes get overly concerned about grammatical correctness and many want to discuss grammatical details far from authentic, real language

4) Fluency and accuracy

• Fluency exercises are a must at this level. These exercises help students be less concerned about saying everything absolutely correctly. Your job is to maintain their “flow”.

• Students at this level are creative and probably say something like “I must to make a lot of money”. interlanguage error = a good indication of the creative application of a system within the students’ mind.

5) Techniques

• Because o the increasing language capacities of your students, techniques can increase in complexity.

• Common interactive techniques for intermediates include surveys and polls, paired interviews, group problem solving, role plays, story telling.

Teaching Advanced Levels

• We will focus on “advanced level” not “superior’ level (keeping with reality)

• At this level, students normally have specific purpose for which they are planning to use English.

1) Students’ cognitive learning processes

• As competence in language continue to build, students can assign larger and larger chunks to automatic modes.

• Students at this level are able to negotiate meaning and convey thoughts and feelings in interactive communication.

2) The role of the teacher

• At this level, the classroom will be heavily student-centered.

• You should make the most of this opportunity create effective learning opportunities such as

Encourage students to notice mistakes. For any discussion or debate activity, place students in groups of three. But the third student won't participate in the discussion, and instead will listen to the conversation, notice mistakes, and take notes. After a few minutes, the third student reports any problems with the language. Switch roles, and repeat the activity two times.

3) Teacher talk

• Natural language at natural speech is a must at this level. Make sure your students are challenged by your choice of vocabulary, structures, idiom, and other linguistic features. (but still they’re learning a lang!)

• Make sure your students have enough opportunities to produce language so your role is to provide feedback.

4) Student creativity

• Students at this level are “fluent” and they are now able to apply classroom material to real contexts beyond CONNECTION

• Avoid classroom activity that simply ends right there in the classroom.

5) Techniques

• Techniques can now tap into a full range of sociolinguistic, discourse competencies.

• Group debates, argumentation, complex role plays, scanning and skimming reading material, writing essays and critiques.