This article reports on Beyond the OPI: Integrated Performance Assessment (IPA) Design Project, a three-year (1997)(1998)(1999)(2000) Language Learning in the 21st Century (National Standards, 1999, 2006. A second goal of the project was to use the assessment prototype as a catalyst for curricular and pedagogical reform. This paper presents the lntegrated Pevformance Assessment (IPA) prototype, illustrates a sample IPA, and discusses how classroom-based research on the IPA demonstrated the washbach effect of integrated performance-based assessment on teachers' perceptions regarding their instructional practices.
This article reports the findings of a program evaluation project that assessed the integration of technology-enhanced language learning (TELL) into a second semester, college-level French course. Thirty-three French II students participated in this study. Students in the treatment group met with the instructor three days per week and, for the fourth class, they participated in TELL activities. The control group met with the instructor four times per week. Both groups had the same instructor, textbook, and ancillary materials. The article reports on student performance in French for listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills, and on their cultural knowledge. Findings indicate that the students in the treatment group performed equally well as the control group in listening and speaking and better on reading and writing achievement measures. The study also includes findings regarding student motivation, anxiety, and perceptions on meeting the language learning goals students set for themselves. The results may be interpreted that it is both feasible and desirable to integrate, in principled ways, TELL activities into the language learning curriculum.
This article reports on a performance-based assessment research project conducted at the US Air Force Academy during the 2004–2005 academic year. The primary purpose of the research project was to measure post-secondary students’ progress towards meeting the Standards for Foreign Language Learning in the 21st Century – specifically the three modes of communication. The article explains how Integrated Performance Assessment measures learners’ language performance in light of current research in foreign language assessment. The paper demonstrates a sample Integrated Performance Assessment for a post-secondary Spanish culture and civilization course, and shares data on the students’ performance for the interpretive, interpersonal, and presentational modes of communication. Correlational data on the impact of middle and high school language learning on post-secondary language performance is also shared. Finally, the paper argues that, unlike traditional testing formats, integrated performance assessment connects teaching, learning, and assessment seamlessly.
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