Peg Meyers, Mt. Lebanon High School pmeyers@mtlsd or pegmeyers1@gmail

1. ACTFL 2012November 16-18, Philadelphia, PA“Assessment for AP German Language & Culture and Beyond” Peg Meyers, Mt. Lebanon High School pmeyers@mtlsd.net or pegmeyers1@gmail.com Johanna Watzinger-Tharp, University of Utah j.tharp@utah.edu

2. Outline of Presentation • AP Language & Culture Exam Task Models • Three modes of communication • Six themes • Essential question • Tasks in Teaching & Assessment • Formative and Summative Assessment • Tasks Beyond the AP Exam Task Models • Presentational writing based on three sources • Interpersonal speaking • Resources for Authentic Materials

3. The Standards andThe Three Modes of Communication

4. AP German Language and Culture: Six Themes

5. Features Of An Essential Question • An essential question stimulates curiosity and interest. • It requires critical thinking: analyzing, synthesizing and evaluating (cf. Bloom’s Taxonomy). • It lends itself to cross-disciplinary inquiry. • It does not have one “right” answer.

6. Tasks in L2 Learning, Teaching and Assessment(and Research) • Tasks in learning and teaching (Ellis, 2003) • A task is designed to prompt meaning-focused communication1 • It is situationally or interactionally authentic • It may be designed to elicit a particular linguistic feature • It aims at a specific outcome • Tasks and assessment • Formative assessment: linguistically focused activities • Summative assessment: linguistically “unfocused” tasks 1 From the four skills to the three modes of communication: interpretive, interpersonal, presentational

7. Formative and Summative Assessment • Formative assessment demonstrates if students possess the content and linguistic knowledge necessary to accomplish the summative assessment (backward design). • Formative assessment takes on many forms: questioning, observing, bell ringer/exit activities, graphic organizers, practice presentations, small group discussion, think/pair/share, peer editing, pretests, (practice) quizzes, self evaluation • Summative assessment measures students’ability, skill, and progress (to communicate) at a given point in time. • Summative assessment engages students in meaning-based communicative tasks.

8. Spoken Interpersonal Communication • Written Interpersonal Communication • Audio, Visual and Audiovisual Interpretive Communication • Written and Print Interpretive Communication • Spoken Presentational Communication • Written Presentational Communication AP Language and Culture Course & Exam:Six Primary Learning Objectives

9. Audio, Visual and Audiovisual Interpretive Communication • Written and Print Interpretive Communication • Multiple-Choice section of the exam • Written Interpersonal Communication • E-mail Reply • Spoken Interpersonal Communication • Conversation • Written Presentational Communication • Persuasive Essay • Spoken Presentational Communication • Cultural Comparison AP Language and Culture Course & ExamSix Primary Learning Objectives

10. Task 1: E-mail Reply

11. Task 1: E-mail Reply

12. Task 2: Persuasive Essay Time — Approximately 55 minutes Thema: Familie und Gemeinschaft Sie haben 6 Minuten Zeit, um das Aufsatzthema, das Quellenmaterial 1 und das Quellenmaterial 2 zu lesen. Aufsatzthema: Wann sollten junge Erwachsene von zu Hause ausziehen?

13. Task 2: Persuasive Essay

14. Task 2: Persuasive Essay

15. Task 2: Persuasive Essay MP3 from AP Central Website

16. Task 3: Conversation

17. Task 3: Conversation

18. Task 3: Conversation MP3 from AP Central

19. Task 4: Cultural Comparison

20. Developing Tasks Based On Good Sources

21. Sources: Migrantenbildung • 1. First Source - Article • Migranten: Bildung schlechter, Armut größer • http://www.focus.de/politik/deutschland/migranten-bildung-schlechter-armut-groesser_aid_407110.html • Second Source - Chart • Lesekompetenz von Migranten • http://news.orf.at/static/images/site/news/20101249/pisa_ergebnisse_migranten_grafik_box_a.2034554.jpg • Third Source - Article • Was macht eine gute Schule aus? • http://dtj-online.de/News/Detail/543/was_macht_eine_gute_schule_aus.html • Fourth Source – Article • Migranten fordern bessere Bildungschancen • http://www.bertelsmann-stiftung.de/cps/rde/xchg/bst/hs.xsl/nachrichten_109425.htm • Fifth Source – Audio (Dank Martin Loeffler, AP German Community) • Bildung von Migranten hängt auch von sozioökonomischen Status ab • http://www.dradio.de/aodflash/player.php?station=1&broadcast=9539&datum=20120626&playtime=1340714220&fileid=09a77bde&sendung=9539&beitrag=1795440&/ • Transcript • http://www.dradio.de/dlf/sendungen/campus/1795440/

22. Written Presentational Communication • Students examine three sources (print article, chart, audio). • Students write a persuasive essay on an essential question based on the three sources. • Question: Which additional mode of communication is embedded in the presentational writing task? Partnerarbeit: • What might be an essential question related to the topic Migrantenbildung? • What kind of summative assessment beyond the AP task might demonstrate students’ effective treatment of this topic? • What kind of formative assessment can we use to scaffold toward summative assessment?

23. Interpersonal Writing: E-mail Reply 5: STRONG performance in Interpersonal Writing • Maintains the exchange with a response that is clearly appropriate within the context of the task • Provides required information (e.g., responses to questions, request for details) with frequent elaboration • Fully understandable, with ease and clarity of expression; occasional errors do not impede comprehensibility • Varied and appropriate vocabulary and idiomatic language • Accuracy and variety in grammar, syntax and usage, with few errors • Mostly consistent use of register appropriate for the situation; control of cultural conventions appropriate for formal correspondence (e.g., greeting, closing), despite occasional errors • Variety of simple and compound sentences, and some complex sentences 4: GOOD performance in Interpersonal Writing • Maintains the exchange with a response that is generally appropriate within the context of the task • Provides required information (e.g., responses to questions, request for details) with some elaboration • Fully understandable, with some errors which do not impede comprehensibility • Varied and generally appropriate vocabulary and idiomatic language • General control of grammar, syntax and usage • Generally consistent use of register appropriate for the situation, except for occasional shifts; basic control of cultural conventions appropriate for formal correspondence (e.g., greeting, closing) • Simple, compound and a few complex sentences 3: FAIR performance in Interpersonal Writing • Maintains the exchange with a response that is somewhat appropriate but basic within the context of the task • Provides required information (e.g., responses to questions, request for details) • Generally understandable, with errors that may impede comprehensibility • Appropriate but basic vocabulary and idiomatic language • Some control of grammar, syntax and usage • Use of register may be inappropriate for the situation with several shifts; partial control of conventions for formal correspondence (e.g., greeting, closing) although these may lack cultural appropriateness • Simple and a few compound sentences 2: WEAK performance in Interpersonal Writing • Partially maintains the exchange with a response that is minimally appropriate within the context of the task • Provides some required information (e.g., responses to questions, request for details) • Partially understandable, with errors that force interpretation and cause confusion for the reader • Limited vocabulary and idiomatic language • Limited control of grammar, syntax and usage • Use of register is generally inappropriate for the situation; includes some conventions for formal correspondence (e.g., greeting, closing) with inaccuracies • Simple sentences and phrases 1: POOR performance in Interpersonal Writing • Unsuccessfully attempts to maintain the exchange by providing a response that is inappropriate within the context of the task • Provides little required information (e.g., responses to questions, request for details) • Barely understandable, with frequent or significant errors that impede comprehensibility • Very few vocabulary resources • Little or no control of grammar, syntax and usage • Minimal or no attention to register; includes significantly inaccurate or no conventions for formal correspondence (e.g., greeting, closing) • Very simple sentences or fragments 0: UNACCEPTABLE performance in Interpersonal Writing • Mere restatement of language from the stimulus • Completely irrelevant to the stimulus • “I don’t know,”“I don’t understand” or equivalent in any language • Not in the language of the exam - (hyphen): BLANK (no response) Rubrics http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/repository/ap12_german_language_scoring_guidelines.pdf

24. Rubrics http://www.carla.umn.edu/assessment/vac/Evaluation/p_6.html

25. Finding Sources • AP German Community • https://apcommunity.collegeboard.org/group/apgerman/resource-library/ • Spiegel Online • http://www.spiegel.de/ • Deutsche Welle • http://www.dw.de • Tagesschau • http://www.tagesschau.de/ • Die Welt • http://www.welt.de/ • ARD Radio • http://www.ard.de/radio/ • Statista Website (Infografik) • http://de.statista.com/ • Naturschutzbund Deutschland (Nabu) • http://www.nabu.de/naturerleben/podcast/