ADFL Projects

The MLA's Articulation Initiative:
High School to College in Foreign Language Programs

Foreign Language and ESL Education
Micheline Chalhoub-Deville, University of Iowa

In a concentrated effort to promote foreign language learning in the state of Minnesota, the Minnesota Articulation Project (MNAP) goals have focused on developing proficiency-based performance principles, curricular strategies, and assessment instruments. In order to facilitate the fulfillment of these goals, project members have been working within three principal groups: the political-action group, the curriculum group, and the assessment group.

The agenda of the political-action group focuses on developing a network of decision makers, including legislators and educators that will help foster the implementation of the project principles and support the adoption of its products in the state of Minnesota. The curriculum-group work focuses primarily on the development of a curriculum handbook. The handbook draws heavily on the National Standards in Foreign Language Education. The assessment group is developing proficiency-based assessment instruments in French, German, and Spanish. These instruments are intended to establish whether students are proficient at the Intermediate-Low level, according to the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages guidelines.

The driving force behind MNAP is assessment. The project designers and members emphasize proficiency-based assessment as the means to help establish and foster articulation across institutions and levels in the state of Minnesota. One might ask, What is the significance of having assessment be the driving force behind articulation? The one-word response to this question is accountability, a word often heard nowadays in discourse about education. Moreover, MNAP members believe that one effective way to articulate on a large scale is to measure the proficiency of students from the various institutions using a common yardstick--that is, a battery of assessment instruments. The perception that assessments typically send teachers strong messages about the content and the approach that they need to emphasize in teaching is another argument for assessment.

Some educators may question the notion of having assessment be the approach for promoting articulation. Such a reservation would be legitimate had these assessment instruments been bought off the shelf, developed to suit diverse purposes and audiences, and not reflected the principles endorsed by the MNAP educators. The MNAP assessment instruments are developed in-house, with the assistance of MNAP members and other participating educators.

Reservation about having assessment be the means of articulation would be legitimate also had the project focused on assessment to the exclusion of curriculum. The concern pertains to the potential gap between curriculum and assessment and the negative ramifications of that gap for articulation, language learning, and teaching. But MNAP has a strong curriculum component. Additionally, the curriculum and the assessment development share the same underlying principles and work together to aid instruction and learning in the various institutions in Minnesota.

Given this key role of assessment and given that the assessment instruments are likely to send educators and students messages about the materials and the type of instruction and learning expected, considerable thought has been given to both the content and format of these instruments. (For more information about them, see Chalhoub-Deville, "Investigating" and "Minnesota Articulation Project.")

Works Cited

Chalhoub-Deville, M. "Investigating the Properties of Assessment Instruments and the Setting of Proficiency Standards for Admission into University Second Language Courses." Language Program Direction: Research Issues in Language Program Direction. Ed. Kathy Heilenman. AAUSC. Boston: Heinle, 1998.

---. "The Minnesota Articulation Project and Its Proficiency-Based Assessment Instruments." Foreign Language Annals 30: 492-502.

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