The Organizing Strands for the Foreign Language SOL

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The Organizing Strands for the Foreign Language
SOL
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The Communication Strands

• The Heart of the Foreign Language Standards of
  Learning

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Successful Communication

• Knowing HOW, WHEN, and WHY to say WHAT to WHOM.
• National Foreign Language Standards

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Modern Foreign Languages

• Communication Strands

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Organizing Strands for Modern Foreign Languages

• Person-to-Person Communication
• Listening and Reading for Understanding
• Oral and Written Presentation
• Cultural Perspectives, Practices, and Products
• Making Connections through Language
• Cultural and Linguistic Comparisons
• Communication across Communities

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Person-to-Person Communication

• Interactive communication
• Exchange information with another person
• Initiate, sustain, and close a conversation or
  interactive written communication
• Allows for negotiated meaning

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Person-to-Person Communication

• Which language skills are included in this
  strand?
• Listening, speaking, reading, and writing

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Person-to-Person Communication
How do the standards in this strand become more
complex with each level of language study? They
ask students to move from

• Level I
• exchanging simple information, likes and
  dislikes, requests, directions
• asking questions and giving answers about
  familiar material

• Level IV
• sharing information on a wide variety of topics
• expressing and supporting opinions and eliciting
  those of others

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Person-to-Person Communication
The first standard in the strand defines the
kinds of information that students will exchange.

• Level I
• Basic greetings and farewells
• Likes and dislikes
• Questions and answers about familiar material

• Level IV
• Contemporary and historical events
• Opinions and reactions
• Information from outside sources

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Person-to-Person Communication
The second standard in the strand defines the
skills used to exchange this information.

• Level I
• Brief exchanges
• Emphasis on present time
• Formal and informal language
• Gestures and simple paraphrasing

• Level IV
• Extended exchanges
• Full range of vocabulary, structures, and past,
  present, and future
• Paraphrasing and circumlocution to express and
  comprehend ideas

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Listening and Reading for Understanding

• Comprehension and interpretation of written and
  oral communication
• Comprehension of a text
• Interpretation of visual and auditory cues
• One-way communication
• Focuses on what the student can understand
  without the opportunity to ask for clarification

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Listening and Reading for Understanding

• Which language skills are included with this
  strand?
• Listening and reading
• How is understanding different from
  person-to-person communication?
• One-way communication
• A receptive skill - no language production
  required

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Listening and Reading for Understanding
How do these standards become more complex at
each level?

• Level I
• Identify main ideas
• Comprehend simple, culturally authentic messages
• Understand simple instructions

• Level IV
• Identify various elements of the passage
• Understand some subtleties of meaning
• Understand and follow instructions in consumer
  and informational materials

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Listening and Reading for Understanding

• Why are there two standards in this strand for
  Levels I and II but only one standard for Levels
  III and IV?
• The first standard emphasizes comprehension of
  main ideas from authentic sources.
• The second standard describes other verbal and
  non-verbal cues necessary to good communication.

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Listening and Reading for Understanding

• Why do Levels III and IV have only one standard
  each?
• At these levels, it is difficult to separate out
  the different concepts and skills necessary for
  full comprehension. Gestures, intonation, and
  voice inflection become an integral part of
  communication.

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Oral and Written Presentation

• Presenting information to an audience, either
  orally or in writing
• Organize thoughts and deliver presentations to a
  variety of audiences
• No interaction with the audience
• Must rely on presentation skills to convey the
  message

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Oral and Written Presentation

• Which language skills are included with this
  strand?
• Speaking and writing
• How is presentation different from understanding?
• It focuses on language production, not
  comprehension

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Oral and Written Presentation
How do the standards become more complex with
each successive level?

• Level I
• Present rehearsed information from familiar
  sources
• Increase attention to accuracy, word order,
  punctuation, etc.

• Level IV
• Deliver presentations on a variety of topics
• Minimal errors in spelling, punctuation, etc.
• Present or perform both student-created and
  culturally authentic works

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Latin

• Communication Strands

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Organizing Strands for Latin

• Reading for Understanding
• Using Oral and Written Language for Understanding
• Cultural Perspectives, Practices, and Products
• Making Connections through Language
• Cultural and Linguistic Comparisons
• Communication across Communities

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Clarification of Latin Communication Strands

• Remember - there is no Person-to-Person strand
  for the Latin SOL.

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Reading for Understanding

• Interpret a Latin text
• Use of authentic texts as early as possible
• Understand thoughts and information expressed by
  the author
• Derive culture as well as linguistic information
  from a Latin text

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Reading for Understanding

• Why is the focus on reading?
• What are some of the elements of reading Latin
  texts on which students are required to focus?
• Vocabulary, inflectional systems, syntax, figures
  of speech, word choice and placement, meter,
  phrase grouping

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Reading for Understanding
How do these elements become increasingly complex
over the four years of Latin study?

• Level I
• Read words, phrases, simple sentences
• Answer simple questions

• Level IV
• Interpret and explain the content and intent of
  texts
• Analyze and evaluate the effects of features of
  style
• Identify and analyze social, political, and
  historical implications of works read

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Using Oral and Written Language for Understanding

• Active use of Latin involving oral and written
  language
• Oral use of Latin enables some students to read
  and understand a Latin text more easily
• Comprehend spoken texts
• Write simple phrases and sentences in Latin
• Read Latin texts aloud with attention to meter
  and phrasing.

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Using Oral and Written Language for Understanding

• Why was the word oral and not spoken used for
  this strand?
• What are some benefits of using oral Latin in the
  classroom?

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Using Oral and Written Language for Understanding

• What are some benefits of writing original Latin
  phrases and sentences in lower level Latin
  classes?
• Why is student-created writing not emphasized in
  Levels III and IV?

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Compare the Communication Strands

• Modern Languages
• Person-to-Person Communication
• Listening and Reading for Understanding
• Oral and Written Presentation

• Latin
• Reading for Understanding
• Using Oral and Written Language for Understanding

How is communication in modern language classes
different from communication in Latin classes?
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Organizing Strands

• Person-to-Person Communication
• Listening and Reading for Understanding
• Oral and Written Presentation

• Reading for Understanding
• Using Oral and Written Language for Understanding

• Cultural Perspectives, Practices, and Products
• Making Connections through Language
• Cultural and Linguistic Comparisons
• Communication across Communities

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Cultural Perspective, Practices, and Products

• An important link in communication
• What are the products of a culture?
• What are the practices of a culture?
• What are the perspectives of a culture?

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Cultural Perspective, Practices, and Products

• How do the cultural standards progress from
  concrete to more analytical?
• Level I
• identify viewpoints, customs and traditions,
  individuals, products
• recognize interrelationships
• Level II
• participate in events
• identify and discuss patterns
• examine the influence of geography

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Cultural Perspective, Practices, and Products

• Level III
• examine how and why products reflect practices
  and perspectives
• discuss how viewpoints are reflected in practices
  and products
• Level IV
• discuss evidence of viewpoints, patterns of
  behavior, and products in the culture
• engage in situations that demonstrate an
  understanding of culturally appropriate practices

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Making Connections Through Language

• Information learned in the foreign language
  classroom connects with concepts studied in other
  subject areas
• First Bullet How foreign languages are found in
  other subject areas
• Second Bullet How information from other
  subject areas reinforces foreign language learning

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Cultural and Linguistic Comparisons

• Cultural comparisons raise a students awareness
  and openness to people who speak other languages
  and to the perspectives they bring to the world
• patterns of behavior, social interactions,
  traditions
• influence of geography on aspects of culture
• influences of events on international
  relationships
• viewpoints of others toward the U.S. and why
• existence of local, regional, and national
  differences

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Cultural and Linguistic Comparisons

• Linguistic comparisons increase a students
  understanding of the nature of language and
  increases his/her abilities in the native
  language
• sound systems, writing systems, cognates, gender,
  idioms, and intonation patterns
• vocabulary usage, tense usage, and structural
  patterns
• translation patterns
• local, regional, and national differences
• time, tense, and mood

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Communication Across Communities

• Students enhance their knowledge of languages and
  cultures when they can apply their knowledge and
  skills beyond the classroom
• foreign languages and cultures evident in and
  through media, entertainment, and technology
• resources, individuals, organizations through the
  community or the Internet

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Successful Communication

• Knowing HOW, WHEN, and WHY to say WHAT to WHOM.
• National Foreign Language Standards

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• http//www.pen.k12.va.us/VDOE/Instruction/Language
  
• This presentation was prepared by
• Dr. Linda Wallinger
• Associate Director, Foreign Languages and ESL
• Virginia Department of Education
• lwalling_at_pen.k12.va.us
• [phone]
• August 2000