Introduction+Resources+2

Goals, Pedagogical Principles, and Instructional Approaches
 * Designing a First Year Arabic Curriculum for High School Learners

=== This section outlines the curricular goals, principles, and approaches behind the development of the eight thematic units available on this site. These goals, principles and approaches are informed by the many excellent materials available from the [|__National Capital Language Resource Center__], the [|__National Council of State Supervisors of Foreign Languages__] === and the [|__American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages__]

We encourage teachers to consider these concepts as they develop a proficiency-oriented first year curriculum, based on the thematic units. Additional resources for exploration of the concepts are available in each section below. ________________________________________________________________

Goal: Communicative Competence

Communication is at the heart of second language study, whether the communication takes place face-to-face, in writing, or across centuries through the reading of literature. -- ACTFL Standards for Foreign Language Learning: Preparing for the 21st Century

Pedagogical Principles:

“The goal of language acquisition is communicative competence: the ability to use the language correctly and appropriately to accomplish communication goals.. The desired outcome for each student is the ability to communicate competently, not the ability to use the language exactly as a native speaker does.”

Instructional Approaches Applied in These Materials:

> > > > > >
 * Activities are student-centered and designed to help learners practice speaking, listening, reading, and writing in order to communicate meaningfully, effectively, and creatively in Arabic for real-life purposes.
 * Each activity has clearly stated communicative objectives in the form of can-do statements.
 * Can-do statements are written in student-friendly language, and describe what learners will be able to do with the language by the end of the activity.
 * Activities help students explore the relationships between language and culture so that they can communicate appropriately and accurately.
 * Teachers are encouraged to use Arabic at least 90 percent of the time, using a variety of strategies to make language comprehensible.
 * Grammar is not the focus of the course or the learning units. Both structure and vocabulary are used as tools to support the effort to communicate in meaningful and appropriate ways in Arabic.

Resources for Further Exploration: ● Setting Learning Goals NCLRC The Essentials of Language Teaching [|__http://www.nclrc.org/essentials/goalsmethods/goal.htm__]

● Grammar as a Tool for Communication ACTFL Standards for Foreign Language Learning: Executive Summary [|__http://www.actfl.org/files/public/StandardsforFLLexecsumm_rev.pdf__]

GOAL: Integrate Culture, Content and Language Through the study of other languages, students gain a knowledge and understanding of the cultures that use that language and, in fact, cannot truly master the language until they have also mastered the cultural contexts in which the language occurs. -- ACTFL Standards for Foreign Language Learning: Preparing for the 21st Century

Pedagogical Principles:

Cultural awareness is an essential component of language proficiency. Since language and culture are inextricably linked, the materials presented here seek to incorporate culture into classroom instruction in order to help students contextualize language.

Instructional Approaches Applied in These Materials:

> > > >
 * Cultural instruction is integrated into communicative activities, projects and assessment – not just presented as a separate lesson or focus.
 * Cultural instruction focuses on perspectives—not just products and practices.
 * Culture is presented and explored through use of authentic materials to expand students’ perspectives, generate discussion and promote intercultural understanding
 * Learning activities incorporate real-world situations to enable students to explore, develop, and apply cultural understanding.

Resources for Further Exploration: ● Teaching Culture University of Texas at Austin Center for Open Educational Resources and Language Learning. Foreign Language Teaching Methods: Culture Module. [|__http://coerll.utexas.edu/methods/modules/culture/__]

GOAL: Learner-Centered Instruction

In [a] learner-centered model, both student and teacher are active participants who share responsibility for the student's learning. The instructor models correct and appropriate language use, and students then use the language themselves in practice activities that simulate real communication situations. The active, joint engagement of students and teacher leads to a dynamic classroom environment in which teaching and learning become rewarding and enjoyable. -- National Capital Language Resource Center

Pedagogical Principles:

Instruction and activities, both in and out of class, must focus on the learner and the learning process. Both student and teacher are expected to actively share responsibility for the student's learning. A successful curriculum encourages skill development through activities that teach learners to set goals, use effective strategies and be reflective learners.

Instructional Approaches Applied in These Materials:

> > > > > >
 * Students are introduced to vocabulary through individual study of vocabulary, teacher input, and language-rich contexts, including authentic media. Through classroom activities and at-home study, students develop active control of vocabulary items, and follow native and native-like models in their own language use.
 * Engaging activities will provide frequent, varied opportunities for students to use the language to meet clear communicative goals.
 * Large-group, paired and small-group activities engage students in meaningful communication in varied contexts.
 * Varied activity formats and contexts respect the diverse learning styles present in the classroom, and encourage the development of a wide range of skills and learning strategies.
 * Strategy introduction and strategy-based activities encourage students to set personal language goals and participate in the learning process.
 * Can-do statements allow students to evaluate their own performance on specific language tasks, and to organize their own language learning activities effectively.

Resources for Further Exploration: ● Learner-Centered Instruction NCLRC: The Essentials of Language Teaching. [|__http://www.nclrc.org/essentials/whatteach/models.htm__]

● Achieving Success with Learning Strategies NCLRC: The Essentials of Language Teaching. Motivating Learners: [|__http://www.nclrc.org/essentials/motivating/strategies.htm__] Speaking Strategies: [|__http://www.nclrc.org/essentials/speaking/stratspeak.htm__] Reading Strategies: [|__http://www.nclrc.org/essentials/reading/stratread.htm__] Grammar Strategies: [|__http://www.nclrc.org/essentials/grammar/stratgram.htm__]

GOAL: Use Appropriate Authentic Materials

Learning to operate within the interpretive communication mode for our students means that they need massive doses of authentic texts--listening, reading and video-based--which can give them the skills and confidence to encounter basically unknown texts with a positive attitude that predisposes them to try to figure out what is before them. -- Greg Duncan, Interprep Inc.

Pedagogical Principles: Useful course materials contain images, texts, audio and video resources, print and non-print materials in different technological formats to help students practice new content, build skills and communicate effectively. These materials fall into 2 categories, referred to by the NCLRC as “Finely Tuned” and “Roughly Tuned” sources of language input:

1)Finely-Tuned Input: Material which is created for and matched to learners’ current comprehension level and connected to what they already know. This material is chosen and/or adapted with the purpose of language learning in mind and purposefully scripted or graded for a specific age and level of language proficiency.

2) Roughly-Tuned Input: Authentic material that is more complex than learners’ current proficiency and stretches the boundaries of their current knowledge. This material was most likely created with a native listener or reader in mind, and a large proportion of the content may be in language unfamiliar and unpredictable for a non-native learner.

Instructional Approach for category 1 materials (semi-authentic): > Instructional Approach for category 2 materials (authentic): > >
 * Whenever possible, these materials resemble real-life uses of Arabic and natural, culturally-authentic contexts.
 * Materials are carefully selected to help learners meet communicative objectives.
 * Complex materials, which contains passages that go beyond what students can produce, are accompanied by tasks appropriate to the language proficiency and age level of the learners.

Further discussion: ● Language Input and Authentic Materials NCLRC Guidelines for Communicative, Learner-Centered Instruction. Guideline 1. Provide Appropriate Input http://www.nclrc.org/essentials/goalsmethods/guidelines.htm#provide

GOAL: A Multifaceted Approach to Assessment

The primary purpose of assessment and evaluation is to improve student learning. -- The Ontario Ministry of Education

Pedagogical Principles: Teachers can use information gathered through assessment to determine students’ performance toward specific unit goals (informed by can-do statements) and achievement of course objectives. This information can also guide teachers in adapting the curriculum and their own instructional approaches to meet their students’ needs. In developing assessments, teachers can follow the principles of Backward Design, that is, developing their curriculum based on expected course outcomes, and building appropriate assessments that accurately measure student progress toward those outcomes. Teachers should consider their stated course objectives and unit goals, as well as the classroom activities students have engaged in to work toward those goals, as they build assessments. Since teachers incorporate both achievement-oriented tasks (i.e., those reflecting a specific skill or content area) and proficiency-oriented (i.e., communicative) tasks into the classroom, both need to be assessed and evaluated appropriately.

Instructional Approaches to Assessment: In developing a communicative, proficiency-oriented curriculum based on the materials available here, teachers can develop achievement-based and proficiency-based assessments, including the following:

> > > > > > Further discussion: Center for Open Educational Resources and Language Learning, University of Texas at Austin. Foreign Language Teaching Methods: Assessment. [|__http://coerll.utexas.edu/methods/modules/assessment/__]
 * Achievement Assessments: Activities and tasks that focus on demonstrating full control of a structure, vocabulary word, situation, etc through evaluation of accuracy and appropriateness in pronunciation, writing, structure, and vocabulary choice.
 * Proficiency and Performance Assessments: Assessments requiring students demonstrate and apply what they have learned by performing real-world tasks, both rehearsed and spontaneous.
 * Rubrics: Clearly-outlined criteria--made available to student in advance--for the evaluation of student performance on performance- or proficiency- oriented tasks.
 * Checklists: Forms for observing performance in order to keep track of a student's progress or work over time. They can also be used to determine whether students have met established criteria on a task.
 * Self-Assessment/Reflection Activities for Students: Self-reflective activities completed by students at the end of each unit or activity. Reflection activities can be based on “can-do” statements, which outline the communicative goals and objectives for individual activities.
 * Additional methods to provide ongoing feedback to students: Providing regular input to students on performance in all skill areas, outlining strengths, successes, milestones, and areas where improvement is necessary.

NCLRC. The Essentials of Language Teaching: Alternative Assessment. [|__http://www.nclrc.org/essentials/assessing/alternative.htm__]

Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition (CARLA). Backwards Design and Performance Assessment. [|__http://www.carla.umn.edu/assessment/vac/CreateUnit/p_1.html__]

AAPPL, the ACTFL Assessment of Performance toward Proficiency in Languages [|__http://aappl.actfl.org/__]

GOAL: A Standards-Based Curriculum

“Knowing how, when, and why to say what to whom.” -- ACTFL Standards for Foreign Language Learning: Preparing for the 21st Century

Pedagogical Principles:

The eight thematic units available here are aligned to the World Readiness Standards for Learning Languages/the National Standards for Foreign Language Education.

Instructional Approach Applied in These Materials, by Standard:

Standard 1: COMMUNICATION Communicate effectively in more than one language in order to function in a variety of situations and for multiple purposes The activities were developed around a standards-based framework of thematic units that focus on students developing the ability to complete basic functions in the target language.

Standard 2: CULTURES: Interact with Cultural Competence and Understanding The materials integrate cultural competence and language skill development in each unit. Authentic materials are used to encourage cultural and cross-cultural awareness and knowledge. Standard 3: CONNECTIONS: Connect with other disciplines and acquire information and diverse perspectives in order to use the language to function in academic and career-related situations Numerous activities allow for students to connect their learning about the Arabic-speaking world to science, math, history, arts, etc., and provide opportunities to acquire knowledge and skills that are applicable beyond the language classroom.

Standard 4: COMPARISONS Develop insight into the nature of language and culture in order to interact with cultural competence The materials provide activities in which students are asked to respectfully reflect on their own culture, and to compare certain cultural behaviors and traditions, both within the target cultures as well as between the target culture and the students’ cultures.

Standard 5: COMMUNITIES Communicate and interact with cultural competence in order to participate in multilingual communities at home and around the world Suggested projects and collaborative activities, available throughout the units, provide opportunities for students to interact with native speakers both within and beyond the school setting and encourage life-long language learning.

Further discussion: Ohio State Academic Content Standards pages 155 - 158 [|__http://ims.ode.state.oh.us/ode/ims/rrt/resources/Content/FL_Role_of_Instruction.pdf__]

Resources for Teaching Methods and Curriculum Design

American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL). Standards for Foreign Language Learning (1996): Executive Summary. [|__http://www.actfl.org/files/public/StandardsforFLLexecsumm_rev.pdf__]

ACTFL. World Readiness Standards for Learning Languages. [|__http://www.actfl.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/World-ReadinessStandardsforLearningLanguages.pdf__]

Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition (CARLA). Virtual Assessment Center. [|__http://www.carla.umn.edu/assessment/vac/index.html__]

National Capital Language Resource Center (NCLRC). The Essentials of Language Teaching. [|__http://nclrc.org/essentials__]

National Capital Language Resource Center (NCLRC). [|__http://www.nclrc.org/__]

Ohio Department of Education. Academic Content Standards: Planning for Instruction. [|__http://ims.ode.state.oh.us/ode/ims/rrt/resources/Content/FL_Role_of_Instruction.pdf__]

STARTALK-Endorsed Principles for Effective Teaching & Learning

and Characteristics of Effective Language Lessons [|__http://startalk.umd.edu/principles/__]

University of Texas at Austin. Foreign Language Teaching Methods Videos __http://coerll.utexas.edu/methods/__

University of Texas at Austin. Professional Development Modules for Arabic Teaching at the Secondary and University Levels. (In Arabic بالعربية). [|__http://tadriis.org__] /

Resources Fron Gregg. Greg Duncan, Interprep. __ http://resourcesfromgreg.wikispaces.com __ ||  || Downloadable and Printable Documents ||   ||