Arabic-L:PEDA:Threshhold response

[Dilworth Parkinson]

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Arabic-L: Tue 13 Aug 2002
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1) Subject:Threshhold response

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1)
Date:  13 Aug 2002
From:Hammoud Salah Civ USAFA/DFF <Salah.Hammoud at usafa.af.mil>
Subject:Threshhold response

The Threshold Level refers to a set of language proficiency guidelines,
which was devised by the Council of Europe (an arm to the European
Parliament in the late 1970's, predating the European Union in its
present
form and constitution). It was elaborated specifically with the immigrant
population in mind, as a way to define exactly the language/communication
skills needed by members of immigrant communities in order to function in
and participate effectively in the life of their host communities.
As such, these European guidelines are not unlike the US government
Federal
Language InterLanguage Roundtable (FILR) which preceded them.

The set of benchmarks which come closest to the Threshold Level are the
ACTFL (American Council for the Teaching of Foreign Languages)
proficiency
guidelines for Arabic which were developed in mid-late 1980's and
revised in
1989.  See Foreign Language Annals, Vol. 22, No 4, September 1989, pp.
373-392.

They are used to gauge the skill levels, especially for oral
proficiency. In
fact they are still the defining criteria used in the standardized Oral
Proficiency Interview (OPI), used and recognized by a number of programs
for
placement and exit test purposes.

Since the time the guidelines were published, ACTFL has adopted new and
more
comprehensive "National Standards" which take a holistic approach at
considering learning, teaching, and using language. The Standards which
have
also been developed for specific languages including Russian and
Japanese,
are yet to be considered by the Arabic teaching community. A 1990's
effort
leading to a similar end under the title Language Learning Framework
(LLF)
has not to this date culminated in the publication of a single guidelines
document, endorsed by the profession at large.

The ACTFL Standards based on 5 Cs (Communication, Cultures, Communities,
Connections, Comparisons), are gaining wide endorsement among teachers
including those of some less commonly taught languages. A manual
detailing
them came out not long ago: Standards for Foreign Language Learning in
the
21st Century: Including Chinese, classical Languages, French, German,
Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish: Allen Press,
Lawrence,
Kansas, 1999. ISBN 0-935868-85-2. The volume may be ordered through
ACTFL, 6
Executive Plaza, Yonkers, NY 10701.

I realize this was a long answer to a short question, but the background
and
subsequent developments to the Threshold level may prove of interest.

Salah Hammoud
Department of Foreign Languages
US Air Force Academy, Colorado.

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End of Arabic-L:  13 Aug 2002