I. Introduction:

The Department of Modern Languages (DML) of the College of Arts and Sciences is a collection of five units, each of which represents one European language (Faculty FTE= 49). The DML services the College of Arts and Sciences' language requirement (100 and 200 course levels), as well as the language requirements of other colleges (e.g., Communications) and trains approximately 2,000 students each year in this sequence. All classes offered are small (generally under 25 students), involve much group work, and are writing-intensive. Most language units also offer a minor (undetermined number of students at the 300 course level) and a BA major (approximately 130 students at the 300 and 400 course level). Spanish and French also offer MA programs (24 students).

Language Unit: Program Offered:

Spanish Requirement to MA level

French Requirement to MA level

German Requirement to BA level

Russian Requirement to BA level

Italian Requirement level

All language units strive to have students attain ability in

We develop our goals through discussion among colleagues at the departmental level and within the five language sections. We rely heavily on documents published by other organizations such as the Ohio Department of Education, the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, the American Association for Teachers of German, and the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese, all of whom are actively engaged in setting and refining goals for foreign language instruction.

We achieve these goals through a series of steps corresponding to the different levels of language study. What follows are the specific goals for each level:

•Communication Skills: Students achieve proficiency at the novice high level in speaking and at intermediate levels in reading, writing and listening. Students will be able to use language to satisfy the requirements of everyday communicative tasks and social situations and will begin to satisfy those that require the ability to convey meaning with diverse language strategies resulting from a complication or an unforeseen turn of events.

•Cultural and Literacy Skills: Students begin to understand the need for language as a tool to the understanding of the target culture and civilization and acquire and appreciate techniques needed to learn a foreign language. Students become somewhat familiar with the cultural products and perspectives of the inhabitants of countries in which the target language is spoken.

Minor Level (341 to 369)

•Communications Skills: Increase oral skills to intermediate or advanced level through classes and study abroad. Students are able to satisfy the more strenuous requirements needed to study at a university or work for a company in a country where the target language is spoken.

•Cultural and Literacy Skills: Increase reading and writing skills to advanced levels and expose students to excellent examples of literature, film, journalistic writing and other linguistic "products." Immerse students in culture through study abroad. Students become aware of majority and minority cultures in countries in which target language is spoken and learn to analyze the influence of language and history on societal practices.

•Connections: Increase exposure to other linguistic contexts and in particular to those applied to internationally-related professions through course work at OU and through internships abroad.

Major/MA Levels (400-500)

•Communications Skills: Increase communication skills to advanced and professional level. Students reach level of ability needed to function in a professional context abroad.

•Cultural and Literacy Skills: Provide the analytical tools needed to study literature and to be independent, educated observers of culture and linguistic form and usage.

•Connections: Provide the analytic tools needed to continue study at the MA and PhD levels in areas such as literature, area studies, linguistics and applied linguistics. Prepare students to become secondary and post-secondary teachers of language, culture and literature.

In order to achieve our goals, the following tools are used:

A. Academic Classes

1. Skill classes in language and language courses related to various professions (language for journalism and business majors, for example).

2. Content classes in literature, linguistics, culture, film, etc., and classes in translation and Tier III seminars.

3. Professional training classes (BA and MA level) in teaching theory, methodology and intructional technology.

B. Co-curricular Tools

1. Study Abroad in Austria, Germany, France, Mexico, Spain, and Russia organized and directed by DML faculty.

2. Internships with business, government, hospitals, and schools in Merida, Mexico. (See IV. D. 3. below)

3. Extracurricular activities such as the student language newspaper, weekly conversation hours, dining and dorm interaction, student honoraries, performances (for example, theatrical productions or dancing at international street fair), observance of internationally-celebrated holidays (Octoberfest, Día de los Muertos, etc.), film presentations, poetry clubs, etc.

4. Professional Initiation. Support of student attendance at and participation in academic conferences, as well as student publication.

C. Technological Tools

1. Satellite-TV for viewing foreign language broadcasts. 2. Listening and viewing labs with solid library of materials. 3. Computer lab with CD-Rom and internet capabilities.

A. Tools That Are Correlates to Success

1. Growth: Our ability to attract students indicates to what extent we are serving their needs.

•Fall quarter enrollment for the requirement level has increased 45% from 1367 students in 1987 (the first year we began collecting enrollment data) to 1983 students in the fall quarter of 1996. Majors have increased from 105 majors in 1992 to 141 in 1996 . Minor participation has increased significantly as is seen by the increase in our 300-level courses. We have had an 82% increase in enrollment in these courses from 460 students in 1987 to 837 enrolled in 1996. However, we have no clear figures on minors because they are more difficult to track. Graduate student numbers are up from 16 in AY 95-96 to 24 in AY 96-97.

•There has also been a significant increase in applications for our study abroad programs. This has allowed us to increase our selectivity and raise academic standards in the programs.

•Interest in extracurricular activities has also grown, and students have initiated new activities in all languages.

2. Language Sequencing: Since language skills build upon themselves, a student must do well in a prerequisite in order to have success in the following course. We gauge how well we achieve our goals at, for instance, the beginning level, by how well students perform at the intermediate level. If students have difficulty, we re-evaluate our goals for that level or for the previous level. The following chart gives retention rates for our 100 and 200-level language sequences for the 1996-97 academic year. We plan to examine these rates annually for change.

3. Student Feedback:

•Student course evaluations, which we created to fit the needs of our instruction, were very positive in 1996-97. Students have evaluated our effort at 86% A or B performance. This year, we decided that the course evaluation form, which our department has used for more than ten years, was not providing us enough insights into student reactions to our classes because it was limited to 7 questions that focused exclusively on the instructor. In January, the chair appointed a committee to draft a new form, and it was approved by the department in June. We will begin using the new form in the 1997-98 academic year and the results will form part of next year's assessment report.

•Study abroad evaluations, which we created to fit the needs of each of our study abroad programs, give us valuable assessment information we use to continuously fine-tune our programs abroad. For example, many of the student comments on evaluations of the Mexico program in 1996, on which we took 53 students, led us to limit participation to 46 students in 1997.

•Formal interviews of students enrolled in the Spanish 341/42/43 series helped us modify the focus of these classes for next year. Instructors had the impression that students desired a more structured focus on grammar in their third year of language study so 45 students were interviewed in three 341 sections fall quarter and found that a great majority felt their command of Spanish grammar was weak and wanted more practice. A committee worked during the year to choose materials and distribute their presentation over the three courses.

•In order to better assess graduating seniors' language and cultural skills in addition to their perceptions of language study at OU we are in the process of designing a formal exit interview/exam. One suggested plan is for all graduating seniors to take a standardized test (for Spanish and German we already have the placement exams in our computer lab), and do the OPI interview. Each language section would also schedule a focus group session in which seniors could share their ideas about the strengths and weaknesses of their course work, study abroad, and extracurricular activities at OU. A committee of volunteers was formed in May, 1997, and will begin meeting in the fall of 1997. The goal is to have something in place for June, 1998.

•Responses from Institutional Research’s "Career and Further Education Study" identify the fields of employment of our graduate majors one year after graduation and how well they feel their BA. degrees prepared them for work.

•Responses from Institutional Research’s "Survey of Alumni" give us detailed information from former majors five years after graduating. Comments from alumni have helped us develop the language for the professions classes we began offering in the past two years (Business German, Spanish and French; Spanish and French for Journalism).

•Reactions through our newsletter "Say There" help us track the careers and professional progress of our alumni in a less anonymous manner than the above-mentioned surveys.

•A list compiled by the Alumni Office and the College of Arts and Sciences of every former student who participated in one of our programs abroad enables us to reach an important constituency of students. In 1996 we requested such a list, and the College of Arts and Sciences Office of Study Abroad developed a questionnaire to send to everyone on it. We felt it was important to contact these students because many of them do not complete the language major and therefore do not figure in data we receive from Institutional Research. They have valuable insights to offer us on one of the most important elements in our curriculum, and we wanted to get their impressions. This spring, we sent out the survey for the first time and the results will form part of next year’s assessment report.

•Informal feedback through contact with alumni at reunion banquets conducted by our department helps us identify strengths and weaknesses in the program.

5. Job and Graduate School Placement: The department maintains a data base with information on graduates’ employment, residence abroad, graduate education, and continued use of their language skills.

B. Tools That Demonstrate Communication Skills

1. At various levels:

a. We determine communicative competence of our students in speaking by means of a twenty-minute interview technique developed by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Language. In these Oral Proficiency Interviews speakers receive a rating on a 0 to 3 scale: 0=(novice or memorized language); 1=(intermediate or conversational-level language); 2=(advanced or work-skills language); 3=(superior or professional-work level). Seventeen instructors have traveled to 6-day workshops for training in the interview technique, and two more are scheduled to complete training in the summer of 1997. We interview selected students at requirement and major levels and after study abroad and have found that average scores increase as students progress from the requirement to the major level.

German OPI Results

In order to assess the progress of students participating in the study abroad program in Salzburg, Austria, interviews were conducted before and after. The first set of interviews was done at the end of WQ. The second set was conducted in Salzburg. The attached chart shows the change in rating for each student, as well as their course level at the time of the first interview (1 = 100 level, 2 = 200 level, 3 = 300 level).

The results show that each student made some degree of progress. As expected, those initially at the lower end of the scale made the most dramatic improvement (Novice to Intermediate High). It becomes increasingly more difficult to move from one category to the next highest, even though progress may in fact be evident.

Lvl March 97    June 97

1     Int low         Int high

1     Int low         Int high

1     Int low         Int high

1     Nov high      Int high

1     Nov mid/high? Int high

2     Int mid         Int high

2     Int high         Adv

2     Int high         Adv

2     Int low         Int high

2     Int high         Adv?

2     Int high/Adv? Adv

2     Int low         Int high

2     Int mid/high Int high

3     Int high         Int high/Adv

3     Int high         Int high

3     Int low         Int high

3     Int mid/high Int high

All students participating in the Mexico study abroad program are interviewed in November, before the program begins, and again in March, after the program ends. Although we have not kept exact data for the approximately 50 students who participate in the program annually, the results reflect the same improvement trends documented by the German faculty. There is a marked improvement in most students. Students tend to improve fluency with mistakes in correctness of speech. Students at the 200 level tend to move from Novice to Intermediate Mid, while students at the 300 level tend to exit at Intermediate Mid or High, again having greatly improved fluency but with mistakes in correctness of speech. Very few students attain the Advanced level.

The Spanish OPI for International Studies requires students to achieve Intermediate High before graduation. Six students were interviewed this year, all but one of whom had received most of their language training in our department, and all passed. Four were rated Intermediate High and two were rated Advanced.

During the 1996-97 academic year two OPI interviews were conducted on International Studies majors. Both were rated at or above Intermediate High, and both had received all of their language training in classes at OU and on our study abroad program in Moscow.

Three International Studies students were interviewed. One who failed to achieve Intermediate High in November was retested in May and passed. One other student failed to meet the requirement and has not re-taken the test. The third student was rated at or above Intermediate High.

b. We use standardized placement examinations created by other universities to place students who have previous high school training into language and culture classes at OU. These tests also help us monitor students' advancement through the requirement sequence and determine skill level of students upon graduation.

We have used the exam in Spanish as a placement tool for students who are unsure of what level class to take. In the future, we plan to incorporate it more solidly into our assessment process by requiring graduating seniors to take it as an exit measure of grammatical and cultural competence.

In 1996-97 we acquired from the University of Wisconsin a standardized German exam, which  the coordinator of the 200-level German sequence plans to use to determine placement. In order to establish norms, all German 211 students were asked to take the exam and we compared their scores with their final grades for the course. The resulting data clearly show what level course work students scoring in each 50-point range will be capable of completing. In the future, this exam may be used as part of the exit exam for graduating seniors.

2. At the 100 level

a. Most of our assessment information on students' communicative ability in the first-year language sequence comes from their performance on exams. In most first-year language courses, all students in all sections take identical exams and the course coordinator monitors performance across sections.

b. If a first-year student plans to study abroad, he or she would also do an oral proficiency interview and figure in our data on the OPI.

3. At the 200 level

a. Most of our assessment information on students' communicative ability in the second-year language sequence comes from their performance on exams.

b. If a second-year student plans to study abroad, he or she would also do an oral proficiency interview and figure in our data on the OPI.

c. This year, the French section began administering a standard grammar exam to all 200-level students. At the end of fall, winter, and spring quarters 1996-97 the final exam in all sections of French 211, 212, and 213 included a departmental assessment test to measure understanding and knowledge of grammar. The coordinator of the French 200 series reports the following results:

These numbers are somewhat encouraging. The slightly better scores in FR 212 can probably be explained in part by the decision of weak students to leave the French program after 211. It appears that some of our students do not take seriously enough the vital need for memorization, the fundamental first step toward creative and critical thinking in a second language.

Such testing, though useful, is limited in what it can tell us about whether students are meeting course goals in second-year French. This kind of instrument necessarily involves discrete-item testing to facilitate standardized grading whereas classroom activities typically include open-ended applications of grammar points and vocabulary, imaginative small-group dialogues, and interpretive discussions of assigned literary readings. Individual instructors add to their own final exams in second-year French a variety of less mechanical testing devices (e.g., questions calling for original responses, brief compositions, discussion of passages from short stories, interpretive as well as content questions based on readings)

d. The German placement exam will also give us valuable data for assessing the communicative competence of our second-year students (see IV. B. 1. b. above).

4. At the 300 level

a. In our composition and conversation classes (341/42/43) students receive intensive training in writing and speaking. Successful completion of these three classes demonstrates competence required in these skills to pass on to the 400 level. In many sections of these classes, instructors require student writing portfolios in order to document progress for both the students' information and for assessment purposes.

b. We encourage all of our third-year students to study abroad. We monitor their progress in oral communication skills by means of the oral proficiency interviews conducted before and after their experience abroad. In addition, their very ability to live abroad indicates a high level of communicative competence.

5. At the 400 level

a. Most of our assessment of advanced students' communication skills takes place in the context of the classroom. Although the main goal of our major-level classes is the application of language skills in literary, cultural, and linguistic analysis, these courses also provide us accurate information for assessing language skills. A student's ability to produce a 10- or 20-page essay in the target language and to participate in an abstract discussion of literature demonstrate a high level of linguistic competence.

b. The German section has begun to offer an advanced study abroad option at Leipzig University for students who have successfully completed the program in Austria but who want to reach a higher level of linguistic and cultural competence. Two students went to Leipzig in spring, 1997, and one other plans to spend at least two quarters there next year.

c. Starting in spring of 1998, the exit exam/interview for graduating senior majors (see IV. A. 3. above) will provide more quantifiable data on the communicative ability of students having completed our program.

6. At the 500 level

a. Students accepted into our MA programs are required to possess advanced or superior communication skills in the target language. In order to guarantee such competence, starting in the fall of 1997, all new MA candidates in French will take a grammar and speaking test when they arrive for orientation. The Fred Toner, the TA supervisor, will use the information thus obtained to determine the extent and type of supervision each TA will require.

C. Tools that Demonstrate Cultural and Communication Skills

1. 100 and 200 levels

a. At this level, we evaluate students' acquisition of cultural skills through exams in each individual course. Often, students in all sections of a course take identical exams and the course coordinator monitors the results.

2. 300 level

a. We encourage all of our third-year students to participate in a study abroad program. The DML offers five programs, in all languages except Italian, with a sixth planned (in Spain) for 1998. We prepare students for the experience through course work and intensive orientation programs. Almost all of our language majors have been successful at living, studying and working abroad. Student evaluation of the programs and the cultural insights gained by participating in them have been very positive.

b. Some course work at the 300 level focuses on the target culture while building on language skills. In their third year, our majors and minors are required to take a culture class and several classes that introduce them to the study of literature.

3. 400 level

a. Classes offered at the 400 level require students to perform in-depth literary, cultural, and linguistic analysis. Most of our assessment data for advanced cultural skills come from students' performance in these classes.

b. More quantifiable data come from the High School Teaching Placement Exam, which all future high school teachers of language must take before becoming certified to teach. This exam covers language skills and cultural awareness. Our students successfully pass this exam each year, earn their teaching certificates, and get jobs teaching literature and other cultural manifestations to high school students.

c. The Honors Tutorial thesis option demonstrates an undergraduate's ability to do independent research on culture, language, or literature. In 1996-97, none of our HTC students completed a thesis.

d. A new course will be offered in the 1997-98 academic year on Francophone literature and culture. The development of this class responds to a need for our students to be more aware of the variety of cultural manifestations that make up the contemporary French speaking world.

e. A new course will be offered in the 1997-98 academic year focusing on contemporary French civilization with an emphasis on minority voices. Fred will spend part of the summer of 1997 in France attending a seminar designed to help instructors develop such courses. Students who successfully complete this course will show an increased awareness of important issues related to French culture.

4. 500 level

a. We collect most of our assessment data of our graduate students' cultural competence in the context of the classroom. All 500-level classes require students to conduct literary, cultural, and linguistic analysis. In addition to readings for classroom discussions, in most classes students must pursue an independent research project and write a 10-20 page paper detailing the results.

b. Beginning in 1996-97, all MA students in the Spanish program were required to compile a writing portfolio from the entire academic year. Each faculty member will choose several students whose portfolio they will review in the fall of the following academic year. This process will give students valuable feedback from faculty members other than the professor for whom they originally wrote their papers.

c. Our MA programs include a thesis option, which demonstrates a graduate student's ability to do more extensive independent research than that required in typical classes. In 1996-97, none of our MA students completed a thesis.

d. We assess students' cumulative abilities in writing, cultural awareness, and literary and linguistic analysis by means of our MA comprehensive exam. This test consists of two days of written examination (9 total hours of writing) and one oral exam (one hour with a committee). In 1996-97, 8 students passed their comprehensive exams and received the MA degree.

e. Students graduating with BAs and MAs have successfully completed graduate programs at other institutions as indicated by responses given through questionnaires, our newsletter, alum banquets, and informal reporting. They feel that our program provided them a good preparation in literary and cultural studies. Since 1990, approximately 25% of our MA graduates have gone on for a PhD.

D. Connections

1. All courses offered to teach language with professional ends (journalism, criminology, business) have been oversubscribed. German for business was offered for the first time fall quarter to 6 students. Business French had 16, Business Spanish had 15, and Spanish for Journalism averaged 16 per quarter.

2. A series of classes on foreign language pedagogy are offered, which MA students and advanced undergraduates planning on acquiring teaching certificates take. These classes attracted an average of 19 students per quarter. In order to address the language-specific needs of foreign language teachers, teachers in French and Spanish have each developed and taught a new methodology course this year for advanced undergraduates planning on teaching in junior and senior high school and MA students planning on teaching college-level language courses. There were 15 students enrolled in the Spanish section and 14 in the French.

3. The Spanish section offers professional internships in Merida, Mexico for students who wish to return to Mexico with the program for a second year. The following students have participated:

1992 Political Science     translation for private business

1995 Hlth & Hum. Ser.     private hospital

1995 Business & Span.   hardware store

1995 Pol. Sci. & Span.     city government

1995 Pol. Sci. & Span.     city government

1995 Span. education      bilingual school

1996 Span. education      bilingual school

1996 Pol. Sci.                    law office

1996 Pol. Sci.                    law office

1997 Span. & English      ESL teaching

1997 Span. education     ESL teaching

1997 Tel. Com. & Span   radio station

4. Many students in our language classes are International Studies majors who secure jobs after graduation because of their foreign language ability. Our majors have also been able to secure excellent positions after graduation using their language skills as an edge. One student who studied Russian at OU and participated in our Moscow study abroad program is now living and working in Uzbekistan (a former Soviet Republic whose two national languages are Uzbek and Russian). Another recent OU graduate who studied Russian through the third-year sequence at OU is now living in Moscow and working for a computer firm there.

In the 1996-97 academic year we instituted several changes based on our assessment activity. The new courses in French and Spanish teaching methodology, the new study abroad program in Spain, the new French classes in Francophone literature and culture and contemporary French civilization, and the grammar component in the Spanish 340 series of classes all came from demands identified through assessment tools.

This year we also identified several areas for which we needed better data for assessment analysis and we found ways to collect those data. The new grammar component in the French 200 series final exams; our new departmental course evaluations; our new data on retention rates in the first two years of requirement-level language classes; our planned exit exam/interview for graduating seniors; our new questionnaires developed with the help of Institutional Research, the Alumni Office, and Arts and Sciences Study Abroad; and more extensive use of the OPI will give us increasingly helpful assessment data we can use to fine tune our program.

VI. Recommendations for the Future:

A. We need to analyze our assessment data better. If we better articulate what we can learn from each of our assessment tools, we will be more able to institute positive changes in our program.

B. We would benefit from more data on our graduates. If we had a list of, for example, language majors who also earned teaching certificates, we could communicate more effectively with former students and learn from them. We are currently developing such a data base for our MA graduates, which will include detailed information on those who continued in PhD programs.

C. We need to find a way to get our majors to the advanced level of oral proficiency. As the OPI data show, most of our students who study abroad in our 10-week programs reach the intermediate high level. This level is not adequate for a student to function effectively in a work environment abroad. The internships for Spanish students in Merida, Mexico and the advanced German study at Leipzig University will help students more easily achieve the advanced level. We need more such programs.

D. We need to find ways to survey our minors and students whose primary major is not foreign language to find out what impact the study of language has had on their lives and careers. We listed this goal in last year's report, and since then have discovered that the registrar's office can give us lists of dual majors. We have requested that information for fall quarter, 1997.

E. Our department is in great need of demand analysis during registration so that we can best meet the course needs of our students. With the TRIPS system, we have no control over closed-out students, even in sequential classes and no knowledge of where demand occurs initially. We cannot meet students' needs without this information.

F. We should integrate study abroad into the curriculum more effectively. We consider the experience abroad one of the most important steps our students take towards becoming educated observers of language and culture, yet we have no curricular mechanism for exploring the effects of that experience. Some colleagues have discussed the possibility of offering a capstone course to seniors that would focus on cultural awareness.

G. We need to standardize and increase the rate of administration of the OPI. A data base should be kept for all students interviewed in all languages.