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World Language Essential Standards Crosswalk

A Document to Assist with the Transition from the 2004 Standard Course of Study to the 2010 Essential Standards

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VIII. Proficiency-Based Organization

The World Language Essential Standards are organized by proficiency level, rather than grade level, so that language acquisition, or what a student should know and be able to do when they hear, speak, read, or write the language, is clear. A proficiency-based approach to teaching a language ensures that students will be able to use the language, in combination with cultural knowledge, to effectively communicate. In the 21 st century, it is evident on a daily basis that employers in all sectors (agriculture, business, commerce, defense, education, engineering, government, medical, technical, etc.) and communities of every size need multilingual people who are knowledgeable, global citizens – a fact that has led the North Carolina State Board of Education to adopt the Future-Ready Students for the 21 st Century goals and has driven many other state and federal initiatives, such as the Critical Languages legislation and the National Security Language Initiative (NSLI), to put language proficiency at the forefront of educational programs.

The World Language Essential Standards include exit proficiency expectations, which are proficiency outcome expectations, for every program based on the K-12 Performance and Proficiency Guidelines from the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL), which provides the proficiency scale used nationally by education entities and is involved in proficiency testing for teacher licensing and other types of certification where language proficiency is a necessary component.

The ACTFL scale currently has 10 levels of proficiency (see below) with descriptions of what learners can do with the language at that point. Two higher levels may be added to the ACTFL scale in the near future, so they are included here with an asterisk * at the upper end of the scale but they do not currently have accompanying descriptions.

1. Novice Low (NL) 2. Novice Mid (NM) 3. Novice High (NH) 4. Intermediate Low (IL) 5. Intermediate Mid (IM) 6. Intermediate High (IH) 7. Advanced Low (AL) 8. Advanced Mid (AM) 9. Advanced High (AH) 10. Superior (S) * Distinguished * Native

There are also other proficiency scales used nationally and internationally for a variety of purposes: assessment, education, government, military, and professional. The list that follows defines the organizations that have published proficiency scales, along with their main purposes, and the chart shows how those scales align to the ACTFL scale.

SLPI (Sign Language Proficiency Interview) – National assessment use for American Sign Language (ASL)

TESOL (Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages) – National educational use for English as a Second Language (ESL)

ILR (Interagency Language Roundtable) – United States government and military use

CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference) – European professional, educational, and assessment use

Note: The current representations are approximations pending final results of ongoing alignment studies by ACTFL and the Council of Europe with the two proficiency scales.

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