College Standards for Russian 102 and 203

October 13, 2009


College Standards for Russian 203

Dear Students,

We are in the midst of preparing our departments to pass the Southern Association of Schools and Colleges accreditation (yawn). It can be very painful, as we have to deal with a rigid bureaucratic jargon and its assumptions, paramount among them that everything we teach may somehow — must willy nilly somehow — be (objectively!) quantified.

I won’t bore you (yawn) with the gruesome details, and please don’t tell anyone about this. But I thought you might be interested in the American Council of Teachers of Foreign Language’s standards definitions for Intermediate High, Mid and Low. These correspond roughly to, I’d say, our 204, 203, and 102 at Tulane. We’ve been told that Intermediate Mid is indeed roughly 203 and that the official Tulane proficiency requirement, 102, is Intermediate Low.

Take a gander. I’d love to hear your comments.

Note definitio a negatione: achievements are defined by how far they miss the mark. (the Advanced Level defines true success, which I’ll share with you soon). Note “features of breakdown,” “failure to maintain narration,” etc. The dominant language is present like an evil ghost.

Check out the last sentence for Intermediate mid: “Intermediate-Mid speakers are generally understood by sympathetic interlocutors accustomed to dealing with non-natives.” I hope y’all find some sympatheic interlocutors.

The Intermediate Low is the outcome of 102.
I guess I shouldn’t let you read these things; let me assure me that I don’t believe them as stated. Fear not! Вперёд в светлое коммунистическое будущее! Совестский Союз навсегда!


INTERMEDIATE HIGH

Intermediate-High speakers are able to converse with ease and confidence when dealing with most routine tasks and social situations of the Intermediate level. They are able to handle successfully many uncomplicated tasks and social situations requiring an exchange of basic information related to work, school, recreation, particular interests and areas of competence, though hesitation and errors may be evident.

Intermediate-High speakers handle the tasks pertaining to the Advanced level, but they are unable to sustain performance at that level over a varietyof topics. With some consistency, speakers at the Intermediate High level narrate and describe in major time frames using connected discourse of paragraph length. However, their performance of these Advanced-level tasks will exhibit one or more features of breakdown, such as the failure to maintain the narration or description semantically or syntactically in the appropriate major time frame, the disintegration of connected discourse, the misuse of cohesive devises, a reduction in breadth and appropriateness of vocabulary, the failure to successfully circumlocute, or a significant amount of hesitation.
Intermediate-High speakers can generally be understood by native speakers unaccustomed to dealing with non-natives, although the dominant language is still evident (e.g. use of code-switching, false cognates, literal translations, etc.), and gaps in communication may occur.

INTERMEDIATE MID
Speakers at the Intermediate-Mid level are able to handle successfully a variety of uncomplicated communicative tasks in straightforward social situations. Conversation is generally limited to those predictable and concrete exchanges necessary for survival in the target culture; these include personal information covering self, family, home, daily activities, interests and personal preferences, as well as physical and social needs, such as food, shopping, travel and lodging.
Intermediate-Mid speakers tend to function reactively, for example, by responding to direct questions or requests for information. However, they are capable of asking a variety of questions when necessary to obtain simple information to satisfy basic needs, such as directions, prices and services. When called on to perform functions or handle topics at the Advanced level, they provide some information but have difficulty linking ideas, manipulating time and aspect, and using communicative strategies, such as circumlocution. Intermediate-Mid speakers are able to express personal meaning by creating with the language, in part by combining and recombining known elements and conversational input to make utterances of sentence length and some strings of sentences. Their speech may contain pauses, reformulations and self-corrections as they search for adequate vocabulary and appropriate language forms to express themselves. Because of inaccuracies in their vocabulary and/or pronunciation and/or grammar and/or syntax, misunderstandings can occur, but Intermediate-Mid speakers are generally understood by sympathetic interlocutors accustomed to dealing with non-natives.

INTERMEDIATE LOW

Speakers at the Intermediate-Low level are able to handle successfully a limited number of uncomplicated communicative tasks by creating with the language in straightforward social situations. Conversation is restricted to some of the concrete exchanges and predictable topics necessary for survival in the target language culture. These topics relate to basic personal information covering, for example, self and family, some daily activities and personal preferences, as well as to some immediate needs, such as ordering food and
making simple purchases.

At the Intermediate-Low level, speakers are primarily reactive and struggle to answer direct questions or requests for information, but they are also able to ask a few appropriate questions.
Intermediate-Low speakers express personal meaning by combining and recombining into short statements what they know and what they hear from their interlocutors. Their utterances are often filled with hesitancy and inaccuracies as they search for appropriate linguistic forms and vocabulary while attempting to give form to the message. Their speech is characterized by frequent pauses, ineffective reformulations and self-corrections. Their pronunciation, vocabulary and syntax are strongly influenced by their first language but, in spite of frequent misunderstandings that require repetition or rephrasing, Intermediate-Low speakers can generally be understood by sympathetic interlocutors, particularly by those accustomed to dealing with non-natives.