MLO 1: Language Proficiency
Description:
The student sustains performance in speaking, listening, reading and writing at the Advanced level of language proficiency, as outlined by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL):
1.1 Speaking ability: The student is able to satisfy the requirements of everyday situations and routine school and work requirements. Can communicate facts and talk casually about topics of current public and personal interest, using general vocabulary. The student can be understood without difficulty by native speakers.
1.2 Listening ability: The student is able to understand main ideas and most details of connected discourse on a variety of topics beyond the immediacy of the situation. Comprehension may be uneven due to a variety of linguistic factors and topics.
1.3 Reading ability: The student is able to read prose selections of several paragraphs in length, particularly if printed clearly and if prose is in familiar sentence patterns. Reader understands the main ideas and facts but may miss some details. At this level the student can read such texts as descriptions, narratives, short stories, news items and routine personal and business correspondence.
1.4 Writing ability: The student is able to write routine social correspondence and join sentences in simple discourse of at least several paragraphs in length on familiar topics, and is able to express him/herself simply with some circumlocution. Good control of the most frequently used syntactic structures, but makes frequent errors in producing complex sentences. Writing is understandable to natives not used to the writing of non-natives.
1.1 Speaking ability: The student is able to satisfy the requirements of everyday situations and routine school and work requirements. Can communicate facts and talk casually about topics of current public and personal interest, using general vocabulary. The student can be understood without difficulty by native speakers.
1.2 Listening ability: The student is able to understand main ideas and most details of connected discourse on a variety of topics beyond the immediacy of the situation. Comprehension may be uneven due to a variety of linguistic factors and topics.
1.3 Reading ability: The student is able to read prose selections of several paragraphs in length, particularly if printed clearly and if prose is in familiar sentence patterns. Reader understands the main ideas and facts but may miss some details. At this level the student can read such texts as descriptions, narratives, short stories, news items and routine personal and business correspondence.
1.4 Writing ability: The student is able to write routine social correspondence and join sentences in simple discourse of at least several paragraphs in length on familiar topics, and is able to express him/herself simply with some circumlocution. Good control of the most frequently used syntactic structures, but makes frequent errors in producing complex sentences. Writing is understandable to natives not used to the writing of non-natives.
How I fulfilled it:
In order to satisfy the requirements as outlined by the university, I took the WLC 400 Major Capstone class. The capstone project is the final piece of academic work that ties together the skillsets built during the college experience, and is an ultimate demonstration of our capabilities as a student. During the semester we received guidance from faculty members in regards to which topic we covered. For my particular project, I elected to read a lesser-known surrealist novel entitled Crimen by Agustín Espinosa, and perform an analysis of the literary techniques in the book, in addition to a bit of research on the life of the author. Studying a work of this complexity was challenging to my reading skills, which have improved greatly as a result. The analysis of the novel has been completed, first in written form, as a 15-20 page research paper that displays my capability to form my own conclusions from the elements presented in the text, in addition to effectively citing information gathered from other individuals. My findings on the book were then presented orally to my faculty advisor and fellow students entirely in Spanish, and I received advice from my peers in our target language. The capstone course was very comprehensive, as it covered the four major components of learning a language: reading, writing, speaking, and listening. This project has allowed me to successfully integrate my abilities into one clear and concise work, and I intend to furnish this proof of my language skills as I move into my career.
Read my final project here
Read my final project here
WLC 400: Major Capstone Course Description:
Students work with the instructor and WLC faculty advisors to research, synthesize, write and present their Capstone projects. Students will also assemble a Graduation Portfolio reflecting how each MLO was met. This course is required for all Japanese, Spanish and World Languages and Cultures majors.