Purpose: When you learn a language communicatively, you may not be aware that you are learning, or of what you are learning. That's because neither the teaching nor the learning focuses emphatically on specific pieces of knowledge to be "studied" consciously and tested for conscious recall and replication. In other words, you are not being taught with, for example, verb charts which you then, on an exam, reproduce as verb charts. (Along the way in our course, though, you will indeed acquire knowledge of verbs and such.) It is beneficial for instructors to check the long-term progress of learners, and also for learners to assess their own progress and be aware of it. That is why everyone does this assignment in the first quarter of the course, and periodically later on.

The universal standards in the United States for describing levels of language proficiency are the "Proficiency Guidelines" developed over several decades by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL). This assignment uses a condensed version of the "ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines." It is in the photocopy packet and also available (PDF) from this link. Copy or print the two pages. Read the Guidelines for both speaking and writing. Then, for both speaking and writing, mark FIVE of the individual guidelines to show:

1) what your level of proficiency was when you began German 101;
2) what your level of proficiency is NOW;
3) what level of proficiency you expect to reach at the end of German 103;
4) what level of proficiency you expect to reach when you finish taking all the German CLASSES you expect to take;
5) what level of proficiency you hope to reach if you continue learning German AFTER you quit taking German COURSES.

Label your selections with something like "before," "now," and "end of year," "end of courses", "later in life." If you like, you may use these corresponding German labels: "vorher," "jetzt," "am Jahresende," "Ende des Studiums," "im späteren Leben." It is quite possible that you may need to put two labels on one level of proficiency, for example if you don't intend to continue German beyond this year. If so, please still provide all the labels.

Scoring:

The due date follows the usual policy, with its incentive for doing the assignment quickly: score on timeliness is 4 if your assignment is turned in a week from when the assignment was announced; 6 if before next class meeting; 5 if at next class meeting; if later than one week, score is 3 or lower.

For each of the 5 self-estimates you provide, you get 1 point. If you add 1 meaningful comment, that is worth 1 more point. If you don't add the comment, but provide all 5 self-estimates and return your assignment on time (=4 on timeliness), you get an "A".

At the ACTFL website you can find much information about language learning, and many resources for language learners. On the home page, near the top right, is a link to "Publications." If you run your cursor over it, a menu will show links to the full Guidelines for speaking and writing.