Purpose: When you learn a language communicatively, as in PSU first-year German, 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 (though along the way in our course 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 every quarter.

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 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.

*If you wish to save paper, adjust the assignment: Send your self-evaluation in an email, using the 5 categories listed above ("when began German 101", "NOW", etc.). For your speaking AND writing skills, express your self-evaluations like this: "NOW - speaking Novice-Mid, writing Novice-High").

About SCORING/GRADING:

There are 10 ratings for you to assign to yourself (5 for speaking, 5 for writing). Do all 10 ratings and you get a 5 (=A-). Adding a comment of any seriousness raises your score by 1 point, since that documents your interest in learning. There is no "on-time" factor in this assignment, since this activity, unlike a test or the early "email your instructor" assignment, does not have a critical time value. Still, if you don't do it before the end of the quarter, your score on it will be 0. That might be enough to push a very low minus-minus grade, such as B--, down to a very high plus-plus grade, such as a C++.

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.