Oral Proficiency
Workshops for Southeast Asian Language Teachers
University of Wisconsin, Madison, December
14-18, 2019
Sponsored by
Southeast Asia Language Council (SEALC)
You are invited
to apply to participate in the ACTFL Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI) and
Language Specific Oral Proficiency Guidelines (OPG) Workshops for Southeast
Asian Language Teachers at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Participants
should plan to arrive in Madison on the evening of December 13, 2019.
Workshop activities will take place from December 14-18, 2019.
Applications are
due by October 4, 2019.
The OPI workshop
will introduce the ACTFL rating scale, the structure of the ACTFL OPI,
techniques for conducting and rating the interviews, and its applications in
the language classroom.
By the end of the
workshop, you will be able to:
- interview
learners to assess oral proficiency by evaluating interpersonal and
presentational modes of oral communication.
- apply
proficiency principles to the tasks of curriculum design and instructional
methods.
- pursue ACTFL
certification as OPI tester of your target language if you so desire.
On the last day
of the workshop (the 18th), there will be sessions to discuss the development
of language-specific Oral Proficiency Guidelines (OPG) for the SE Asian
languages. The goal of this language-specific OPG project is to formulate
proficiency guidelines that will address specific attributes of your language.
This standardization will promote better communication among instructors and
allow for more reliable tests. The language specific OPG will provide a common
yard stick for the field and also allow students to gauge their own progress.
Those who have
had prior OPI training are invited and encouraged to join the OPG workshop on December
18 (arriving on Dec 17).
Upon completion
of the workshop, there will be follow-up activities online, involving
collaboration among colleagues within language groups where there are
sufficient numbers of teachers to form a working group. The language specific
groups will collect and rate oral proficiency interviews. For those collecting
and rating interviews, there will be a second workshop in Fall 2020 to
consolidate the data and to formulate the oral proficiency guidelines (OPG) for
your language (SEALC will provide modest honorarium and cover major travel
expenses for this 2020 workshop).
Priority will be
given to those applicants who make a firm commitment to participate in the
follow-up activities.
Applications
should be submitted online at https://uwmadison.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_8uGqJoTvm6xJvXD
by October 4, 2019.
To apply to
participate in the Oral Proficiency workshops, please submit:
1. A one page
statement describing your background in teaching a Southeast Asian language and
your commitment to apply the knowledge you gain from the training to
participate in the OPG project for your language.
(For those with
prior OPI training who would like to join the Dec 18 OPG workshop and follow-up
project, please state where and when your OPI training was obtained and your
commitment to participate in the OPG project for your language)
2. Your CV
covering your language teaching experience.
With acceptance,
your registration cost for the workshop is covered.
To request
funding support for travel and accommodation
3. Submit a
statement of need including information from your institution indicating what
portion of the cost they can cover. It is expected that participants from
NRCs will seek travel funds from their institutions, but if full funding is not
available, please specify level of travel support your institution can offer.
Active membership
in COTSEAL is required to participate in the ACTFL workshop. To renew or become
a member please fill out this form: http://cotseal.net/COTSEAL_membership_form.pdf
Questions should
be addressed to sealc@iris.wisc.edu.
