{"title":"Patterns of integrating the Seal of Biliteracy into the school context","authors":"Pamela M. Wesely, Bing Gao","doi":"10.1111/flan.12760","DOIUrl":"10.1111/flan.12760","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The Seal of Biliteracy (SoBL) is a high school graduation credential that recognizes US students in their final year of high school who have demonstrated proficiency in English and at least one other language. SoBL implementation has been shown in many contexts to be governed by local policy arbiters, who interpret the state policy to provide access to the SoBL to students. Additionally, scholars have suggested that the discourse surrounding the SoBL has been permeated with neoliberal logic that prioritizes individual success and economic advantage. This study investigates how these themes play out in the implementation of the SoBL in 16 schools across Iowa, diverse in size, location, and student linguistic profiles. Findings indicate that the implementation of the SoBL was influenced by the local context and local policy arbiters, and how the SoBL, in turn, influenced the arbiters' perspectives and practices related to language learners and language instruction.</p>","PeriodicalId":47560,"journal":{"name":"Foreign Language Annals","volume":"57 3","pages":"612-633"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2024-04-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/flan.12760","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140798214","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The creative abilities of preservice world language educators","authors":"Anne Cummings Hlas, Christopher S. Hlas","doi":"10.1111/flan.12757","DOIUrl":"10.1111/flan.12757","url":null,"abstract":"<p>A creative approach to teaching can factor into a long-lasting professional career and has the potential to attract passionate newcomers to the field of education. When creativity is valued, teachers can use these abilities to meaningfully design instruction, to create a vibrant learning environment, and to support student self-confidence. For these reasons, this study used the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking as well as interview data to examine creative profiles within teacher education. Using a checklist of 13 possible creative strengths, world language (<i>n</i> = 32) criterion-referenced scores indicated distinct creative abilities among participants. Findings resulted in six domain-specific creative abilities: depicting movement or action, extending or breaking boundaries, storytelling articulation, emotional expressiveness, humor, and expressiveness of titles, as prominent strengths of preservice language educators. In this study, creativity is explored as a transformative factor with potential for teacher retention and recruitment.</p>","PeriodicalId":47560,"journal":{"name":"Foreign Language Annals","volume":"57 3","pages":"747-768"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2024-04-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/flan.12757","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140798279","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Leveraging the AAPPL to promote positive washback in K-12 language teaching","authors":"Reuben Vyn","doi":"10.1111/flan.12761","DOIUrl":"10.1111/flan.12761","url":null,"abstract":"<p>In recent years, the use of external proficiency-based tests to measure learners' language ability has increased significantly, in part thanks to the Seal of Biliteracy movement. However, there exists very limited research investigating the influence of such tests and their subsequent outcomes data on teachers' practices. As such, this study examines the washback effects of the ACTFL Assessment of Performance toward Proficiency in Languages (AAPPL) on teachers' instruction and planning in an urban Midwest K-12 district. Survey and interview data revealed that teachers increased their use of ACTFL key documents, placed more emphasis on target language usage, and sought to balance their use of the three modes of communication to better meet learners' needs and facilitate their proficiency development. This evidence of positive washback was observed among teachers across languages and levels and was enhanced by the opt-in approach to test implementation and the close link between testing and teaching. For some, the AAPPL served as a catalyst to further align their curricula and instruction. Recommendations are offered for those who may wish to implement a standards-based external language assessment such as the AAPPL as a means by which to foster professional growth and promote teachers' adoption of proficiency-oriented practices.</p>","PeriodicalId":47560,"journal":{"name":"Foreign Language Annals","volume":"57 3","pages":"675-697"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2024-04-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140660057","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"From mock interviews to real job interviews: Assessing the efficacy of business Chinese instruction","authors":"Zhongqi Shi, Shuai Li","doi":"10.1111/flan.12759","DOIUrl":"10.1111/flan.12759","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The study investigates whether and how mock interviews, an instructional component of business Chinese courses, prepare students for real interviews. The study included 11 American undergraduate students who participated in a 10-week summer study abroad program in China. Participants underwent two rounds of mock interviews with their instructors and received individualized written feedback after each interview. They were then interviewed by hiring managers from the companies of their choice. The results of the study showed that the feedback provided by instructors addressed various performance issues, with a focus on linguistic accuracy rather than interview content. Comparison of the mock interviews with real job interviews showed significant differences in interview content, including workplace-related interactions, language functions, and free chatting. The findings have implications for teaching and research in language for specific purposes.</p>","PeriodicalId":47560,"journal":{"name":"Foreign Language Annals","volume":"57 4","pages":"962-980"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2024-04-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140662457","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"World languages for Black Linguistic Reparations","authors":"Tasha Austin, Uju Anya","doi":"10.1111/flan.12756","DOIUrl":"10.1111/flan.12756","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This conceptual work highlights the history of Black erasure throughout the existence of world languages (WLs) as a field of study in the United States. It outlines the unique challenges faced by African descended learners who have and continue to pursue WL study in US classrooms. These include but are not limited to reduced local funding and programmatic expectations due to the remnants of anti-Black educational policies, monolingual and imperial language ideologies prevalent in texts and pedagogical approaches, and generations of segregation in and outside of schools. Finally, this work proposes WLs serve as a site of Black Linguistic Reparations through, (1) the redistribution of resources in the field, (2) the repair of enacted WL teaching to meet the calls of ACTFL's standards for preparing students for communication in a pluralistic society, and (3) a recreation of the “world” as narrated through a global, rather than a white Western lens.</p>","PeriodicalId":47560,"journal":{"name":"Foreign Language Annals","volume":"57 2","pages":"288-310"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2024-04-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/flan.12756","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140592050","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Issue Information - Ed Board, ACTFL Officers Page","authors":"","doi":"10.1111/flan.12692","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/flan.12692","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":47560,"journal":{"name":"Foreign Language Annals","volume":"57 1","pages":"1-2"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2024-03-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/flan.12692","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140063704","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Building connections","authors":"L. J. Randolph Jr.","doi":"10.1111/flan.12755","DOIUrl":"10.1111/flan.12755","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":47560,"journal":{"name":"Foreign Language Annals","volume":"57 1","pages":"5-7"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2024-02-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139979445","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The lexical content of high-stakes national exams in French, German, and Spanish in England","authors":"Amber Dudley, Emma Marsden","doi":"10.1111/flan.12751","DOIUrl":"10.1111/flan.12751","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Surprisingly little is known about the number and frequency level of words that beginner-to-low-intermediate 16-year-old learners of French, German, and Spanish are expected to know when taking high-stakes national exams in England. This study presents exploratory analyses of the lexical content of the listening and reading tests of these exams, a corpus totaling 116,647 running words. Specifically, it seeks to understand the number and frequency level of words that (a) this demographic seems to be expected to know and (b) could be needed for awarding organizations to create exams year-on-year. Key findings include that the proportion of low(er)-frequency words in the corpus of exam papers seemed large, given the stage of the learners and the purpose of the assessments. Critically, these low(er)-frequency words changed at a high rate between papers, likely incurring a heavy reliance on the lexical inferencing abilities of these relatively inexperienced language learners.</p>","PeriodicalId":47560,"journal":{"name":"Foreign Language Annals","volume":"57 2","pages":"311-338"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2024-02-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/flan.12751","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139953374","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Addressing challenges in language education: Insights and solutions from higher education","authors":"Kristin J. Davin, Francis J. Troyan","doi":"10.1111/flan.12754","DOIUrl":"10.1111/flan.12754","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":47560,"journal":{"name":"Foreign Language Annals","volume":"57 1","pages":"8-9"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2024-02-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139953718","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Kristin J. Davin, Kristen R. Cruz, Charlotte R. Hancock
{"title":"An examination of the postgraduation benefits of earning a Seal of Biliteracy","authors":"Kristin J. Davin, Kristen R. Cruz, Charlotte R. Hancock","doi":"10.1111/flan.12753","DOIUrl":"10.1111/flan.12753","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Across the United States, students have the opportunity to earn a Seal of Biliteracy (SoBL) when they graduate from high school. Awarded to students who demonstrate proficiency in two or more languages, the SoBL originated to confront English-only ideologies and promote multilingualism. But critics question the impact of the policy on students and whether English-dominant students experience greater impacts than their linguistically-minoritized peers. To that end, this study posed the question, What do recipients report postgraduation as benefits of earning a SoBL? In this qualitative investigation, 33 SoBL earners were interviewed postgraduation to analyze the benefits that they experienced from SoBL attainment. Four themes characterized the findings: increased employability in sales and education, pride and acknowledgment for linguistically-minoritized students, greater confidence and interest in postsecondary education, and difficulty receiving college credit. The article concludes with implications for strengthening the impact of the policy.</p>","PeriodicalId":47560,"journal":{"name":"Foreign Language Annals","volume":"57 3","pages":"634-653"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2024-02-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/flan.12753","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139923762","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}