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Definition
S THE ACTFL PROFICIENCY GUIDELINES
They were developed by the American Council for the Teaching of Foreign Languages.
They represent a hierarchy of global characterizations of integrated performance in speaking, listening, reading, and writing.
1. Novice
Novice low, novice mid, novice high
2. Intermediate
Intermediate low, intermediate mid, intermediate high
3. Advanced
Advanced low, advanced mid, advanced high
4. Superior
Superior
3. The Advanced level is characterized by the speaker's ability to: 3.1 converse in a clearly participatory fashion 3.2 initiate, sustain, and bring to closure a wide variety of communicative tasks, including those that require an increased ability to convey meaning with diverse language strategies due to a complication or an unforeseen turn of events 3.3 satisfy the requirements of school and work situations 3.4 narrate and describe with paragraph-length connected discourse. 4. The Superior level is characterized by the speaker's ability to: 4.1 participate effectively in most formal and informal conversations on practical, social, professional, and abstract topics 4.2 support opinions and hypothesize using native-like discourse strategies.
The most challenging level of language instruction. (students at this level have little or no prior knowledge of English on which to build) The presentation of material should be simple and should not overwhelm the students. (as students capacity for taking in and retaining new words, structures, concepts is limited)
Dont get overly frustrated if a considerable period of time goes by with little change.
3) Teacher talk
Your input is crucial. Slow your speech for easier student comprehension, but dont lose its naturalness. Use simple vocabulary & structures that are at or just slightly beyond their level. You have to restrict classroom language to English (unless some advantage is gained by using Thai such as explanation of SIMPLE grammatical points) inductive approach to grammar with suitable
examples and patterns will be more effective in teaching any complex grammatical points.
5) Techniques
Short, simple techniques must be used.
e.g. choral repetition, drilling, teacher-initiated questions.
Group and pair activities are excellent techniques (as long as they are structured)
3) Teacher talk
Speak at a natural pace, as long as articulation is clear. You should not occupy the major proportion of a class hour. For Thai teachers, you should be using less of Thai at this level.
At this level, students sometimes get overly concerned about grammatical correctness and many want to discuss grammatical details far from authentic, real language
5) Techniques
Because o the increasing language capacities of your students, techniques can increase in complexity. Common interactive techniques for intermediates include surveys and polls, paired interviews, group problem solving, role plays, story telling.
3) Teacher talk
Natural language at natural speech is a must at this level. Make sure your students are challenged by your choice of vocabulary, structures, idiom, and other linguistic features. (but still theyre learning a lang!)
Make sure your students have enough opportunities to produce language so your role is to provide feedback.
4) Student creativity
Students at this level are fluent and they are now able to apply classroom material to real contexts beyond CONNECTION Avoid classroom activity that simply ends right there in the classroom.
5) Techniques
Techniques can now tap into a full range of sociolinguistic, discourse competencies. Group debates, argumentation, complex role plays, scanning and skimming reading material, writing essays and critiques.