Assessment
The Department of Foreign Languages believes that assessment is the key to progress: for students, in terms of developing their language proficiency, for faculty, in terms of professional development, and for the Department itself, to ensure our programs are providing the services we expect them to provide.
Student Assessment
Students are regularly assessed by their instructors, through exams and other classroom assignments, in order to help them improve their language skills and their knowledge of cultures and literatures. Students are often discouraged when they can not master the language right away, but you should be aware that language learning is a process of trial and error. Taking risks with the language, using new words or new structures, is required at every level. Even at the most advanced levels, students will find that there is always more to learn about how languages are used in various linguistic communities. The Department's goal is to help students develop language proficiency; that is, to be able to communicate effectively in the language, even if the students make some errors. Students may wish to consult the proficiency guidelines published by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages to better understand our expectations for language learning.
Faculty Assessment
Faculty in the Department of Foreign Languages are assessed every semester through student evaluations. In these evaluations, students have the opportunity to let us know what we are doing well and what we could be doing better. Faculty also undergo an annual process of peer evaluation, where they are observed in the classroom by other tenured faculty and by the Chairperson of the Department. The faculty of the Department of Foreign Languages is always striving to make language learning more accessible and more effective for students. Find out more about what professional development the faculty are involved in by clicking on Faculty & Staff
Program Assessment
The Department's programs undergo regular review by the College and the Board of Higher Education, and the Department is currently in the middle of its own program assessment project. In 2008-2009, students in the Spanish major, all of the language minors, and those completing the foreign language requirement (all 202-level students) have participated in a program assessment project by taking the STAMP proficiency test . This online proficiency test, used by school systems throughout the United States, will allow us to see if our programs are helping students to attain the proficiency levels we envision them attaining. The results of this testing will be evaluated over the next year.