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Learning Languages: Pathway to Common Core Literacy
The Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts
and Literacy describe a pathway to develop college- and career-
ready high school graduates. The building blocks of that pathway
are the four strands of reading, writing, speaking and listening,
and language. These blocks are consistent throughout learners’
education in elementary grades, middle school, and senior high.
Common Core and the National Standards
Language educators also have a set of national standards that
form a core common to most states’ standards: the five C goal
areas of Communication, Cultures, Connections, Comparisons,
and Communities. The standards that describe Communication
match the strands of the Common Core State Standards, not
just superficially, but at a deeper conceptual level and with many
commonalities for implementation:
r Reading corresponds to the Interpretive Mode
r Writing corresponds to the Presentational Mode
r Speaking and Listening correspond to the Interpersonal Mode,
and also to the Presentational (speaking) and Interpretive
(listening) modes
By emphasizing the purpose behind the communication, the
language learning standards move away from isolated skill
building and situate the development of language usage in that
purpose. When these standards guide curriculum, assessment,
and instruction, learners are on a pathway to literacy.
The fourth strand of the Common Core—Language—corresponds
not to specific standards, but to the overarching description of
how proficiency develops. How learners improve their language
performance (increasing vocabulary, awareness of language
conventions, and control of language functions) is captured in
the ACTFL Proficiency Levels: Novice, Intermediate, Advanced,
Superior, and Distinguished.
Making this conceptual link of language standards with Common
Core is easy. To actually put this into practice implies important
changes in our assessment and instruction. Common Core, just
like the national language standards, does not describe content
to teach but rather outlines the skills that need to be developed
in a standards-based program.
National Standards and the AP* Program
The National Standards for Learning Languages are now the
framework for the Advanced Placement* language and culture
courses and exams. With this common emphasis on the
three communication modes (interpersonal, interpretive, and
presentational) and an engaging context through the other
Paul Sandrock Director of Education. American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languajes
four Cs, the AP* language and culture course connects to the
vertical development of the same language performance across
every grade level and learning experience.
National Standards, the AP* Program, and Santillana
The Santillana materials supporting language learning and
Advanced Placement follow this approach to developing literacy
through acquiring another language:
Interpersonal
Language learners develop Common Core literacy in listening and
speaking when they practice strategies to initiate and maintain
a conversation, negotiate meaning, ask follow-up questions, ask
for clarification, and come to agreement. This requires creating
a need to engage in conversation, to find out information, to
exchange ideas, to come to consensus.
Interpretive
Language learners develop Common Core literacy in listening and
reading when they practice strategies to figure out what the writer,
speaker, or producer wants them to understand. Learners need
to acquire a variety of strategies to access meaning, including
skimming and scanning for key words and phrases, predicting
what might be in the “text,” looking for clues in structures or from
the context, verifying if potentially true statements are logical or
not, and hypothesizing about the meaning and then verifying as
more evidence emerges.
Presentational
Language learners develop Common Core literacy in speaking and
writing when they practice strategies to plan and organize their
content, self-correct and peer-edit, research and present findings,
and develop and carefully construct an argument.
Conclusion
Using the Standards for Learning Languages as a guide, language
educators are poised to support the development of learners’
literacy as described in the Common Core State Standards,
simultaneously helping students acquire and practice the
strategies that will improve their use of the target language.
Bibliography
Common Core State Standards. .
ACTFL Alignment Document. .
ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines 2012.
>.
* Advanced Placement and AP are registered trademarks of the College Board, which was not involved in the production of, and does not endorse, this product.
Background and Research