Project
Title
Foreign
Language Program Evaluation Project
Principal Investigator
John
M. Norris, University of Hawaiʻi
Overview
The Foreign Language Program Evaluation Project was initiated in 2005,
funded by the U.S. Department of Education through a Title VI
International Research and Studies grant between 2005 and 2008, and has
since been sustained by the National Foreign Language Resource Center
(NFLRC) at the University of Hawaii.
Our goal is to build the capacity of college foreign language educators
to engage with a variety of evaluation, assessment, and accreditation
demands in meaningful and useful ways. In order to provide capacity
building resources that are relevant and meaningful to the foreign
language community, we have been conducting national surveys and
multiple case studies to understand the roles and functions that
evaluation, assessment, and accreditation play in diverse language
program settings (see the first chapter of our recently published
book
for findings). With an empirical understanding of actual purposes,
constraints, demands, and contexts for evaluation and assessment, we
are developing and actively disseminating a range of strategies and
resources that are tailored to priority needs of real language
programs.
Ultimately, we hope to generate a cadre of language program evaluation
experts, who can share their expertise locally and nationally, and lead
the transformation of evaluation practices to maximize benefits for
various language program stakeholders--in particular language learners.
Looking ahead, over the next grant funding cycle (2010—2014),
we are
shifting our primary focus to student learning outcomes assessment,
which we have found to be among the most pressing issues facing
tertiary FL educators, due to current demands from regional
accreditation practices. We intend for our work on outcomes assessment
to help all parties (from language program faculty to federal policy
makers) realize the ways in which assessment can contribute to the
understanding and improvement of language education, including not
least the expression of clear value associated with foreign language
study in the U.S.
We continue to invite college foreign language educators and others to
utilize our capacity-building strategies and resources, and to take
part in various workshops and events we will be hosting. Keep in touch
through our networking venues (Listserv,
Facebook,
and Blog-site)
to receive
updates about our project and news about evaluation projects other
foreign language educators are involved in!
Major Activities
• Conducting workshops and
presentations
• Hosting summer institutes on
assessment and
evaluation (to be announced)
• Carrying out case studies
• Running national survey
studies on assessment,
evaluation, and accreditation
• Managing database of
publications on outcomes
assessment and evaluation
• Generating publications:
Manuals, guides, NFLRC
monograph series
Funders
•
National Foreign Language Resource Center,
University of Hawaiʻi (2006—current)
• U.S. Department of Education
Title VI,
International Research and Studies Grant (2005—2008)
Project history
For a complete introduction to 2005-2008 project activities and details, click here to download a brochure.
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