I’m in the computer lab proctoring day two of the AAPPL and I thought it might be a good time to spread the word about this test! It is available at AAPPL.actfl.org in demo form for several languages. The demo is long! You really get a feel for what’s on the test!!
The test costs $20 for a full exam or in sections you can buy interpersonal speaking for 10, presentational writing for 5 and listening and reading for 5. Listening and reading results are available immediately and speaking/writing come back quickly (a day sometimes) during low season and in 2-3 weeks during the high season March-May! It’s an economical way to see how your students are performing!!!
How do I use the AAPPL? In IL we offer a seal of Biliteracy. To earn the seal, students have to reach intermediate high level proficiency in reading, writing, listening and speaking. We are not an AP school AND seniors taking AP don’t have the scores back in time to qualify for the seal!!! This test is a great and cheap solution! Intermediate high is a score of i4 or i5 on all sections of the exam.
Spanish club did a fundraiser and paid $5 to test all Spanish 4 students in reading and listening (great evidence of growth for my type 1 assessment) and those who wanted to pay $15 took the speaking and listening after school yesterday and today.
Pointers:
It’s long and they get tired and scores go down if you try to test all 4 sections in 1 day! Break it into two and collect their log in information so there’s no funny business!
Remember to look (with the kids) at ACTFLs proficiency levels! They need to KNOW what makes he difference between IL IM and IH!
On the listening section be sure they know that they CAN re-listen if they need to but they shouldn’t do it just to recheck their answers because replaying over and over is an indicator that they don’t understand!
Make sure they understand that NATIONALLY about 90% of students who study 4 years of language fall in the NH/IL category so IM scores are amazing!!! Now these statistics are changing… Thomas Sauer said that with better focus on using language in the classroom, scores are coming up!! Keep that CI flowing and we can create a generation of language learners who don’t say he dreaded “I took four years of….” You know what I mean! 🙂
Reply with any questions you have about the test!!