During the holiday season many retailers, both at the store-level and online, find that communicating with customers in their native language to be a challenge. Selecting which languages communicate in for both employees and website retailers, should reflect your product’s market opportunities and long-term goals. Using backend technologies like geolocation or tracking of billing addresses help identify […]
Continue readingGroundbreaking Study from ACTFL Measures Listening and Reading
Fifty years ago, John B. Carroll undertook a landmark study analyzing the oral proficiency of students in language programs in the United States. The often-cited article on his research, “Foreign Language Proficiency Levels Attained by Language Majors Near Graduation from College,” appeared in Foreign Language Annals in 1967—the first year of the journal’s publication. The impact on […]
Continue readingThe Growing Demand for a Multilingual Workforce
With the growing demand for multilingual in today’s increasingly globalizing world, listing “fluency” in several languages on one’s resume has become a significant advantage for job seekers. What does it actually mean when someone says that they are fluent, though? How can companies be sure that the people they are hiring actually have the requisite […]
Continue readingSeal of Biliteracy Guidelines Released
ACTFL, the National Association of Bilingual Education (NABE), the National Council of State Supervisors for Languages (NCSSFL), and TESOL International Association, have officially drafted recommendations for the implementation of the Seal of Biliteracy. The Seal of Biliteracy is an award made by a state department of education or local district to recognize a student who […]
Continue readingUsing Real-World Tasks to Assess Student Performance
Aimee Mack came to a quick realization last spring as she and colleagues pored over Connecticut’s new teacher evaluation system: Their jobs would depend on being able to share evidence of their language learners’ growth with the entire school community. “We knew that as a department we were going to be looking at data as […]
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