Spanish Heritage Test

Reviewed by: Spanish Heritage Test Christine Campbell Spanish Heritage Test. Avant: Eugene, OR. https://avantassessment.com/shl Teaching and assessing the language of heritage learners presents a variety of challenges given the different experiences learners have had with the language. For example, some, while growing up in a family where the target language was used exclusively, have had daily opportunities to develop listening comprehension and speaking, but not reading comprehension and writing. Others have participated in dual immersion courses where they learned to read and write. An American-based assessment company, Avant, has taken the initiative to design and develop an online instrument to test the Spanish of heritage language learners at grade 7 through adult—the Spanish Heritage Test (SHT). The fruit of collaboration with experts in the heritage language learning field, Avant posits that the SHT "measures Spanish heritage language literacy skills quickly and accurately in reading, grammar, writing, and speaking," elsewhere stating "vocabulary, grammar, verb use, spelling, and [reviewer's emphasis] speaking & writing proficiency in Spanish." Used as a source of information for learner placement, the SHT is delivered by Avant through an exclusive license with the University of Houston. The website lists the following links to pertinent information: Test Section Descriptions; Test Sample Items; Test Design; Scoring Rubric Guide; Reporting Guide; Suggested Placement Levels; Writing Guide; Assessment Technology Guide; Headset Guide. The SHT has the following sections: Self Assessment; Lexical Recognition (Early Exit 1); Dictation; Partial Translation; Sentence Completion; Verb Conjugation (Early Exit 2); Speaking and Writing. The examinee who demonstrates lower-level literacy skills has two opportunities to exit the test early—after the Lexical Recognition section and after the Verb Conjugation section. Before starting the Self Assessment section, examinees answer demographic questions such as "I have formerly studied Spanish-Heritage in the following grades . . . ," in a Self-Evaluation section. Answers from the two sections are later incorporated into a Report Section that teachers and administrators can use to help determine learner placement in courses. Below, a brief description of each section: Self Assessment: Here, examinees answer a series of Can Do statements created by Avant that are organized according to the five categories within the three modes of Communication in the World-Readiness Standards for Learning Languages, which was recently published in the fourth edition by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (2015): Interpersonal (person-to-person), Presentational (speaking), Presentational (writing), Interpretive (reading) and Interpretive (listening). For example, under "Interpretive Mode, Listening (Understanding Spoken Language)," the Can Do statement is "I can understand familiar names, words, and very basic phrases concerning my family, my immediate surroundings, and myself when people speak simply and clearly." The self-assessment results are presented in the "Report Section" to provide additional insights into the individual examinee's language profile, but are not included in the scoring or testing level. Lexical Recognition: Here, examinees are presented with 100 words, some of which are authentic words in Spanish and some "pseudo," or fabricated, words, the latter to control for guessing. Sample Item: The examinees see, "Do you know the meaning of this word? Casa." Examinees receive one point if they select "Yes"; they do not lose one point if they select "No." However, they lose one point if they select "Yes" when the word is a pseudo word. This section is used to measure the examinee's vocabulary knowledge, which Avant states research has indicated is a good indicator of overall proficiency. The section is based on A Frequency Dictionary of Spanish: Core Vocabulary for Learners (Davies 2006), which lists the five thousand most frequently-used words. Dictation: Here, examinees listen to a sentence and type in the missing word(s). Sample Item: Los _______ por la mañana visito a mis abuelos. The answer is sábados. Partial Translation: Here, examinees select the best option from a list of three Spanish translations of an English sentence that would be clearly understandable to a Spanish speaker who does not speak English. Sample Item: "Which of the following translations would be clearly [End Page 702] understood by a Spanish speaker who does not speak English?" We had a good time at the party last night. Nosotros _______ en

Dictation · Grammar · Heritage language · Linguistics · Mathematics education · Pedagogy · Reading (process) · Rubric · Spelling · Test (biology) · Vocabulary · Computer Science · Psychology · Second Language Learning and Teaching

• College‐level placement for heritage language learners

  Open Access•Jingjing Ji•Foreign Language Annals•2021

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