Book Announcement: Foreign Language Proficiency in Higher Education

The results of three years of language proficiency research from the University of Minnesota PACE Project, as well as parallel projects at Michigan State University and the University of Utah, and similar initiatives, have been combined in a new volume from Springer Publishing, which is now available in both ebook and hardcover.

This volume contains chapters that deal with language proficiency relating to a wide range of language program issues including curriculum, assessment, learners and instructors, and skill development. The chapters cover various aspects of a broad-based proficiency initiative, focusing on numerous aspects of foreign language learning, including how skills develop, how assessments can inform curriculum, how learners and instructors view proficiency and proficiency assessment, and how individual use of technology furthers language learning. The concluding chapter points the way forward for issues and questions that need to be addressed.

This book includes the following chapters written by current and former University of Minnesota researchers affiliated with the PACE Project:

• “Picking Up the PACE: Proficiency Assessment for Curricular Enhancement” by Dan Soneson and Elaine Tarone
• “Where Am I? Where Am I Going, and How Do I Get There?: Increasing Learner Agency Through Large-Scale Self Assessment in Language Learning” by Gabriela Sweet, Sara Mack and Anna Olivero-Agney
• “Arabic Proficiency Improvement Through a Culture of Assessment” by Katrien Vanpee and Dan Soneson
• “Language Instructors Learning Together: Using Lesson Study in Higher Education” by Beth Dillard