SALTA newsletter Issue 1 | Spring 2008

Contents SALTAPage 1 Presidential Note South Asian Language Teachers Association

Presidential Note + Dear colleagues, Contents All of us are excited to work in a new in our field, such as Manindra Verma, page 1 Presidential Note, time when the South Asian Languages Surendra Gambhir, James Gair, Gabriela Nik. we represent are on the ascent in Herman Van Olphan, Harold F. Ilieva terms of student demand, academic Schiffman, Vijay Gambhir and Susham Bedi, who have founded it as a page 2-3 AIIS Advanced and professional interest as well as public perception. With this, the democratic organization and have Language built its future. Our association can Program, challenges we face are also growing. provide the venue all of us need to Surendra We focus our efforts to solidify Gambhir existing language programs, build communicate and I ask that all of you new ones and make them competitive join in the efforts to revitalize our page 4 News from the organization and energize our South Asian and up-to-date, especially, vis-à-vis the qualitative and quantitative discussion of current issues related to Languages the teaching and learning of South Resource Center, changes in the demographic profile of Asian languages. Sean Pue our students. The scope of second language acquisition has also Sincerely, page 4 Bilingualism and undergone expansion by addressing Second Language some specifics of heritage learners’ Gabriela Nik. Ilieva Learning, Tej K. language acquisition. In addition, the government has launched the page 5 National National Security Language Initiative President: Gabriela Nik. Ilieva Standards for to expand the number of Americans Vice President: Jishnu Shankhar Learning Hindi who speak ‘critical need” languages Treasurer: Gyanam Mahajan and increase the number of teachers Newsletter Editor: Brajesh Samarth page 5 Course and resources available to them. In Newsletter Designer: Michael Hirsch Enrollments in order to move forward as a field and South Asian Languages as professionals in this new context, we need to efficiently organize our For submission of any materials community, share our experiences, regarding South Asian Languages page 6 STARTALK please contact: cooperate and exchange information. [email protected] We are fortunate that SALTA has been page 7-8 STAMP in the hands of distinguished experts © SALTA 2008

SALTA AIIS Advanced Language Program

Surendra Gambhir for other languages on demand in central objective. During one- Chair, AIIS Language Committee the future. Summer students on-one tutorials, students are usually bring a FLAS (Foreign also able to study a Sanskrit text AIIS advanced language Language Area Study) fellowship important for their doctoral program offers American from their institutions and the research with a scholar students two programs in India Department of Education funds specialized in that field. In every year for studying Indic support the academic year addition, AIIS also has been languages. The program is students. AIIS also has some organizing and supervising two primarily for graduate students limited funds to support those who Hindi programs from England – but qualified undergraduate are unable to get help from their the School of Oriental and students are also acceptable. own institutions. Under the new African Studies and the Participants in the program need language initiative and the Critical University of Cambridge. Such to be American citizens or Language Scholarship program of programs promote interaction permanent residents. Students the federal government, AIIS was between future South Asian can apply for a summer program able to fund 37 students this past scholars from the U.S. and held between June and August summer studying Bengali, Hindi, Europe. Last summer, we or/and for a nine-month program Punjabi and Urdu. introduced second year Hindi, held between September and which fulfills a long-standing April every year. With slight The AIIS language program has need. The inaugural program variations, the program has been gradually grown with more consisting of twelve participants running since 1962. The languages to study and to much was a grand success under the languages that are offered on larger numbers than in the past. direction of Professor Rakesh regular basis are Bengali, Hindi, AIIS operated its largest summer Ranjan. Sanskrit, Tamil and Urdu. Other language program ever in India languages that have been offered during the summer 2006. The All language programs are on demand are Gujarati, current 2006-07 academic year held in regions where the target Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, program is also the largest in the language is spoken. This Pali, Persian, Punjabi, Prakrit, history of AIIS with 19 students provides an opportunity to all Telugu, Tibetan and Oriya. studying Urdu, Tamil, Hindi, the incoming students to Arrangements can also be made Marathi and Bengali. During the immerse themselves in the summer 2006, AIIS had 95 students target culture, use the language (representing an approximately on day-to-day basis with 50% increase over 2005) studying individuals of varied social 12 different languages. The Urdu backgrounds and assimilate and Sanskrit programs created subtleties of the target language during the last five years are now usages and their social well-established regular correlates. Four hours of formal programs. The Urdu program also instruction during weekdays is welcomes every year students supplemented by numerous from the Berkeley Urdu program. activities and assignments that The Sanskrit program promote interaction with complements Sanskrit learning in members of the local speech American universities in important community. The students are ways. The nurturing of speaking encouraged to live with host and listening skills are important families, eat with them as often components of the overall as possible and extend their proficiency Sanskrit students social networks through the target. The reading proficiency in family members. Sanskrit continues to have the

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SALTA classroom discussions in The classroom curricula are significant ways. Learners centered on the needs of the experience and internalize participants. An analysis of these variants within the individual needs becomes the precise sociocultural basis of small group classes and situations in which they one-on-one tutorials in every occur. In addition, there is program. All the major programs much unsaid, poorly stated are well equipped with computers or cleverly articulated and other necessary technology. information in any written In addition to a variety of audio, and spoken discourse, and video and print materials, students understanding of this type also meet with invited guests, of covert information make oral presentations and increases through greater practice their language through understanding of the interactive skits and discussions. culture and through community participation. Field trips and community In addition to the participation are major knowledge of words and components of the program. the grammar which Students get involved with local students acquire in the provided a separate orientation in NGOs and cultural organizations. classroom setting, their in- self-management of learning. In Their use of local libraries and depth understanding of any AIIS programs, learners become their interaction with local masked information rests on not only active participants in scholars and other individuals of their familiarity with the finalizing the curriculum but they varied social and professional background information of the are also encouraged to negotiate backgrounds provide them with issues on hand and the body with their teachers if any material insights into the social and language of the interlocutors. or activity is not feeding into their political undercurrents in the short term or long term goals. society. These social activities Learner-centeredness is the Recent researches in study- enhance learners' nuanced key concept that underlies all abroad programs have concluded understanding of meaning in their language-program activities of that longer stays in other societies cultural contexts. They begin to AIIS language programs. are much more valuable for comprehend the societal values Annual teacher-training deeper understanding of other that people prize in their thinking workshops discuss seminal cultures and for acquiring higher and the extent to which they are concepts in second language levels of communicative able to implement them in their acquisition with their proficiency. The AIIS team of lives. Thus the authentic cultural pedagogic implications. The administrators, scholars and images begin to represent to workshop topics in recent teachers work hard to see that learners the real meaning of years have included learner- such an inter-cultural experience words they have learned in the centeredness of the becomes a reality for all motivated classroom. curriculum, learning from the participants. AIIS language feedback that learners program ideology is enshrined in Variation in any living language provide, conventional its mission statement that can be is too large to be handed in any methodologies in conjunction seen by visiting the AIIS website classroom situation and therefore with creativity of the teacher, http://www.indiastudies.org. AIIS language programs assessing students' encourage intensive exposure to performance, different ways of and immersion in the target promoting the accuracy factor, speech community. Such an technology and language immersion complements the pedagogy, etc. Students are

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SALTA News from the South Asian Language Resource Center

by Sean Pue The SALRC website (http://salrc.uchicago.edu), offers a list of recommended fonts and input The South Asia Language Resource Center solutions for developing web-based teaching (http://salrc.uchicago.edu/) (SALRC) is a materials using South Asian languages. collaborative effort funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Education's International Education The SALRC publishes South Asia Language and Graduate Programs Service Pedagogy and Technology (SALPAT: (http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ope/iegps/i http://salpat.uchicago.edu), a peer-reviewed ndex.html). The Language Resource Center at the electronic journal. The first volume, “Teaching and University of Chicago is one of fifteen nationwide Learning Heritage Languages of South Asia,” edited (http://nflrc.msu.edu/)that exist to improve the by Vijay Gambhir, was published in January 2008. capacity to teach and learn foreign languages SALPAT is currently accepting articles, as well as effectively. SALRC is the only one of the LRCS that book and technology reviews, for its second focuses on the needs of South Asian language volume, “Interdisciplinary Approaches to Language pedagogy in American universities. The South Asia Technology.” Language Resource Center is engaged in the following major tasks: South Asia Language Resource Center has been working with SALTA as it continues to expand, and it • Create and disseminate new resources for will gladly offer online resources to it in the future. teaching and research on South Asian languages, mostly via the World Wide Web; Bilingualism and Second • Offer advanced courses in language pedagogy in conjunction with the South Asia Summer Language Learning Language Institute (http://www.wisc.edu/sasli/); • Develop a shared infrastructure for delivery and archiving of South Asia language resources; and Encyclopedia of Languages and Linguistics. Oxford: • Share infrastructure and approaches with other Elsevier Ltd (2006). Pp. 16-22 institutions having overlapping language interests, such as other Language Resource By Tej K. Bhatia, Syracuse University Centers, most notably those for the Middle East, Central Asia, and the new Heritage Language Contrary to the most widely held belief in some LRC. monolingual societies, bilingualism is not a rare or SALRC received a second Title VI Language unnatural phenomenon. This chapter presents a state-of-the art treatment of the various facets of Resource Center award (2006-2010) from the U.S. bilingualism and second language learning which Department of Education. View our proposal has serious implications for the teaching and the (http://salrc.uchicago.edu/about/fundedproposal706.pd testing of South Asian Languages. In addition to f) for the next four years. comparing and contrasting the key concept of Through 2008, SALRC has awarded twenty-seven monolingual and bilingual language acquisition, grants for pedagogical materials in eleven salient features of bilingual verbal behavior are languages. For more on these grants, see accounted for both on descriptive and http://salrc.uchicago.edu/grants/awards/. explanatory grounds. Current trends and approaches in bilingual education and second SALRC also offers advanced pedagogy workshops languages learning are also presented. At bottom, and seminars on South Asian Languages this chapter reveals that the task of defining and independently as well as in conjunction with South measuring bilinguals is so challenging that no Asia Summer Language Institute (SASLI) and South single theory can account for the bilinguals, on Asia National Resource Centers throughout the one hand, and the mechanism of verbal language United States. For more on these workshops, see acquisition, on the other. http://salrc.uchicago.edu/workshops/. Spring 2008 4

SALTA National Standards for Learning Hindi K-16

A team of Hindi instructors lead by Vijay Gambhir has been working on the National Standards for learning Hindi K-16 and is about to complete them in the Spring of 2008. This is an extremely important project because it defines content standards, or in other words what students should know and be able to do—in Hindi language education. They suggest the types of curricular experiences needed to enable students to achieve the standards, and support the ideal of extended sequences of Hindi study that begin in the elementary grades and continue through high school and beyond. They provide a gauge against which to measure improvement in the years to come and, most importantly, create a common platform for teaching and learning. They are also the essential basis for the development of Standards in other South Asian languages in the near future.

MLA Report 2007

According to the Modern Languages Association report 2007 (Enrollments in Languages Other Than English in United States Institutions of Higher Education, Fall 2006 Nelly Furman, David Goldberg, and Natalia Lusin, Web publication, 13 November 2007) course enrollments in South Asian Languages, 2002 and 2006 are as follow:

2002 2006 Bengali 54 94 Gujarati 20 18 Hindi 1,430 1,946 Hindi-Urdu 427 393 Kannada 2 2 Malayalam 20 18 Marathi 2 0 Pali 11 2 Punjabi 99 103 Sanskrit 487 607 Sanskrit, Vedic 5 5 Tamil 114 100 Telugu 3 16 Urdu 152 344 Totals 2826 3648

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SALTA STARTALK Summer Hindi and Urdu Programs

Several institutions have been funded by a STARTALK grant from the National Foreign Language Center (http://startalk.umd.edu/program-info/2008/Hindi/).

Student Programs http://fla.mcls.kent.edu/ training program for teachers of This program is aimed at upper-level Hindi who currently work as Hurst-Euless-Bedford ISD high school students and consists of a teachers in the community-based Euless, Texas 4-week summer residential program after school program run by Discover Asia! followed by 9 Saturday mini- HindiUSA. The final two weeks will June 9-June 26 immersion sessions held throughout run concurrently with the Edison http://www.hebisd.edu/edge the 2008-09 academic year. Township Schools Hindi summer Discover Asia!, a three-week summer program for students and will academy to be offered from June 9- Teacher Programs provide a practicum experience for June 26, 2008, will allow 7th grade observing standards-based students in the Hurst-Euless-Bedford ACTFL/CLASS/Hurst-Euless- teaching and designing and Independent School District, as well Bedford ISD implementing standards-based as students from the larger Dallas- Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas lessons. Fort Worth Metroplex, a unique, Discover Asia Teacher Program: tuition-free opportunity to explore Hurst-Euless-Bedford ISD New York University Asian cultures and the languages of June 9-June 20 (including June 14 and New York, New York Hindi or Mandarin Chinese. Students 15) Summer Intensive Teacher Training will receive ! local credit, http://www.actfl.org/scholarship Program 2008: Hindi and Urdu recognized by the Texas Education An intensive two-week professional http://www.scps.nyu.edu/startalk Agency, in Cultural and Linguistics development program that will allow July 7-July 16 Topics for successfully completing participants the opportunity to focus This teacher-training workshop is the program. on quality instruction, curriculum, an intensive 10-day residential and assessments for Hindi programs. program designed to enhance the Indiana University knowledge and skills of current and Bloomington, Indiana Center for Applied Linguistics prospective school, community and Summer Intensive Program for Hindi Washington, DC college teachers of Hindi and Urdu. and Urdu – June13-July 11 STARTALK Assessment Training It creates a learning-by-doing http://www.iub.edu/~indiast Program environment. It equips teachers SIPHUR (Summer Intensive Program June 8-June 10 with the tools and confidence to for Hindi and Urdu) is an intensive http://www.cal.org undertake language-teaching four-week course that would be CAL's STARTALK Assessment responsibilities and/or seek equivalent to one semester of Training Workshop focuses on employment. The workshop can be university-level instruction in assessing students at beginning taken for credit or continuing Hindi/Urdu. Each class meets for four proficiency levels (Novice-Low and education. hours per day five days a week, and Mid on the ACTFL Proficiency students will engage themselves in Guidelines-Speaking). Designed for Seattle Public Schools various cultural activities in and out STARTALK instructors of students, Seattle, Washington of class. Our goal is for the students teacher trainers, and project Seattle STARTALK 2 to acquire linguistic and cultural directors, the three-part workshop June 14-August 30 competence. includes an online introduction to http://www.seattleschools.org assessment principles (May), a face- Seattle Public Schools Startalk Kent State University to-face workshop (Washington, DC, Summer '08 proposal will enable Kent, Ohio June 8-10) and an online follow-up the '07 cohort to continue taking Regents Summer Language workshop (June-August). coursework leading to Washington Academy: Problem-Based Learning state teacher certification. The Communities in Arabic, Chinese, and Edison Township Public Schools cohort will be increased by five. Hindi Edison, New Jersey Minimum qualifications: BA degree June 29-July 26: Summer Residential Hindi in New Jersey from an accredited university and Program June 16-July 3 fluency in Hindi. August 13, 2008-May 2, 2009: The Edison Township Public Schools Saturday Sessions will offer a three week summer

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SALTA Online Proficiency Assessment for Less Commonly Taught Languages

Sachiko Kamioka, Center for Working with partner Language taking advantage of multimedia Applied Second Language Resource Centers, CASLS and database capability. Studies, University of Oregon applies its expertise in Computer-adaptive testing assessment design to create technology makes it possible to Assisted by Qamar Jalil, STAMP for less commonly taught present individual, customized University of Wisconsin, Madison languages (LCTLs). A beta- tests at students’ level of version of the tool has been competency, reducing test time Introduction developed in Chinese, Hebrew, and students’ frustration when Proficiency has been the stated Hindi, and Turkish. STAMP for forced to answer items beyond goal of second language Italian, Swahili, Yoruba, and or below their proficiency level. instruction since the introduction Urdu are under development. Results are made available to of the ACTFL Proficiency CASLS plans to develop STAMP educators, parents, and Guidelines in the early 1980s. in Amharic, Arabic, Persian, students in a clear, However, instruction in many Russian, Tamil, Twi, and Wolof comprehensible, and usable classrooms continues to focus on versions. The authors of this format. formal knowledge of grammar paper are currently working on Items are verified through and vocabulary, leading to yet the reading and writing sections rigorous piloting and statistical another generation of Americans in Urdu. Thus, this paper will analysis to assure that every unable to communicate focus on those skills in the student is fairly evaluated. effectively with the world. assessment. The difficulty of measuring Reading and Writing Section proficiency causes some teachers STAMP is a criterion-referenced Test Structure to be reluctant to make test based on a set of standards Students need only a recent proficiency their instructional consistent with ACTFL Web browser and Internet goal. Most proficiency measures Proficiency Guidelines. Using connection to take STAMP. Most currently available are too costly computer adaptive testing students need 60-65 minutes to and difficult to widely administer. technology, it identifies complete the reading and students’ proficiency from writing sections. When students To address to the need for a cost- Novice-low to Intermediate-mid. log on to the test site, they first effective, easy-to-administer Below are key characteristics of complete a short biographical proficiency assessment, the STAMP: questionnaire. They then Center for Applied Second proceed to the reading section Language Studies (CASLS) at the STAMP is a proficiency instructions and sample items. University of Oregon, one of the assessment tied to clear Students may answer up to two fifteen National Language performance standards. sample items, and they receive Resource Centers (LRC), Authentic tasks measure feedback for their responses to developed online proficiency students’ ability to handle these samples. Next, they assessment tools in four skills for realistic situations. complete the reading French, German, Japanese, and STAMP is a summative assessment. Because STAMP is a Spanish. Schools and colleges assessment designed to provide computer adaptive test, the around the country now use the a global assessment. delivery of STAMP test items Standards-based Measurement of STAMP is a criterion-referenced differs for each student. Initially, Proficiency (STAMP) to evaluate test neutral with respect to all students receive mid-level programs, place students, and textbooks or curriculum. questions. As a student provide accountability data. STAMP is delivered online, correctly or incorrectly answers

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SALTA track how a class performs by the questions, the computer students with an actual bus topic and use this information to delivers higher- or lower-level schedule and ask them to evaluate curriculum and identify test items, eventually establishing select the appropriate route weak spots in connection with the appropriate benchmark level and departure time required to specific topic areas. The writing for the student. Throughout the arrive at a particular location in report, also posted online, test, the selection of test items is time for a concert. In a writing shows the writing prompt and randomized, and the order of the task, students may write an rubrics given, students’ written four answer choices in the email to their friends about responses to the prompt, and the reading section is also their plan for the day of the writing scores assigned. The randomized. In this way, students concert. All reading items teacher can also print out take individual, customized tests provide students with a individual reports that can be at their specific levels of context, a piece of authentic or placed in a file or given to the competency. Since STAMP does semi-authentic text, and then a student. These reports detail the not overly burden students with task. Students have a choice of reading and writing levels test items that exceed their four responses. Writing items attained and include narrative demonstrated achievement level, are more open-ended but descriptions of what students are the testing experience is less share the quality of providing a able to do at each of those frustrating to them. culturally authentic context. levels. Web-based testing allows that After the reading benchmark writing tasks such as answering Urdu STAMP Development level has been established, the emails or filling in forms and In collaboration with the South students move on to the writing reading tasks such as obtaining Asia Language Resource Center section. Again, they begin with information to be highly (SARLC) at the University of instructions and two sample authentic and well Chicago, CASLS has been items. The writing section contextualized. working on the development of prompts are dependent on the Hindi and Urdu STAMP since benchmark level the student Reporting of Scores 2005. Item writers are Tahira attained in the reading section. A In order to facilitate curricular Naqvi of New York University writing item at student level of and instructional and Qamar Jalil of the University proficiency is randomly selected improvements, teachers of Wisconsin, Madison. A review and presented. As they write, receive detailed feedback on committee is being formed. A students may view the rubrics that their students’ performance. pilot version of the Urdu reading will be used to grade their Reports based on student and assessment is scheduled to be response, so they are aware of class performance are posted complete in June 2008. the criteria they must meet. In online for teachers to access. addition, students may view a These reports give teachers page of instructions on how to concrete feedback on students’ type international characters and overall proficiency as well as accent marks. breakdowns of student performance according to + Reading and Writing Test Items topic and task type. The CASLS developed STAMP to computer automatically If you are interested in measure student proficiency: how generates reading scores and participating in the pilot for well a student can actually use the results are available Urdu and Hindi, free of language in communicative immediately after students charge, please contact situations. Students interact with complete the test. The class or CASLS at authentic and semi-authentic texts group report shows the [email protected] or visit in a real-world context. An demonstrated proficiency of all our Web site at understanding of second students using a 1-5 score. In http://www.caslspilot.uoreg language and culture is implicit in addition, class or group results on.edu. the task and text. For instance, a may be viewed by topic. reading item may present Teachers or administrators can

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