Portfolio & Proficiency: Northern Kentucky University, Greater Cincinnati Region

Any student who declares a major in French, German, Japanese, or Spanish must participate in the portfolio assessment program as a requirement for graduation. This assessment program has been adopted in response to:

A state mandate that the department regularly evaluate the academic progress of its foreign language majors;
A national awareness regarding accountability in higher education;
The need to assess the effectiveness of our teaching.

Students ready to prepare the portfolio must enroll in WLL 400 (World Languages Program Assessment) that semester.

What must the portfolio contain?

(1) A personal statement written in English (2-3 pages in length) which provides:

An assessment of knowledge and skills in the target language as a result of work in the program;

A rationale for selection of specific samples of work included in the portfolio.

(2) A research essay (and specifically one written for a class that you took in the program) in the target language (minimum of 3 pages in length for the papers written in French, German or Spanish and 1200-1300 characters for the papers in Japanese) on a cultural, linguistic or literary topic that must include references to sources and demonstrate mastery of MLA, APA, or Chicago citation style, and must reflect computer literacy and use of the internet.

(3) Besides the personal statement and research essay, please submit one of the following items in the target language. If the item is not a research essay that follows the parameters described in the previous bullet point, it a) must approved by a faculty member in the language program in which you are studying prior to submission and b) be at least 3 pages in length for the papers written in French, German or Spanish and 1200-1300 characters for the papers in Japanese unless approved by the faculty member with whom you consult:

Research essay (see above)
Sample of creative writing
Translation
Film (with script)
Audio recording (with script)
Presentation or performance (recorded with visuals and script)
Or other significant work selected in consultation with a faculty member

Portfolio format requirements

The papers must be uploaded to the WLL 400 Canvas site by Friday of exams week at 11:59 p.m. The files should be in doc, docx, or pdf format.

All papers must be typed double-spaced with standard 1" margins. Pages must be numbered, and the student's name must be typed in the upper right-hand corner of each page.

Fresh, clean versions are required. No grades or instructor comments should be visible.

Each paper should indicate at the top of the first page the course it was submitted for and the semester and year it was submitted.

Faculty in the relevant language program can help students in the selection of papers and can answer format questions.

Papers written in the junior or senior years are preferable to papers written earlier.

Portfolios not conforming to the content/format requirements will not be accepted. They will be returned to the student for correction and resubmission before the degree will be awarded.

Portfolios are not assigned grades, but are reviewed by faculty of the program and perhaps by an external evaluator. The student will receive no evaluation of the portfolio.

Language Proficiency Testing and Global Seal of Biliteracy

You have worked hard for your language skills and now you get to show them off! Be sure to add your Language Proficiency Testing results as well as the Global Seal of Biliteracy certificate to your resume and job application. Be sure to mention your language skills during job interviews and you can negotiate between 5% to 20% more earnings.

Practice the STAMP test