Direct Measures
All students in this M.A.Ed program will take an oral proficiency examination in a graduate-level conversation course (or otherwise). The general procedures of the Oral Proficiency Interview (as developed by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages or a modified version of this) will be used, and the students will be rated according to the Speaking Proficiency Rubric. One of the faculty members trained to conduct this type of interview will perform it.
The students will be required to answer in both written and oral form some of the questions included on the Comprehensive Examination. The committee of professors responsible for the exam will judge both types of ability using the Speaking Proficiency and Writing Proficiency Rubrics.
The students will write an essay in their Comprehensive Examination on comparative grammar for Spanish or the history of the language of their degree for French or German if they have included the said course in their graduate program. Furthermore the examiners will pay special attention to the correct grammatical usage of the language by the students in their written responses to the questions on the Comprehensive Examination. The Comprehensive Exam Committee will assess these aspects using the Language Structure/History Rubric.
As part of their Comprehensive Examination, students will write an essay on at least three of the advanced literature courses that they studied as graduate students. (If, for some reason, they did not take at least three such courses, they will read and be tested on an appropriate number of literary works from a reading list prepared by the Graduate Faculty of the language.) The Comprehensive Examination Committee will assess the results using the Literature.
The students will write an essay in their Comprehensive Examination over the material covered in their required Second Language Acquisition course, as well as any other language teaching courses included in their program. The Comprehensive Examination Committee will assess the results using the Language Acquisition.
All students in this M.A.Ed. program will write an essay in which they are expected to demonstrate the understanding and appreciation that they have acquired concerning the pertinent culture(s).This essay may be written in a graduate-level conversation course or otherwise as determined by the Graduate Faculty of the language. The essay will be assessed by the faculty of the language or the instructor of the course through the use of the Cultural Rubric.
All students will submit to the Comprehensive Examination Committee at least one research paper (approximately 10 pages), which will be assessed by the members of this Committee, who may choose to ask during the oral examination some questions related to the paper. The Literature and the Writing Proficiency Rubric will normally be used here. However, in specific cases, the students may present a research paper on comparative grammar, history of the appropriate language or even on language acquisition. In such cases, the Language Structure/History Rubric or the Language Acquisition will be used instead of the Literature Rubric.
Indirect Measures
At the time of their graduation, the students are asked to fill out a survey concerning their graduate work at UNK. The results will be compiled and examined annually by the Chair and Assessment Committee.