The British Columbia Council on Admissions and Transfer (BCCAT) granted the Standing Committee on Language Articulation (SCOLA) Transfer and Innovations funding in order to create “SCOLA Learning Outcomes and Test Bank” on June 18th, 2018. This project was completed in collaboration with language instructors from five different post-secondary institutions, Fanny Boulesteix (Douglas College), Grisel Garcia-Perez (UBCO), Jia Fei (SFU), and Luisa Canuto (UBC). 

OBJECTIVES: The objectives of this project were to:

  1. Identify four core competencies in two different levels (Beginner’s I and II) in each of five modern languages (French, Italian, Japanese, Mandarin and Spanish);
  2. Create a test bank of placement tests based on these four competencies for each level of the target languages, using authentic materials such as recordings, photos, articles and so on;
  3. Improve the accuracy and uniformity of assessments for students entering language studies in the BC post-secondary sector; and
  4. Improve the accuracy and placement of modern language students transferring into BC Transfer System member institutions from non-member BC institutions or institutions outside the province.

At the end of February, 2020, the subcommittee completed a set of learning outcomes for Chinese, French, Italian, and Spanish. Thank you to my colleagues, Fanny Boulesteix, Grisel Garcia-Perez, Jia Fei, and Luisa Canuto, who steadfastly worked with me for two years. This work would not have been possible without their insights, knowledge, and expertise in language instruction. Our work can be found here. I would like to extend my thanks to SCOLA’s membership, who supported and contributed to the work through the completion of surveys and testing of placement tests based on the developed core competencies, and to BCCAT, who provided guidance and funding.

I hope that more opportunities for collaboration of this nature will arise through SCOLA.Flower bouquet free icon