Fluency is being able to use all the language you’ve acquired unconsciously and correctly. Proficiency is being able to do that and also having enough vocabulary to make things happen in the world.
Archive for December, 2011
But TPRS is so unstructured!
Posted by Terry Waltz on December 23rd, 2011
On a discussion board talking about learning Chinese, the comment was recently posted: It was only after I’d been learning Chinese for a while and had acquired most of the grammar structures that I felt comfortable learning Chinese in a non-structured way. This statement seems logical on the surface. After all, you have to “learn” […]
Posted in Curriculum, Methods 
Tags: Criticisms of TPRS, Non-Structured Language Learning, Thematic Units 
Comments Off on But TPRS is so unstructured!ACTFL, why stop at the sentence level?
Posted by Terry Waltz on December 20th, 2011
The new ACTFL proficiency guidelines are out for 2012. But they are still based on the outcomes from traditional rules-and-output language teaching. Yes, they aren’t referencing specific grammar points, which is a definite plus. And the requirements or wiggle room for errors is, in my view, appropriate across the levels. What I have a problem […]
Posted in General, Outside Forces Tags: ACTFL, Novices, Standards Comments Off on ACTFL, why stop at the sentence level?