Program: Spanish (BA)
Degree: Bachelor's
Date: Tue Nov 05, 2013 - 12:03:35 pm
1) Below are your program's student learning outcomes (SLOs). Please update as needed.
SLO 1a. Analyze, evaluate and critique the literature of Spain and Latin America.
SLO 1b. Write research papers using appropriate MLA citation guidelines.
SLO 2a. Analyze, evaluate and critique cultural issues of Spain and Latin America.
SLO 2b. Describe and explain Latin American and Iberian roles within sociohistorical movements (e.g., conquest, modernity, nation building).
SLO 2c. Evaluate notions of indigenism, multiculturalism and immigration.
SLO 3. Use writing and research in Spanish to meet students goals.
SLO 4. Use oral skills in Spanish to meet studentsgoals.
SLO 5. Distinguish between major dialect features of the Spanish of Spain and Latin America.
SLO 6. Read and comprehend texts in Spanish from a variety of genres and contexts.
SLO 7. Read, write and use oral skills for specific professional purposes.
2) Your program's SLOs are published as follows. Please update as needed.
Department Website URL: http://manoa.hawaii.edu/llea/spanish/undergraduate-studies/
Student Handbook. URL, if available online: Information Sheet, Flyer, or Brochure URL, if available online: UHM Catalog. Page Number: Course Syllabi. URL, if available online: NA Other: Other: 3) Select one option:
- File (03/16/2020)
4) For your program, the percentage of courses that have course SLOs explicitly stated on the syllabus, a website, or other publicly available document is as follows. Please update as needed.
0% 1-50% 51-80% 81-99%
100%5) Did your program engage in any program assessment activities between June 1, 2012 and September 30, 2013? (e.g., establishing/revising outcomes, aligning the curriculum to outcomes, collecting evidence, interpreting evidence, using results, revising the assessment plan, creating surveys or tests, etc.)
Yes No (skip to question 14)6) For the period June 1, 2012 to September 30, 2013: State the assessment question(s) and/or assessment goals. Include the SLOs that were targeted, if applicable.
Have the SLO’s been fulfilled?
Do we need to improve our SLOs according to new curriculum and courses?
What is the student language level at graduation?
Is our placement test working properly?
7) State the type(s) of evidence gathered to answer the assessment question and/or meet the assessment goals that were given in Question #6.
Oral proficiency interview (OPI) testing. All OPIs are double-rated by professionals, officially certified by ACTFL OPI and administered by the College of LLL.
Students’ course and faculty evaluations
End of semester reserach projects and exams
Placement exam for language students
Anonymous exit survey for graduating seniors
8) State how many persons submitted evidence that was evaluated. If applicable, please include the sampling technique used.
About 100 SPAN 101 and 102 language students took the Spanish placement test to see wheather they were placed at the correct level.
We give about 500 placement exams (per year) with personal advising to students to ensure they sign up for the right language class.
All students- Students’ course and faculty evaluations.All students- End of semester reserach projects and exams.
13 graduating students- Oral Proficiency Interviews.
Heritage/Native speakers submit writing samples to guide our placement decisions.
9) Who interpreted or analyzed the evidence that was collected? (Check all that apply.)
Course instructor(s) Faculty committee Ad hoc faculty group Department chairperson Persons or organization outside the university Faculty advisor Advisors (in student support services) Students (graduate or undergraduate) Dean/Director Other: 10) How did they evaluate, analyze, or interpret the evidence? (Check all that apply.)
Used a rubric or scoring guide Scored exams/tests/quizzes Used professional judgment (no rubric or scoring guide used) Compiled survey results Used qualitative methods on interview, focus group, open-ended response data External organization/person analyzed data (e.g., external organization administered and scored the nursing licensing exam) Other: 11) For the assessment question(s) and/or assessment goal(s) stated in Question #6:
Summarize the actual results.
The placement exam showed that more than 20 students had not registered for the correct level and therefore needed to be accommodated in a different course.
The Oral Proficiency Interview results placed students between Intermediate-mid and Advanced-mid on the ACTFL guidelines with one student who had participated in the study abroad program placing at Advanced-high.
Writing samples from heritage/native speakers allow us to place them into the appropriate level.
End of semester projects and exams demonstrated students' progress at different rates.
12) State how the program used the results or plans to use the results. Please be specific.
We ahve incorporated our SLOs to our Website to make the more salient for students and faculty.
Given that several students have enrolled in courses that were not appropriate for their level, the department will continue administering the placement exam on multiple days before and during the enrollment period and at the beginning of each semester.
Based on the students' performance in the Oral Proficiency Interviews as well as their course evaluations suggesting that we provide more opportunities for study abroad programs, we developed and conducted a summer study abroad program in Salamanca Spain. Last summer 15 students took language and content courses at the University of Salamanca and given the level of satisfaction of students and success of the program, we plan to offer it again in the summer of 2014.
Addressing students’ needs found last year, we started the process for a new course in Medical Spanish (SPAN 306C). The course was approved and is being offered in Spring 2014. We now have in place two Spanish for the Professions courses (Commercial Spanish and Medical Spanish) as well as SPAN 308: Introduction to Spanish Interpretation.
13) Beyond the results, were there additional conclusions or discoveries?
This can include insights about assessment procedures, teaching and learning, program aspects and so on.
We came to the conclusion that allowing all students to register in Spanish without taking the placement exam (which has been imposed by the UHM administration) creates a great deal of chaos in the basic language program, especially in the first year courses. We have to deploy additional resources and personnel to administer multiple, extra placement exams at the beginning of the semester for all students who are new to the UHM Spanish program, and who generally register for 101 (including some advanced heritage speakers).