PACE Proficiency Data Included in Foreign Language Annals Article

Through a partnership between the PACE Project, two other institutions participating in similar Flagship-funded projects, the University of Utah and Michigan State University, as well as other national universities, Erwin Tschirner from the Universitat at Leipzig has published a publicly available article examining the reading and listening proficiency of U.S. college students. The University of Minnesota assessment data included in this article derives from the first two years of the PACE Project.

Listening and Reading Proficiency Levels of College Students
Erwin Tschirner
Universitat at Leipzig
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Abstract: This article examines listening and reading proficiency levels of U.S. college foreign language students at major milestones throughout their undergraduate career. Data were collected from more than 3,000 participants studying seven languages at 21 universities and colleges across the United States. The results show that while listening proficiency appears to develop more slowly, Advanced levels of reading proficiency appear to be attainable for college majors at graduation. The article examines the relationship between listening and reading proficiency and suggests reasons for the apparent disconnect between listening and reading, particularly for some languages and at lower proficiency levels.

Foreign Language Annals, Vol. 49, Iss. 2, pp. 201–223. © 2016. Published by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Language (ACTFL).

The PACE Project is funded by a grant from The Language Flagship.