Example: Using a newspaper to test your reading proficiency

You can use a local newspaper to test your reading proficiency.

• Get a copy of a current newspaper. Look through it and read as much as you can.
• Ask someone who reads the language well to read the same edition of the newspaper, and discuss the contents with that person.
• Read the description of the different levels of reading proficiency in the ACTFL guidelines.
• Decide as honestly as possible which level of the guidelines your performance matches. Assessment
  • If you can understand only a few words here and there, you are probably at Novice level.
  • If you can only understand the headlines, you are probably at Intermediate level.
  • If you can understand most straightforward news stories that do not require a lot of specific cultural knowledge, you are probably at Advanced level.
  • If you can understand stories, editorials, and political commentaries that do require specific cultural knowledge, you are probably at Superior level.
  • If you can read the entire newspaper almost as easily as you could in your first language, you have achieved Distinguished level.

• Example of task module: Example: Using a newspaper to test your reading pr...
• In task module: Testing your reading proficiency
• In task module: Testing your language proficiency
• In task module: Checking your progress
• In task module: How to manage your language learning program
• In modular book: Managing Your Language Learning Program, by Carol J. Orwig
• In bookshelf: Language Learning

This page is an extract from the LinguaLinks Library, Version 3.5, published on CD-ROM by SIL International, 1999. [Ordering information.]

Page content last modified: 15 September 1998

© 1999 SIL International