Learning a world language can be an invaluable experience for students, enabling them to connect with others and opening countless doors to professional and educational opportunities. For students to truly take advantage of the benefits of learning a language, however, it’s important that they have access to well-designed, effective world language courses.
Effective world language courses include a variety of different features which engage students in meaningful activities covering a variety of pedagogical components of language learning. In a well-designed course, rigorous coursework helps students achieve the cultural and language literacy skills they need to succeed, but course content is still attainable, keeping students from struggling too much and ensuring they stay motivated.
At VHS Learning, we take a very thoughtful and methodical approach to the design of all of our online courses. Here are eight features we have found to be critical in developing an effective world language course:
In order to ensure high-quality outcomes, courses must be designed around a proven set of standards. Standards should be comprehensive, outlining what students should know and be able to do upon completion of the course.
At VHS Learning, we use the World-Readiness Standards for Learning Languages from the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) as the framework for our courses. This framework includes learning objectives organized within five areas of competency: Communication, Cultures, Connections, Comparisons, and Communities. AP world language courses have an additional learning framework to ensure students are prepared for the AP exam at the end of the course.
When developing a work language course, course developers should begin with the desired learning goals and work backwards to create a course that will enable students to build and demonstrate the skills needed to reach those goals. From there, developers can create appropriate assessments and learning experiences that are aligned with the outcomes expected of students during the course.
World language courses should be designed to empower all students to succeed, ensuring equitable learning opportunities for every student. At VHS Learning, we do this by incorporating the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) Guidelines into our courses. UDL is an accessibility framework from CAST, the Center for Applied Special Technology, that guides the development of flexible and inclusive learning environments that can accommodate individual differences. This framework enables all students to leverage their unique strengths and skills to reach desired course outcomes.
An effective world language course contains course content focused on multiple modes of communication. ACTFL’s instructional framework calls for students to demonstrate competency in all three modes of communication: interpersonal, interpretive, and presentational. VHS Learning world language courses give students multiple ways of learning and demonstrating competency in each of these three communication modes.
It’s important for world language courses to include authentic tasks and projects that have real-world relevance, such as replying to an email, ordering a meal in a restaurant, or having a conversation with a friend. By performing these tasks, students are able to learn and apply new language skills. From a motivational standpoint, students are more likely to see the value in their learning when they complete tasks that feel realistic and purposeful to them, rather than just answering questions in a textbook.
In language courses, skills naturally build upon each other in a cumulative fashion, making scaffolding learning content an important factor for success. Students must first learn basic skills, with plenty of supports built-in to the course to ensure continual progress. As students’ skills grow, the content can gradually become more complex. VHS Learning world language courses are scaffolded by breaking down content into smaller, easily digestible sections with an appropriate scope and sequence that ensures students aren’t being given too much, too soon.
Keeping students engaged and enjoying their learning experience is key to an effective world language course and a positive student experience. Part of this involves planned consistency in students’ workflows each week, to ensure students don’t get overwhelmed or fall behind. Every lesson should follow a similar structure and format, so students know what to expect. This makes it easier for them to complete assignments, manage their time, and organize their thoughts—all while fostering a positive environment for their social-emotional development.
At VHS Learning, we use multiple methods to determine how well a course is working. By collecting ongoing teacher feedback, administering end-of-course student surveys, and evaluating the results from AP exams, we can identify our strengths and the places we need to improve. This enables curriculum designers to modify world language courses in order to help learners meet standards and ensure they are learning what they need to progress to higher-level courses.
VHS Learning has nearly three decades of experience in designing and delivering highly effective online courses in more than 300 subjects, including world languages such as American Sign Language, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish. Students who take our online Advanced Placement courses––including AP world language courses––perform exceptionally well, in many cases outperforming the global passing rate.
To learn more about developing effective world language courses, read the article in the May 2023 issue of Language Magazine: Designing Effective World Language Courses