Center for Applied Second Language Studies (CASLS)
Center for Applied Second Language Studies - The Northwest National Foreign Language Resource Center
Oregon Literacy Benchmarks
» I: Novice-Low
 
» II: Novice-Mid
 
» III: Novice-High
 
» IV: Intermediate-Low
 
» V: Intermediate-Mid
 
» VI: Intermediate-High
Other Oregon Japanese Benchmarks
» Oregon Japanese Oral Benchmarks

Oregon Japanese Literacy Benchmarks

Literary proficiency is determined by how much and how well students can extract meaning from an authentic piece of writing (reading proficiency) or how much and how well a student can communicate in writing (written proficiency). The literacy benchmarks set minimum standards of the tasks a student should be able to perform on demand with the language. The literacy standards are based on five criteria: content, functions, text types, assessment contexts, and accuracy.

Content refers to the subjects a student can read or write. Students at lower proficiency levels will be limited to reading and writing about simple themes in their immediate environment, such as objects or people. At higher levels, students are expected to talk about activities, areas of study, and future plans.
Functions describe what a student can accomplish with the language. Examples of functions are "obtain information," "express likes and dislikes," and "make suggestions."
Text types explain the types of text a student can read and indicate the amount of language a student can produce in writing.
Assessment contexts refer to the environment in which the student is expected to demonstrate proficiency. The two contexts for reading and writing are teacher verification and external assessment.
Accuracy measures how well a student can communicate with another person.

For reading proficiency, there are three levels of control.

Recognize elements: Within recognizing elements, there are two levels of control. Decoding refers to the student’s ability to make a connection between characters and the sounds represented without necessarily understanding the meaning of the words of phrases. Recognize meaning refers to the student’s ability to understand the meaning of words and phrases written in hiragana, katakana, or kanji.
Skim for general meaning: This control refers to the student’s ability to determine the gist of written discourse in context.
Extract details: This control refers to the student’s ability to extract detailed information from written discourse in context.

For writing proficiency, there are also two levels of control.

Write characters: This refers to the student’s ability to mechanically produce isolated components of written language (a character or word) either from memory or from a model.
Produce text: This control refers to the student’s ability to produce meaningful written communication in authentic contexts.