Competency-based Learning: Adaptive Language Learning Design

I like to think of assessment as a pedagogical tool that must be used to inform how teaching should be adapted and what next steps for a learner should look like. As a teacher of English as a foreign language, I often turn to ACTFL guidelines to check what it means to be on a novice, intermediate, advanced, or superior level.

It turns out language level descriptions are based on competencies rather than just the amount of words someone knows. In addition, being a distinguished speaker does not mean not making mistakes. Unlike what grade-oriented school system has led us to think, belonging to a certain language level can be very relative. A more concrete example of that is when a speaker can communicate with confidence and fluidity but with major or minor grammar mistakes (say in verb conjugation). Similarly, there are some speakers who lack confidence but are experts in verb conjugation.

Language level descriptions are related to what a speaker can do with the language. Some of these competencies are narrating, persuading, asking questions properly, etc. They can be as specific as being able to place an order at a restaurant or as broad as getting by in business contexts. Considering that most language programs are designed around grades, how might we make sure that they are scaffolding learners to acquire competencies needed to achieve the their desired levels?

I would propose competency-based learning as an approach to language teaching and learning. It s well known that even in a "homogeneous" group of language learners, teachers can see differences in what each learner is able to do. I wonder if, in a class where all students are on the same level but struggling with different specificities or competencies within that level, teachers could implement an adaptive approach where each learner practices what they need rather than what "everyone needs to do".

That could be actually a lot more similar to how people learn languages through immersion. When a learner on an intermediate level comes to the US to learn from native speakers, they are not learning with people who are on the same level as they are. And the way they learn is experiential, rather than structured according to a rigid curriculum. Similarly, professionals learn skills at the workplace through experiences rather than only going through lectures and readings at school.