CANCELLED<br>Nam Center for Korean Studies Colloquium Series: Planning Assessment in a Proficiency Oriented Foreign Language Program: A Backward Design

  
New Thinking on Korea's Public Diplomacy:
Toward Public Diplomacy V. 3.0

Assessment is a critical component of curriculum design.  Yet, educators often put the priority on the curriculum first, and then set the assessment standards after the main elements of curriculum are established.  However, in order to reach the clear learning outcomes at the end of a course, setting standards for the assessment should lead any curriculum development.  This is what “Backward Design” has been emphasizing for the last decade.

Backward Design is a process that focuses on assessment first and instructional activities last.  It shifts teacher perspectives. Traditional curriculum design often begins with really interesting materials or activities we want to teach or are required to cover. We then design a curriculum, often on the go and then decide on some type of assessment at the end.  Backward Design forces teachers to look at the big picture with the end goals in mind.  In backward planning teachers set the vision or the essential understanding of their curriculum or unit, decide how students will provide evidence of their learning, and finally design instructional activities to help students learn what is needed to be successful.

Sahie Kang is currently the Dean of School of Resident Education in the Directorate of Continuing Education at the Defense Language Institute (DLI). She holds a PhD in Linguistics from the University of Florida. She has worked in the field of Language and Linguistics for over 30 years and has been at DLI for 22 years. While being a member of the Korean faculty, she was recognized as an Instructor of the Year in Asian School II in 1993. Dr. Kang has received several official commendations and awards for her work at DLI and received a National Order of Cultural Merit from the Korean government in 2010. She has also taught Linguistics and Korean in different universities in Korea and the US before DLI.
With her research interests in socio-linguistics and language and culture education, she has given numerous presentations and published articles dealing with them. Aside from her work and scholarship, she has provided service to the profession. She founded Korean Special Interest Group at the American Council on Teachers of Foreign Languages in 2006, and served as the chair for two terms in 2006-2009 and 2012-present. She also has been active in American Association of Teachers of Korean, serving in many executive capacities.

This program is also made possible in part by a Title VI grant from the US Department of Education.