African Language Assessment Guide by Jennifer J. Yanco Now Available

The BU African Studies Center recently published Comprehensive Outcomes-Based Assessment: A Guide for African Language Instructors. Written by Dr. Jennifer J. Yanco, retired Director of the West African Research Association and longtime member of the BU ASC community, the 95-page workbook provides assessment tools for African language instruction from Beginning through Superior levels, providing concrete performance goals across a range of parameters. The BU ASC is pleased to share the workbook freely for other language programs to use, and can be accessed at the link above.

Our aim in preparing this guide is to create a degree of standardization across African language courses, bringing them into alignment with the broader language teaching community and national standards while remaining attentive to the particularities of African languages and cultures as well as to the needs of our students. Beginning last spring, Dr. Yanco, BU African Language Program Director Dr. Zoliswa Mali, and BU ASC alum Jennifer Erem have organized workshops with our African language faculty to collaborate on integrating principles from the book into their courses. These activities—from writing and publishing to workshopping—have been generously supported through funding from the Title VI National Resource Center program.