Learning new languages can be tough, especially for beginners when noticeable progress can be difficult to track.   

To help learners assess their language proficiency, Giovanni Zimotti, director of Spanish Language Instruction, adopted the Can-Do Statements questionnaire, developed by the National Council of State Supervisors for Languages and the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages.  

“We started by printing the 20-page survey for each student,” recalls Zimotti. “At the end of the semester, we’d track down the paper documents, have the students complete a second survey, and ask them to manually count and compare their responses.” 

Realizing this process was unsustainable, Zimotti and eden jones, then instructional services coordinator for College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, sought electronic platforms, such as ICON, to enhance the process. However, the learning management system couldn’t meet all the needs of the project, and other products couldn’t integrate with ICON, which made them difficult to use. 

Zimotti collaborated with Claire Frances, director of the Center for Language and Culture Learning. As they searched for ways to create a streamlined electronic platform, they applied for the Innovations in Teaching with Technology Awards and were awarded funds to build an application that used the Can-Do Statements to engage learners in self-assessment. 

They met with ITS Custom Solutions and Integrations to develop the software. Harrison Gladden, lead application developer, Chris Dibbern, senior application developer, Vanessa Weisskopf, senior application developer, and Nick Goodman, application developer, built and tested the new language application.  

“Our team recently built a survey engine that allowed us to display a series of questions and answers based on a person’s responses,” Gladden explains. “We worked with Giovanni to adjust the engine based on a prototype he had.” 

With the language app, students log in with their HawkID, and it checks MAUI for courses in which they’ve enrolled. Students select a language they’re learning, and the application presents them with can-do statements. They indicate if they can perform tasks, such as saying their name or introducing themselves in the language they’re learning.  

The system saves the responses and produces a score that correlates to a level, like novice or intermediate, and suggests strategies to improve their knowledge of the language. Students complete the survey at the beginning and end of each semester, earning a new score each time to demonstrate their progression. A first-year student may be a novice at the end of the first semester, but by graduation, they’re intermediate mid. 

“The process of self-assessment ideally produces a self-efficacy loop,” explains Frances. “Students self-assess as able to perform certain tasks, which makes them feel a certain level of achievement; they also see all the other tasks that they self-assess as not being able to do, which can be internalized as goals. The theory is that they’ll strive to complete the other ones, with goal setting and self-efficacy working hand in hand.  

Impacting teaching at the UI and beyond 

Zimotti and Frances launched the application in the fall 2023 semester. The data collected from the surveys allows them to better understand how students self-assess and adjust teaching content. It also gives a trajectory of the language learning process at the University of Iowa and can help ensure students are placed in the appropriate classes. 

“By recommending that a student may benefit from a higher-level course, we can save them time and money, and the student can reach their learning goals for the language more quickly,” says Zimotti. 

Zimotti and Frances published an article in The Language Educator about their app, and numerous institutions inquired about it. The team is in the initial stages of developing the application so that it can be used by institutions across the country.