Portfolio Criteria for High and Highest Honors
For High and Highest Departmental Honors, students must write a
thesis and/or
complete a portfolio project. Below are the expectations for the
portfolio project which evaluates skills in speaking, reading,
writing, listening and culture developed over the undergraduate
academic career.
Expected Length and Content:
Student honors portfolio projects are expected to be a
collection of material and experiential written narrative
descriptions of important moments and stages in development
throughout the years of language study at Butler University. These
"artifacts" and syntheses (in the target language)
will serve to demonstrate a clear line of growth and improvement in
key components of language study as well as a careful reflection on
the student's own educational development in general. Length of the
project is flexible but the content should guarantee a
comprehensive overview of the student's undergraduate experience.
In addition to this written portfolio narrative collection,
students will be expected to present their project to the
department in a twenty minute oral forum during
the spring semester of the student's senior year.
The portfolio will contain five sections of written narratives
and "artifact" collections based upon the following criteria and
examples:
I. Speaking:
Students should, through their presentation and examples
provided, offer evidence of the ability to conduct a sophisticated
oral argument on abstract and concrete topics in the target
language.
- How have you improved your skills in this area over time?
- Mention specific situational examples (presentations, trips,
meetings with native speakers) which demonstrate this
improvement.
- Is there an oral presentation of recent date of which you are
particularly proud?
- How did in-class and study abroad experiences help in this
area?
Examples:
- Narrative examples of positive growth or improvement:
"After first - year French I could not order wine in a
restaurant, after 300-level I was joking with the waiter about
different kinds of caviar"; or "After 300-level I had this
amazing discussion about communism in Paris with some guy named
Jacques."
- (Speaking Examples cont.)
- Audio-Video tape of presentation in a 300 or 400-level
class.
- Note cards or visuals, summaries of discussion from
presentations.
- Accounts of participation / discussions / contributions in
upper-level seminar classes.
II. Reading
Students should show evidence of ability to read extensive and
authentic texts with a high degree of understanding.
- What have you read? Which texts have had deeper meaning for
you?
- How has your progression in ability been reflected in the types
of texts you read in the 200-level to present level?
- How did in-class and study abroad experiences help in this
area?
Examples:
- Offer texts you have read, novels, poetry, newspaper clippings,
advertisements, letters, etc.
- Offer summaries of texts you have dealt with and how they have
influenced you. For example, after reading Goethe's
Werther, what was your reaction? Emotional? Rational?
Intellectual?
- Comment especially on the intellectual influence these texts
have had on you.
III. Writing:
Students should be able to structure coherent and sophisticated
arguments in the target language. Writing should display sound
acquisition of grammatical structures and vocabulary with competent
linguistic accuracy.
- How have you improved your skills in this area over time?
- What examples of papers, compositions, essays, and homework
assignments could you provide?
- What authentic writing experiences have you been able to
accumulate (pen pal, applications, email, web-chat)?
Examples:
- Compare a composition from SP 204 and a film review of the
latest Almodovar film for your 400-level Spanish Films class. How
has your writing changed? Show evidence of improvement and
expansion.
- Synthesize your writing experience in a brief narrative. Are
you satisfied today with the level attained? How might you continue
to improve?
IV. Listening:
Students should demonstrate ability to comprehend spoken
utterances of native speakers with little difficulty.
- What contact have you had with real native speakers? Describe
the experiences and how your comfort level has changed over
time.
- Can you now watch a French movie without subtitles? Do you find
yourself irritated by those subtitles or hate the dubbed voices of
American productions?
- Describe your comprehension level of sophisticated auditory
samples: i.e.: news, DJ talk, songs, university lectures, etc.
Examples:
- A narrative of your comprehension of Spanish news reports about
recent elections in Mexico.
- Evaluate your development in understanding from beginning
Spanish courses to later upper-division work. ("In Spanish 102
I could fill in the missing verb, today I can complete ideas for my
teachers before they finish the sentences")
V. Culture:
Student should demonstrate knowledge of formal and informal
aspects of international cultures as well as the ability to think
effectively about social, political, ethical, and moral issues.
Questions:
- What impressions do you have of cultural differences and
similarities?
- What particular literary, artistic, historic, cinematic
movement/genre have you investigated in greater depth over the
course of your career?
- What political, social, economic, religious issues have you
encountered, studied, dealt with, discussed at parties or been
moved to argue over at any length?
Examples:
- Give a concrete description of a moment in which you felt
culturally sophisticated in your field, or in which you felt truly
"at home" in you language.
- What did you not know as a freshman which is in your back
pocket today?
- Bring in the 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man and
compare it to your understanding of your own identity or idea of
citizenship.
- Tell which German stereotypes are, after your closer
inspection, completely untrue or unjustified.
VI. Summary and Synthesis, Intellectual Growth
Students are asked here to synthesize their experiences and
comment on their own intellectual growth during their studies. Here
are some sample questions to which you may choose to respond.
How has your study of language, literature, and culture enhanced
your life and your global appreciation?
In the film Dances with Wolves, the Kevin Costner
figure experiences a gradual transformation from understanding
virtually nothing of the language and the culture of the Indians,
to slowly understanding some things, and finally becoming
culturally and linguistically fluent. Would you describe your
experience with your language of study in these terms, or would you
propose a different analogy which better fits your
"transformation"?
Have you had experiences throughout this language learning
process which you would describe as emblematic (symbolic?
metaphoric?) for your development? Why?
What were some of your motivations in learning this foreign
language? Did these change over time? Which things helped you most
along the way, which impeded your progress? Were there things you
would have done differently, if you were to go through the program
again? Why?
Important
This portfolio project requires active organization and
collection of materials throughout your academic studies at Butler
University. Keep this project in mind as you complete courses and
move on to others.
Do Not Throw Everything Away!!!
Meet with your advisor in your foreign language during the first
semester of your senior year to begin coordinating completion
schedules and due dates for the project.