Page 32 - The Ontario Curriculum, Grades 9 to 12: French as a Second Language – Core, Extended, and Immersion, 2014

THE ONTARIO CURRICULUM | French as a Second Language
• Communication. The conveying of meaning and expression through various forms. • Application. The use of knowledge and skills to make connections within and between various contexts.
In all subjects and courses, students should be given numerous and varied opportunities to demonstrate the full extent of their achievement of the curriculum expectations across all four categories of knowledge and skills.
Teachers will ensure that student learning is assessed and evaluated in a balanced manner with respect to the four categories, and that achievement of particular expectations is considered within the appropriate categories. The emphasis on “balance” reflects the fact that all categories of the achievement chart are important and need to be a part of the process of instruction, learning, assessment, and evaluation. However, it also indicates that for different courses, the relative importance of each of the categories may vary. The importance accorded to each of the four categories in assessment and evaluation should reflect the emphasis accorded to them in the curriculum expectations for the subject or course, and in instructional practice.
Criteria and Descriptors
To further guide teachers in their assessment and evaluation of student learning, the achievement chart provides “criteria” and “descriptors”.
A set of criteria is identified for each category in the achievement chart. The criteria
are subsets of the knowledge and skills that define the category. The criteria identify
the aspects of student performance that are assessed and/or evaluated, and they serve as a guide to what teachers look for. In the FSL curriculum, the criteria for each category are as follows:
Knowledge and Understanding
• knowledge of content
• understanding of content
Thinking
• use of planning skills
• use of processing skills
• use of critical/creative thinking processes, skills, and strategies
Communication
• expression and organization of ideas and information in oral, visual, and/or written forms
• communication for different audiences and purposes in oral, visual, and/or written forms
• use of conventions, vocabulary, and terminology of the discipline in oral, visual, and/or written forms
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