Leveraging Language Proficiency to Engage Larger Audiences

woman gazing into a screen filled with images of people

Community leaders are utilizing language proficiency to engage larger audiences in today’s connected world.

Since its inception in 1992, Language Testing International (LTI) has become a leader in administering language proficiency tests in more than 120 languages and in over 60 countries. While LTI has understood the importance of language proficiency skills since day one, over the past nearly-three decades, we have seen the “power” of language grow exponentially.

Think about it this way: 1992 pre-dates public access to the World Wide Web, mass use of email, the dot com bubble, social media, and the globally connected society we now live in today. The services LTI offers didn’t just adapt to fulfill the language testing needs caused by these shifts—they have become increasingly more valuable.

In a recent episode of LTI’s “Language Is Your Superpower” podcast, guest Marcos Vilar, the Executive Director of the non-profit ALIANZA organization, shared, “the world is becoming smaller, in the sense that we have the opportunity to travel, to engage, and, since the Internet, you really don’t have to travel to engage,” Vilar stated, “sometimes you can use these artificial intelligence translators … technology to translate what you’re saying. But there’s nothing like sitting in front of a person, or even screen-to-screen, and being able to engage in their language.”

Marcos Vilar, a native of Puerto Rico, moved to the mainland United States at the age of 14. He has worked in Washington, D.C. in government, labor, and non-profit settings. In Chicago, Illinois he worked as a high school teacher, and in Florida as a consultant for several organizations in the non-profit and electoral sectors. Today, he also runs his own business, Vilar Strategies, a public relations consulting practice in Orlando, FL. His clients rely on his linguistic and cultural competencies to plan strategies, create legislative and advocacy campaigns, formulate issue campaigns and electoral campaigns, as well as conduct not-for-profit organizational development and management. Their goals are to activate Latino civic engagement at a national and local level and create a coalition of organizations that work together to increase Latino civic participation in key states. And Marcos is just the person to help accomplish these goals.

While some people may associate having a noticeable accent with negative connotations, Vilar explained how that is an outdated way of thinking in today’s globally connected world, and how an accent is merely a sign of aperson’s “language superpower.” “My accent is my asset, not my liability,” Vilar said. “It means I speak two languages, or three, or four. That means that you can speak to and relate to more people than a person who only speaks one language. It means that I don’t have to force people to come to me in my language. I can share my thoughts, and my ideas, and my knowledge to you in either language.”

Marcos knows first-hand that “the byproduct of having two [languages] is that you talk a little bit funny or your talk a little bit different.” However, his experience has taught him that his accent is “just a byproduct of something that is huge, and is powerful, and is valuable when it comes to communications, because the name of the game today is communication; being able to get your message and get your thoughts out to as many people as possible.” To put it simply, he explains, “if you can do it in two languages, you’re going to be that much more successful. You’re just going to have a bigger audience—more people that you can reach.”

That is why, now, nearly thirty years after we first opened our doors here at LTI, the importance of language has remained a constant, but the power of language keeps getting stronger. This leaves us with just one question for you: Are you utilizing your language superpower as a community or business leader?

Want to know more about Marcos Vilar’s story? Tune into our most recent podcast.

Learning from AAPPL Results

teenager at computer with headset on

I cried real tears the first time I received my students’ AAPPL scores. I had much to celebrate: great accomplishments on the Interpretive components, with several students obtaining scores high enough for our state’s Seal of Biliteracy, and those “surprise kids” performing better than expected. But they weren’t just the happy kind of tears; for every 10 celebrations there was one rating that would break my heart.

I’ve come to learn from other language teachers that this is a common phenomenon. As teachers, we become so personally invested in our students’ success that ratings on a test can feel like an indictment of our worth as a teacher. I’ve learned it’s important to stay away from that trap and instead use the results not as a badge of honor but as a way to improve our own professional practices.

I wasn’t sure if my students would do well the first time they took the AAPPL, but I felt very confident going into the Presentational Writing component. So, when I first saw one of my best writer’s score come back lower than anticipated, I had an immediate feeling of teacher-effectiveness crisis combined with the dread of having to deliver news to a kid I had showered with writing praise for over a year. The one skill I thought I taught well was writing and now the AAPPL results showed that things were not going as well as I had assumed.

That would have been the end of the story of that year’s testing if not for the encouragement of my instructional coach, the individual in charge of AAPPL administration in my district. She encouraged me to examine the students’ writing samples to look for commonalities between those that had received low scores, differences between high and low scores, and the characteristics of the high scores. I felt that it was not a helpful task since I was well versed in the ACTFL proficiency ranges. I assumed I knew the characteristics of Intermediate Low writing already. But I quickly learned two major things from the AAPPL results and from my review of the student samples that revitalized, refocused, and redefined my practices as a language teacher.

The fact that the AAPPL allowed me to review the samples after being rated was transformative. I was able to see the submitted work and the ratings, and a lot can be learned if you carefully review and compare. My instructional coach recommended I look for patterns—focusing on things I see repeatedly and the things that appear to be missing.

My biggest takeaway was that my students were weak in first person narrative writing. That made little sense to me until I thought about what we did in Spanish 3 and Spanish 4; we used novels and 3rd person storytelling heavily. The students were very skilled in writing about others and describing sequences of events but not strong in explaining their own experiences. Novels and storytelling are great for expanding vocabulary, learning structures, and getting exposure to culture. However, I learned from the AAPPL results that I didn’t infuse enough first-person narrative within those practices.

The other major weakness I saw from looking at the results was in direct second person informal communication in the form of emails or letters; my students could write about others but not necessarily to others. This surprised me because I figured they would apply the same structures we used in interpersonal communication practice. However, since I didn’t ever have them practice those structures specifically through writing, their lack of the ability to apply second person informal forms resulted in significant communication difficulties and possibly contributed to lower than expected scores.

It was also helpful to see that some of my talented writers only offered 3 or 4 sentences for advanced level prompts. Even though the writing samples they provided were crystal clear in terms of intelligibility— they didn’t demonstrate that they could string together paragraph level discourse. This boiled down to an effort issue. The students had assumed that perfect but brief production was sufficient and discounted the importance of “showing off” all of their writing skills. I now emphasize the importance of doing this in my teaching.

My practice as a teacher today is more well-rounded than it was prior to AAPPL testing. Learning from the results and examining patterns in the student samples have helped me understand how students apply their communicative modes and the range of their proficiency. I’m grateful for the opportunity to have those AAPPL samples matched with scores and grateful for the opportunity to have the data, which allows me to grow and learn.

“My accent is my asset”

woman asking another woman for directions

There is often a misconception about people who speak English as their second language. If they have strong accents, they are often perceived as having a reduced ability to communicate or their level of intelligence is questioned. Let’s consider instead that if a person speaks with an accent or does not fully command English, that means he or she may actually possess richer experiences. In our most recent podcast with Marcos Villar, Executive Director of ALIANZA, he explains it this way: “It means I speak two languages, or three, or four. That means that you can speak to and relate to more people than a person who only speaks one language. It means that I don’t have to force people to come to me in my language. I can share my thoughts, and my ideas, and my knowledge to you in either language.” In the podcast, Marcos shares the story of Johanna Lopez, District 2 School Board Member in Orange County Florida, who doesn’t see an accent as a deficit. She declares, “My accent is my asset.”

This declaration has resonated with many, like Johanna, who are non-native English speakers trying to navigate their lives in an English-dominant environment. A native of Puerto Rico, Johanna has a Bachelor of Arts in Hispanic Studies from the University of Puerto Rico and holds a Master of Arts in Higher Education from Universidad Interamericana de Puerto Rico. Despite her academic accomplishments and career as a teacher, when she moved to Central Florida after a difficult divorce, she could not practice as a teacher at the time due to the language barrier. As a single mother supporting her children, she took a job in the restaurant industry until such time that her English proficiency improved and she was able to obtain her certification as a teacher. Since then, Johanna has served as an Advanced Placement Spanish Teacher for over 19 years and earned the distinction of Orange County Public Schools’ 2017 Teacher of the Year.

While Johanna’s teaching career, leadership opportunities, and language proficiency have evolved, her Puerto Rican accent has prevailed. Her accent is not something that holds her back or anything to be embarrassed about. It is a signal to others that, while she may come from a different place, she has cultural and linguistic competencies that are becoming a necessity in the U.S., and she can accomplish great things. The accent is not a deterrent but rather a motivator for her as she serves her community and leads various regional initiatives. According to Marcos Villar, the “accent is just a byproduct of being able to speak two languages and reach a bigger audience.”

As society becomes more diverse and other languages, such as Spanish, become more mainstream, the benefits of being proficient in speaking, reading, writing, and listening comprehension in more than one language become more valuable. The stereotypical assumptions associated with having an accent are shifting such that what  once may have been perceived as a deficit is now considered an asset. In a recent conversation with Marco Villar, Lisa March, Host of the Language is Your Superpower podcast stated, “Having an accent doesn’t necessarily preclude you from having some of the most important jobs in your company, in your community, in the world. You can be someone that makes a huge difference.”

So, if you have an accent, celebrate it, and own it. Be like Johanna Lopez and proclaim, “My accent is my asset.”

Tune into our podcast with Marcos Villar to learn more.

#LTI #language #languageproficiency #PuertoRico #accent #leadership #diversity #superpower #bilingual

Sources: https://www.ocps.net/departments/school_board_services/school_board_members/district_2_-_johanna_lopez

Multilingual Community Members Become Community Leaders

diverse group of women discussing an issue, sitting in circle

Culturally proficient outreach efforts help create equitable pathways for community members to become community leaders.

At Language Testing International, we have seen many esteemed community leaders and elected officials utilize their language proficiency skills in their communication and outreach efforts. When combined with integrity, cultural competency, and authentic respect for the communities they are engaging, their dual- or multi-language skillsets continually prove to be valuable assets for these individuals and the members of the communities they serve.

Unfortunately, many marginalized communities are not as engaged as they could be during the most pivotal moments, such as elections. Oftentimes, language and cultural obstacles stand between them and the candidates for office they need to choose, and they cannot fully engage in the electoral processes that directly affect them. Lack of voice often leads to a lack of fair and/or adequate representation for the needs and wellbeing of those marginalized communities.

So, how do we, as a democracy, change that?

In some of these instances, the best chance for real representation of marginalized communities is to have a few members from that community step up to be that representation. However, with all the uphill battles and inequities that marginalized communities statistically face, these efforts can be far more successful and equitable with outside help and support from others who have navigated these linguistically and culturally diverse spaces.

Someone who knows this first-hand is Marcos Vilar, who joined us on a recent episode of LTI’s “Language Is Your Superpower” podcast. “Civic engagement is one of the most important things in a democracy, when we want to make sure that all of our needs as members of a society have an equal place, and an equal voice, and an equal opportunity to have the benefits of our government,” said Marcos. “We all pay taxes. We should all have a little bit of a say, and a way to say how those taxes should be used. And that’s what I think makes this country so unique and so attractive to so many people from around the world. And when we’re talking about around the world, we’re talking about languages, right?”

Marcos Vilar was born in Puerto Rico and moved to the mainland United States at the age of 14. Today, he runs Vilar Strategies, a public relations consulting practice in Orlando, FL which serves clients in strategic planning, legislative and advocacy campaigns, issue campaigns, electoral campaigns, and not-for-profit organizational development and management. Vilar led major efforts to activate Latino civic engagement at a national and local level, creating a coalition of organizations working together to increase Latino civic participation in key states.

In his work as the Executive Director for ALIANZA, Marcos “seeks to unite the Hispanic population in the state of Florida and develop leaders from within the community.” He helps identify individuals within Hispanic communities who are engaged and motivated to become the voice of and for their people. He spoke to LTI about two selfless community members, Johanna Lopez, an Orange County Public Schools Board Member, and Maribel Cordero, the Orange County Commissioner, about their inspiring stories and how he supported them in their efforts to rise to the prominent positions they now hold in Orange County, FL.

The power of language allowed these leaders to skillfully navigate and communicate in large Hispanic communities in both English and Spanish during their campaigns, broadening their audience of prospective voters. Marcos took it upon himself to lead outreach efforts to support these two women. They care deeply about their local Puerto Rican community in Central Florida and decided to become leaders in the local Hispanic community at large. They created platforms that provide an opportunity for them to represent and advocate for their neighbors in an impactful way.

“Our work in ALIANZA is identifying people like them,” Marcos Vilar said. “And there’s [sic] people like them in all walks of life, right? These are like super activists, people who give themselves to the community, who really take their role [seriously]… I think they are legacy people, who live life because they came here for a purpose, right? And they understand that life has purpose with it. And so, I think there’s a lot of folks like that in our community. And sadly, sometimes there’s not an opportunity or there’s not the light shining on all the people who are like that in our community.”

Vilar noted that “there are probably hundreds, maybe thousands of stories like [Johanna’s and Maribel’s] out there, probably even tens of thousands of stories like theirs out there in the community of people who are doing things. We don’t know them all. We seek them, we find some of them, and with the ones that we find, we try to build better, and we try to build for the future in any area.”

It takes all our participation to make sure everyone has a fair shot at exercising their leadership. So, who are the hidden bilingual gems in your community, or in your company or department? Have you engaged with and supported them? Who can you help be an advocate and help guide  toward and through more equitable pathways to success? If language and/or cultural barriers exist, how can you help bridge that gap, and bring everyone to the table to expand your audiences?

Listen to Marcos’s story on our most recent podcast.

 

https://www.americanbar.org/groups/crsj/publications/human_rights_magazine_home/voting-in-2020/why-minority-voters-have-a-lower-voter-turnout/