College Board Reinstates Advanced Placement (AP) Italian Test

In the last decade, the Advanced Placement (AP) test in Italian has been an on-again/off-again thing. It's now on again, according to the College Board.

What Happened?

Over the years, college-bound students' interest in taking AP courses and exams in Italian began to wane. As a result, in 2008-2009, the College Board eliminated the AP Italian tests. The Washington Post reports that the organization also noted that AP tests in Latin literature, French literature, and computer science only had a few thousand students taking each one. A purge resulted.

The resumption of the Advanced Placement test in Italian is largely the result of efforts by members of New York's politically active Cuomo family and a two-year lobbying effort by Italian fans in public and private high schools across the United States.

The Cuomos persuaded the Italian government to contribute financial support to the Italian AP program. For every dollar raised by Margaret Cuomo's Italian Language Foundation, the Italian government has pledged an equal amount.

As a result, the Italian AP test is back on the books. The program officially kicks off in high schools in the fall of 2011, with the first AP tests administered in the spring of 2012.

Goals of the AP Italian Program

The College Board indicates that the content of the new AP Italian Language and Culture course should enable students to show their level of Italian proficiency three ways. The first goal is interpersonal and interactive communication, which involves listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Successful students will be able to communicate both formally and informally in Italian. They will show clear and effective communication in a variety of personal situations, with a minimal number of errors.

The second objective of the new program is interpretive-receptive communication, which involves listening and reading. Successful students will be able to derive meaning from context, understand the details of text, and make inferences when it comes to a number of cultural and social issues.

Presentational-productive communication in speaking and writing is the final goal. In addition to being able to write with some knowledge of Italian geography, traditions, and customs, students should be adept at comparing Italian culture to their own.

Test Format

Each Advanced Placement Italian exam will consist of five parts. For evaluation purposes, they are equally weighted, so each represents 20 percent of the student's final score.

Part 1. This portion of the exam covers listening and reading. It lasts 1 hour and 20 minutes and includes 70 questions. The listening component of Part 1 consists of 30 to 34 questions and has been allocated 25 minutes.

The reading portion has been subdivided into two parts. The first covers things like a review of a show or event, interpreting a table or charge, or digesting an announcement or notice. It has between 10 and 14 questions, with 15 minutes allocated for completion. The second part of reading has 23 to 27 questions and takes 40 minutes. Questions deal with gist, detail, register, point of view, and inference.

Part 2. With three sections, it makes up 60 percent of the exam. The total time for Part 2 is 1 hour and 25 minutes. The writing portion consists of two passages, each with 10 questions. Each has been allocated five minutes. The third section, composition, has one question. Students have 30 minutes in which to complete it. This section tests the ability to develop a composition of around 150 words in Italian and also evaluates language usage.

The second component in Part 2 is Italian culture. The test has one question and a 30-minute time limit. Topics are drawn from Italian geography, contemporary life, arts and science, customs and traditions, and the contributions of Italians and Italian-Americans.

The final section is speaking. The first part is story narration, which involves answering one question. The total allowance of 10 minutes includes preparation time. The conversation portion of the speaking section consists of five questions. Students have five minutes in which to complete it. This portion of the AP Italian exam gauges a student's ability to enter into conversation on a stated topic.

Sources:

http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/courses/teachers_corner/28458.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/10/AR2010111006271.html