John Jay High School

(As printed from the AP Central Web site)

Spanish Language Course and Exam Claims and Evidence

Claims*
The student who receives an AP grade of 3, 4, or 5 on the AP Spanish Language Exam has mastered -- to a degree commensurate with the AP grade -- the skills and knowledge required to receive credit for an advanced level (fifth- and sixth-semester or the equivalent) college/university Spanish language course.

• The student has strong communicative ability in Spanish in interpersonal, presentational, and interpretive modes.

• The student has a strong command of Spanish linguistic skills (including accuracy and fluency) that support communicative ability.

• The student comprehends Spanish intended for native speakers in a variety of settings, types of discourse, topics, styles, registers, and broad regional variations.

• The student produces Spanish comprehensible to native speakers in a variety of settings, types of discourse, topics, and registers.

• The student acquires information from authentic sources in Spanish.

• The student is aware of some cultural perspectives of Spanish-speaking peoples.

*Claims "are statements we'd like to make about what students know, can do, or have accomplished" (Mislevy, Steinberg, and Almond, 2002). 

Evidence**
The AP Spanish Language student can:

• Identify and summarize the main points and significant details and make appropriate inferences and predictions from a spoken source, such as a broadcast news report or a lecture, on an academic or cultural topic related to the Spanish-speaking world.

• Identify and summarize the main points and significant details and predict outcomes from an everyday conversation on a familiar topic, a dialogue from a film or other broadcast media, or an interview on a social or cultural topic related to the Spanish-speaking world.

• Identify and summarize main points and important details and make appropriate inferences and predictions from a written text, such as a newspaper or magazine article or a contemporary literary excerpt.

• Write a cohesive and coherent analytical or persuasive essay in reaction to a text or on a personal, academic, cultural, or social issue with control of grammar and syntax.

• Describe, narrate, and present information and/or persuasive arguments on general topics with grammatical control and good pronunciation in an oral presentation of two or three minutes.

• Use information from sources provided to present a synthesis and express an opinion.

• Recognize cultural elements implicit in oral and written texts.

• Interpret linguistic cues to infer social relationships.

• Communicate via formal and informal written correspondence.

• Initiate, maintain, and close a conversation on a familiar topic.

• Formulate questions to seek clarification or additional information.

• Use language that is semantically and grammatically accurate according to a given context.

**Evidence comprises observable work products, which can be evaluated to substantiate intended claims (Mislevy, Almond, and Lukas, 2003).