Teaching Endangered Languages of Oral Tradition: How and What to Assess?

Abstract

Abstract In this article, we report the results of a study undertaken at the University of Cyprus (2017–2020) in the framework of the research project MapCyArS financed by the Leventis Foundation. The study concerns the design and development of an assessment test to evaluate proficiency in Cypriot Arabic (CA), a severely endangered language spoken in Cyprus. The article discusses the principles that need to guide the development of such tests and the need to take into consideration the structural, functional, and pragmatic conditions of the endangerment situation. The test uses audio and visual material to assess knowledge of vocabulary, non-verbal activities to assess oral comprehension in narratives, and admits translanguaging as a way to assess CA oral comprehension in dialogue. It is divided into six internally rated activities that concern exclusively oral comprehension and production. Four tasks target oral comprehension, one measures oral production; a last one assesses grammatical/metalinguistic competence.