January 26, 2024
9:00 – 9:15
Opening Remarks
Lori Mesrobian and Evgeny Dengub (University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA)
9:15 – 10:15
Keynote’ Speech: Ungrading for Learning: Building on Real Students’ Superpowers
Dr. Susan D. Blum (University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN)
10:20 – 11:20
15-Minute Paper Panels
Panel A1 Breaking Barriers – Disrupting Systems
Chair: Liliana Paredes (Duke University, Durham, NC)
Ungrading in the Heritage Language Learners Classroom
Vianey Cabrera (Santiago Canyon College, Orange, CA)
Can-Do Statements for Self-Evaluation in Critical Sociocultural Linguistics Literacy
Claudia Holguin Mendoza and Maria Jimenez (University of California Riverside, Riverside, CA)
Panel A2 Self- Assessment
Chair: Jaclyn Cohen-Steinberg (University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA)
Studying the Self: Student-Created Rubrics for Assessing Learning
Kristina Meinking (Elon University, Elon, NC)
Overcoming Barriers to Superior Proficiency with Self-Assessment in Ungrading Classroom
Olga Mukhortova (Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center, Monterey, CA)
Panel A3 Equity and Mental Health
Chair: Yi-Hsien Liu (University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA)
Rewarding, Not Penalizing in a Russian Language Classroom: Alternative Grading as a Response to the Mental Health Crisis
Olga Klimova (University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA)
Empowering Students or Performing Freedom? Ungrading and The Hidden Tyranny of Contracts
Elara Sherman (Emory University, Atlanta, GA)
Reflecting Multilingual Values: Ungrading for Equity in the World Language Classroom
Christina Beaubien (Westfield State University, Westfield, MA) and Andie Fabe (Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS)
11:25 – 12:00
5-Minute Share Outs Sessions
Session B1 Navigating Frameworks
Chair: Mellissa Withers (University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA)
Ungrading Within an Institutionally-Mandated Grading Framework: Grading for Mastery in the Upper-Level Language Classroom
Reed Johnson (Bowdoin College, Brunswick, ME)
The Extrinsic Values of Ungrading in Language Instruction
Martina Kerlova (Northwestern University, Evanston, IL)
Ungrading for Proficiency
Megwen Loveless (Tulane University, New Orleans, LA)
Session B2 Reading and Writing
Chair: Peter Winsky (University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA)
Unleashing Potential: Transformative Practices and Student Perspectives on Language Courses
María Mercedes Fages Agudo (University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA)
Ungraded Process Writing in Foreign Language Teaching
Ian Curtis (Kenyon College, Gambier, OH)
Reading Journal Dialogues in the Literature Classroom
Jennie Snow (Fitchburg State University, Providence, RI)
Self-Selected Pleasure Reading and Self-Selected Pleasure Note Taking
Nooshan Ashtari (University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA)
12:00 – 12:30
Break
12:30 – 13:10
Workshop “One-Level Rubrics”
Margaret E. Malone, Director, Assessment and Research, ACTFL
13:15 – 14:15
15-Minute Paper Panels
Panel C1 Working with Different Models
Chair: Atiyeh Showrai (University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA)
Specs Grading and Task-based assessments in Fourth-Semester French
Maria Park Bobroff (Boston University, Boston, MA)
“’Le Pacte Autobiographique’ et Le Pacte Scolaire:” Lessons From Contract Grading in a Small French Literature Course
Morgane Haesen (High Point University, High Point, NC)
Implementing Effort-Based Agreements in a Graduate Spanish Syntax Course
Maite Correa (Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO)
Panel C2 Student-Centered Practices
Chair: Leah Kemp (University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA)
Vulnerable: Ungrading for Heartfelt Multilingual Writing
Laura Florand (Duke University, Durham, NC)
Cheating the system: What Do Russian Language Students Think of Authorized Cheat Sheets?
Emil Asanov (West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV)
Meaningful Assessment Through Learning Progressions
Lake Mathison (Royalton Public Schools, Royalton, MN)
Panel C3 Implementing Change
Chair: Shannon Donnally Quinn (Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI)
Student Voices: Ungrading, Learning, and Motivation
Ashleigh Fox (Robert Morris University, Pittsburgh, PA)
Little Steps for a Big Journey: An Incremental Approach to Ungrading
Rachel Knighten (Lane Community College, Eugene, OR)
A Human Endeavor: Using Ungrading to Refocus Academia on Student Learning
Mike Rovasio (California State University, East Bay, CA)
14:20 – 14:55
5-Minute Share Outs Sessions
Session D1 Self-Assessment
Chair: David Zarazúa (University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA)
Utilizing Self-Assessment and Rubrics in Student-Led Interviews
María Datel (Boston University, Boston, MA)
Participation Self-Assessments for Increasing Engagement and Student-Teacher Trust
Valerie O’Brien (University of Illinois Laboratory High School, Urbana, IL)
Self-Evaluation Grades: A Method to Incentivize Students?
Óscar Perea Rodríguez (University of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA)
Leveled Self-Assessments in the AI Era
Xiomara Feliberty-Casiano (Harvard University, Cambridge, MA)
Session D2 Centering Students
Chair: Julia Chamberlin (University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA)
Trust-Building Drives Risk-Taking: Acknowledging Individual Experience in Student-Oriented Ungrading Pedagogy
Cooper Brown (University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA)
Pedagogical Exploration: Peer Evaluation for Student Presentations
Jun Lang (Pomona College, Claremont, CA)
Ungrading Strategy: The Translanguaging Circle as a Space of Equity in the French Composition Class
Laura Huffman (Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, CA)
It’s OK to Make Mistakes!: Ungraded Quizzes in the Language Classroom
Chloe Papadopoulos (Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada)
15:00 – 16:00
15-Minute Paper Panels
Panel E1 Games and Machines
Chair: Natalia Valencia (Loyola University, Chicago, IL)
(Un)Grading and Gamification
Felix Kronenberg (Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI)
Oscars Night: Ungrading Language Proficiency with Dynamic Showcase
Bo Liu (University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX)
Machine Translation and Ungrading
Ketevan Kupatadze and Elena Schoonmaker Gates (Elon University, Elon, NC)
Panel E2 Reflection
Chair: Kendra Walther (University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA)
“I Did It on My Own”: Illuminating Progress through Guided Self-Reflection in Oral Interviews
Yawei Li (Berea College, Berea, KY)
Reflective Practice: Effective Strategies for Combating Challenges with Grading Policies
Amanda J. Smith (Branford High School, Killingworth, CT)