How can we facilitate our students' movement into the Advanced range of proficiency? What are some of the typical obstacles? How can we encourage them to be self-reflective about their language in order to overcome their own individual weaknesses that are preventing them from increasing their proficiency? How can we better integrate the three modes - interpersonal, presentational, interpretive - to improve proficiency overall?  

About the Presenter:
Dr. Cynthia Martin is an Associate Professor of Russian at the University of Maryland, College Park, where she teaches courses in language, literature and culture in both Russian and English.  She is an active ACTFL-certified OPI Tester and Trainer and is currently involved in a number of national assessment initiatives for academia, as well as private and government sectors. Dr. Martin's interests include second language acquisition, second language assessment (both theory and practice), heritage learners, materials and curriculum development, and Soviet and contemporary Russian culture and art. She is the co-author (with Irina Dolgova) of multiple publications, including an intermediate-level Russian textbook Welcome Back! designed for the college curriculum (as part of the Russian in Stages series published by ACTR/Kendall Hunt).