What Skills Do Students Need for Upper-Division Latin?

abstract:

This article explores the language-proficiency levels required in traditional upper-division university courses in Latin. It introduces a research framework to Classics called "domain analysis" and analyzes upper-division Latin at one university to determine the target functional outcomes for students in lower-division courses. The article finds that traditional upper-division Latin requires philological skills that are not described under widely used descriptions of language proficiency, but that these courses also require a reading proficiency corresponding to "advanced high" in the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages Proficiency Guidelines, as well as a limited degree of listening and pronunciation ability. A lower-division curriculum that integrates active Latin techniques with those drawn from multiliteracies and grammar-translation pedagogies may be best suited to achieving these proficiencies.