Spanish I Rubrics

If you're just stopping by:  What follows is really World-Language-Teacher specific.  If you're a WL teacher, I'd like your feedback on the trimester-level breakup of performance.  If you know anything about rubrics, I'd love your thoughts on the format.  Otherwise, feel free to skip this; it's long in the tooth.

My reader will remember that, a few days ago, I tried to identify the gradeable elements of the various communication tasks.  (The other branches of the expectations will have to wait.)  After several days of making stuff up, I think I have a few useable rubrics.  I present them for your consideration and commentary.

SPEAKING

Communication
END OF SEMESTER I:  Expresses ideas, in familiar contexts, by selection from a list
END OF SEMESTER II:  Expresses ideas, in familiar contexts, using memorized words and phrases
END OF SCHOOL YEAR:  Expresses ideas, in familiar contexts, using memorized words and phrases, including some studied in other contexts.


Pronunciation
END OF SEMESTER I:  Forms Spanish sounds appropriately when they're similar to English
END OF SEMESTER II:  Forms Spanish vowel sounds appropriately
END OF SCHOOL YEAR:  Forms most Spanish sounds appropriately

Syntax
END OF SEMESTER I:  Word order always resembles English word order, even when it's different
END OF SEMESTER II:  Uses correct word order in the context of adjectives and questions
END OF SCHOOL YEAR:  Uses correct word order much of the time

Fluency
END OF SEMESTER I:  Short (3-5 word) utterances, long pauses in between
END OF SEMESTER II:  Medium (6-9 word) utterances, short pauses in between
END OF SCHOOL YEAR:  Medium (8-12 word) utterances, almost no pause in between them

WRITING

Communication
END OF SEMESTER I:  Expresses ideas, in familiar contexts, by selection from a list
END OF SEMESTER II:  Expresses ideas, in familiar contexts, using memorized words and phrases
END OF SCHOOL YEAR: Expresses ideas, in familiar contexts, using memorized words and phrases, including some studied in other contexts.

Spelling
END OF SEMESTER I:  Frequently makes spelling errors based on English spelling conventions
END OF SEMESTER II:  Occasionally makes spelling errors based on English spelling conventions.
END OF SCHOOL YEAR: Rarely makes spelling errors.  Some of them are based on Spanish spelling conventions.

Syntax
END OF SEMESTER I:  Word order always resembles English word order, even when it's different
END OF SEMESTER II:  Uses correct word order in the context of adjectives and questions
END OF SCHOOL YEAR: Uses correct word order much of the time


Fluency
END OF SEMESTER I:  Few sentence types, mostly short
END OF SEMESTER II:  Combination of short and medium sentences
END OF SCHOOL YEAR: Combination of short and medium sentences, with some compound ("and" statement) sentences



Listening / reading comprehension
Big Idea Comprehension
END OF SEMESTER I:  Identify the main idea of a simple oral presentation, in a familiar context
END OF SEMESTER II:  Identify the main idea of a medium-length oral presentation, in a familiar context
END OF SCHOOL YEAR:  Identify one or two main ideas of a medium-length oral presentation, in a familiar context

Detail Comprehension
END OF SEMESTER I:  Identify one or two supporting details of the main idea
END OF SEMESTER II:  Identify three or four supporting details of the main idea
END OF SCHOOL YEAR:  Identify five to eight supporting details of the main idea

Word Comprehension
END OF SEMESTER I:  Identify a few familiar words and cognates
END OF SEMESTER II:  Identify several familiar words and cognates, and define a previously-unstudied word
END OF SCHOOL YEAR:  Identify most familiar words and cognates, and several previously-unstudied new words


COMMENTARY:

I'm well familiar with the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines.  They were written by people way smarter than me.  Our state standards and benchmarks are based on the ACTFL Standards and the Proficiency Guidelines.  It's also based on the assumption that a secondary school student can attain the Novice-High level of proficiency after two years of skilled study.  What I'm trying to do with these rubrics is picture how to break that process down into six trimesters.

I'm shooting to stride the line between high expectations and realistic achievement, but I'm afraid I may be underselling my students a bit. 

Some of my language is a little squishy--how long is a short utterance?  Is it the same length if a student is listening to it or speaking it?

This is really content-specific, but I think the rubric is open to commentary from any educated educator.  I'm slow to the coming of rubrics, and can use help making them.  If you have any thoughts, please let me know.  If you know anybody who might know more about this than me, please send them my way.  If you know of performance rubrics broken down into sememsters or trimesters, I would REALLY like to see them.