How Young Learners Learn Languages and How to Test Them

8/10/2019 How Young Learners Learn Languages and How to Test Them

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© Copyright ALTE 2012

How Young Learners LearnLanguages and how to Test them

Shelagh Rixon



2 © Copyright ALTE 2012

OR … ‘I can’t describe the perfect YL test in 40 minutes but I can try to open

discussion about

1. the ways in which we want to educate Young Learners in foreign

languages

2. realistic goals to match age and language level

3. the test and assessment characteristics which we therefore need

consciously to promote and to talk about with the learners aspart of their learning to learn languages development.’




Ages 6 to 12 app (covers primary school in

many contexts) – This is the least visited and

researched age group for testing (but not forassessment in general)

Ages 6 – 16 app (covers compulsory schoolingin many contexts) – Testing teenagers is more

familiar than testing children

Two definitions of ‘Young Learners’




Assessment - an umbrella term covering

any systemat ic means o f discov er ing and reco rdinghow wel l someone is able to do someth ing ,

(including observation of normal classroom activity andscrutiny of work done)

Testing - more formal challenges, usually with thelearner working outside the normal classroom modes.Includes exams.

Testing and assessment




Two world surveys (Cambridge and British

Council) with questions on assessment

practices with Young Learners

Examples of Young Learners Tests from the

ALTE group

Acting as volunteer Teachers Assistant in UK

primary school where ‘Assessment for Learning’

is strongly practised

Sources of information and ideas




Cambridge ESOL Survey on Testing and Teaching: 55

countries, 36 L1s, 726 respondents




Bangladesh

Cameroon

Outer Circle

Cyprus

Hong Kong

Sri Lanka

India,

Tamil Nadu

Namibia India,

Goa

Argentina

Uganda

Sierra Leone

India,

South India

Denmark

Colombia

Azerbaijan

Armenia

ItalyIsrael

CroatiaBahrain

Expanding Circle

CzechRepublic

Algeria

Brazil

Greece

Indonesia

Georgia

Japan France

Germany

Kazakhstan

Egypt

KosovoLithuania

Serbia

MexicoUzbekistan

North Cyprus

PalestineLatvia

Poland

Saudi Arabia

Qatar

Senegal

Portugal

Russia

Sweden

Venezuela

Yemen

Turkey

ZambiaInner

Circle

PeruChina

Taiwan

Spain USA UK

The British Council 2011 Survey on Policy and Practiceat Primary School Level: 64 countries, and counting ..




Cambridge ESOL survey: the balance of assessment

types by age group

Assessment of students in respondents' context

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

Students aged 6-11 Students aged 12-16

P e r c e n t

a g e

o f r e s p o n d e n t s

Tested formally with s tandardised tests

Tested informally in the class




Cambridge ESOL survey: assessment types in

primary and secondary schoolsRank order

in secondary

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

age 6-11 age 12-16

Total use

n u m b e r o f r e s p o n d e n t

s

Tests given in the textbook used

in class

Tests produced by class

teacher

Standardised tests &

examinations

Self-assessment

Collection of students’ work in a

file or portfolio

Observation & written

description of learner

performance

Peer-assessment






e.g.

to enable current teachers to notice patterns in learningand behaviour and act accordingly

to raise learners’ awareness of what they can do andneed to do

to sharpen learners’ metacognitive skills

to introduce ways of demonstrating skills that also workas frameworks for teaching

to inform other teachers what to expect from learners

Testing and Classroom Assessment should work in

harmony with teaching and to some purpose




The British Council survey revealed a

depressing and not new waste oftesting/assessment effort between primary

and secondary school levels

To inform other teachers what to expect from learners?




0 5 10 15 20 25 30

Never

rarely

sometimes

quite often

often

always

British Council Survey: Is information from assessment passed

on from primary to secondary schools?




never 27

rarely 16

sometimes 10

quite often 3

often 2

always 2

British Council Survey: Do primary and secondaryschool English teachers meet to discuss transition

pupils?




High-status external tests have had an impact onteaching content and focus in some schoolsystems

The introduction of oral tests of English fromCambridge (or Trinity College) has shifted thefocus to speaking

The design of test tasks (e.g. interactive, notrehearsed recitation) can also shift teaching focus toa particular quality of speaking

…

to introduce ways of demonstrating skills that also

work as frameworks for teaching




That the Young Learners tests we are discussingare professionally constructed but that we are

always striving to make them a ‘best fit’ for theage groups in the following ways:

What we think our learners can achieve

The ways in which they can demonstrate it In what particular areas we want our learners to

achieve

My assumption for today




Weir’s contribution




How to respect TEST-TAKER CHARACTERISTICS

Particularly AGE

and choose from an appropriate range of

COGNITIVE and LANGUAGE demands for theages of the learners

Our Focus Today




Moving from being able to claim and show this …




It is a common beginner strategy to speak inmemorised ‘chunks’ such as:

I like … My name is x

My favourite ….. is …….

There is a ….

At what point in oral testing do we require, set upchallenges for, and reward ‘creative’ language use?

‘Chunk’ use with children




The next activity is a good example of one which

sets up a richer interplay of challenge but still ata low (A1) language level

At the ‘higher’ levels of age and language level, what

choices do we make?




Dialogue simulé (ou jeu de role) (2 minutes environ)

Instructions to the candidate:

Vous voulez obtenir un bien ou un service (acheter un objet, passer une commande...).

A partir des images que l'examinateur vous a remises, vous vous informez sur le(s)

produit(s), le prix avant d'acheter. Pour payer vous disposez de pieces de monnaie et de

billets fictifs. Vous montrerez que vous êtes capable d'utiliser les formules d'accueil, de

congé et les formules de politesse de base.

You want to obtain a good or a service (buy something, ask for something ..) Using the

pictures that the examiner has given you, find out about the products, and their prices

before buying them. In order to pay you have some imitation coins and notes. You need

to show that you are able to use the proper language for greetings and leave-taking and

other basic social language.

DELF A1 Scolaire et Junior (12+)




The learner is expected to initiateand structure the role play

The examiner is the interlocutor

and may prompt/support if needed

The learner has to manipulatementally several visual sources ofinformation

The learner is expected to usesocial formulae

Some ‘chunks’ but other challenges too.




(FCE for Schools Oral Test Part 3. Ins truc t ions for a groupof 3 or 4 students interact ing )

Interlocutor: Now I’d like you to talk about something togetherfor about 3 minutes. Here are some activities that studentsoften do during their school day.

First, talk to each other about why it might be important to dothese different activities at school. Then decide which two

activities are not important for students to do at school.

Alright?

Moving to being able to do this …..







Discourse:

Maintaining interaction with other interlocutors (not ‘led’by examiner) and ‘staying in the discussion’

Cognitive:

Considering hypothetical possibilities (not all activitiesmay be part of the candidate’s own school experiences)

Weighing advantages and disadvantages andexpressing them in a reasoned fashion

SO, it’s not all language. Other challenges can be

lessened or increased




Piaget’s Four Stages of Cognitive Development – a

start but not the whole answerSensorimotor Sensory experiences –

physical actions

Birth to 2 years

Pre-operational Beginning to represent

the world in words and

images, moving towardssymbolic thinking

2 to 7 years

Concrete operational Logical reasoning about

concrete events begins.

Child can classify

objects into sets

7 to 11 years

Formal operational Abstract reasoning and

logic. Hypothetical

thought

11 years onwards






For many educators (e.g. Donaldson, 1978) Piaget’s 4th

(Formal Operational) stage is not an inevitable

development driven by biological maturation.

Much of primary education is devoted to fostering its

development, giving access to the ‘unnatural’ world of

academic discourse, and promoting metacognition as

well as to developing World and General Knowledge.

Some vital roles of ‘Education’




GeneralEducation

… Language Learning

… Language Testing

Subject-specificinput

Varying quantity and quality of L2input

Amount of L2 input is a very crude guide to the ‘level’ of external test that might berealistically aimed at

Influence ofgrowing literacy

Is high literacy in L2 a goal? This may affect which language modes are tested and how, but BEWARE using

written tests for oral purposes

Additions to

General

Knowledge/Knowledge ofthe world

Is information and Affective

Content also valued in languagelearning? (e.g. CLIL might be

one strong case where content is

important)

Issues of reliability and ‘fairness’ often mean that tests use information and cultural

content supposed to be equally ‘known’ or ‘unknown’ to most candidates

Induction intoacademic modes

of language use

and recognisedgenres

BICS (Basic Interpersonal

Communication Skills)?

CALP (Cognitive Academic

Language Proficiency)?

Or both?

A very important choice, especially in setting requirements for reading and writingtests

Guidance

towards

operating incertain cognitive

and

metacognitive

modes.

rote learning versus ‘learning by

using’.

Are learners aware of lesson

objectives? Are learners able

realistically to self-assess?

Is reflection on learning

encouraged? Do they receive

individual formative advice?

A high degree of metacognition leading to ‘Test Wiseness’ is an advantage when

facing high stakes tests. This is different from ‘over -preparation’ for tests.

Applying what goes on in General Education to think

about Foreign Language Learning and Testing




Subject-specific input

Influence of growing literacy Additions to General Knowledge/ Knowledge of

the world

Induction into academic modes of language use

and recognised genres

Guidance towards operating in certain cognitiveand metacognitive modes.

Aspects of General Education and how they may feedinto Language Learning




Language input (varying quality and quantity)

Is developing high literacy skills in L2 a goal?

Is information and other content also valued in language learning? (e.g. CLILmight be one strong case where content is important)

Is BICS (Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills) what you aim at in theforeign language? Or CALP (Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency)? Or

both?

Metacognition? Are learners aware of lesson objectives? Are learners ablerealistically to self-assess? Is reflection on language learning encouraged? Dolearners receive individual formative advice?

Carry-over from General Education to Language

Teaching …




Internationally, the amount of L2 input is a very crude guide to the ‘level’ of

external test that might be realistically aimed at

Goals for L2 literacy may affect which language modes are tested and how,

but BEWARE of using written tests for oral purposes

Issues of reliability and ‘fairness’ often mean that tests use information

and cultural content supposed to be equally ‘known’ or ‘unknown’ to most

candidates, that can be, banal and ‘empty’.

BICS and/or CALP is a very important choice in terms of test cognitive

demands

A high level of metacognition leading to ‘Test Wiseness’ is an advantagewhen facing high stakes tests. This is different from ‘over -preparation’ for

tests by simply practising past papers

… and then into Language Testing




The CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference

for Languages) and the related Portfolio Materials provide

an excellent start point for metacognition and reflection.

They offer great ideas for teaching

‘ I CAN ……..’

But …

Working towards known tests or assessment

instruments – some interesting issues:




Many good ‘local’ Junior versions of the Portfolio have beenproduced BUT for more in-depth and detailed use there are issues:

Many school systems specify A1 or A2 for the end of primaryschooling, but what about stages ‘on the way’? Levels need to bedistinguished in a meaningful way within the current descriptionsprovided by the CEFR at the lowest levels.

The Japanese version of the CEFR (the CEFRJ) does divide thelearning goals into 3 levels within each A band (e.g. A1.1, A1.2,

A1.3) (Negishi, Takada, Tono 2011). Worth considering.

CEFR was not designed for use with children and

young people




If Test-Constructors can build in different challenges,

Test-Takers benefit from being able to deconstruct them

In other words, to build ‘Test-Wiseness’ in a positive

manner we need to link:

classroom learning

classroom assessment and

awareness of the demands of high-stakes tests

Test-wiseness and metacognition (‘thinking about

learning’)




Much modern teaching attempts to offer springboards for

developing

METACOGNITIVE SKILLS AND AWARENESS

(even/especially for the younger learners)

However what works for younger usually works for olderand the UK strategy spans primary and secondary

Metacognition in the classroom




1. Learning objectives made explicit and shared with

pupils2. Peer and self-assessment in use

3. Pupils engaged in their learning and given immediate

feedback

My note: feedback = advice on what to do next, not just

on ‘how well you did’

Extract from UK government Assessment forLearning Strategy




This wall is mostly about Assessment for Learning




WALT = We Are Learning To …




WILF gets them from WALT into the teacher’s mind






Red = Help! I really

don’t ‘get’ it

Amber = I need some

more support

Green = I’m

confident with this

Traffic lights in exercise books to signal to the teacher




Register/ Circle time. Each child says a sentence about

what they found tricky, interesting, frustrating, confusing, in

the last week about a school topic, or where they had a

TRIUMPH in the past week.

Often happens with maths e.g. ‘I think place value

charts are really AWFUL’ but this approach could

equally be applied to language learning

‘Never be afraid to think about your learning’




Me: What’s that?

(meaning can the child

name the semi-colon

punctuation mark)

Child: That’s Level 5,

that is! (meaning that he

knows that using a semi-

colon correctly is one

criterion for Level 5 work)

Children sometimes are VERY aware of what they need

to do in order to get the grades

;




‘Levels 4 and 5’ are the Golden Treasure Assessment

and Test Grades for all UK primary teachers and 10-11

year old children, and increasingly, they all know what

they have to do to get there …

It’s easy to mock but IF the test-wise teachers and

children are talking about wise tests, the teaching-testing

gap can happily be narrowed.

‘That’s great. You are all working at Level 5 this week’




Thanks




We would like to acknowledge the help offollowing colleagues in the two surveys:

Hanan Khalifa, Cambridge ESOLEvelina Galaczi, Cambridge ESOLRoger Hawkey, Cambridge ESOL consultantLucy Chambers, Cambridge ESOL

Debbie Howden, Cambridge ESOLJohn Knagg, British Council

Tom Poole, British Council




Thanks also to:

Grange Farm Primary School

and

Stanton Bridge Primary School

Coventry










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How Young Learners Learn Languages and How to Test Them