© 2005 Assessing the language proficiency of young learners in the Dutch classroom: developing and...
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Transcript of © 2005 Assessing the language proficiency of young learners in the Dutch classroom: developing and...
© 2005
Assessing the language proficiencyof young learners
in the Dutch classroom:developing and implementingtasked-based language tests
Marleen Colpin & Machteld Verhelst
© 2005
CONTENTS
PART I (Machteld Verhelst)
• Background & principles• Assessing very young children’s language
proficiency
PART II (Marleen Colpin)
• Developing and implementingtasked-based language tests in the classroom
• Conclusion
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• Its task: promoting equal educational chances for all learners
• Most important target group: learners at risk in their educational career (immigrants and learners from low social classes)
• Providing support to the field of primary, secondary and adult education
Centre for Language and Migration
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• Focus on successful language performance in order to function in relevant, communicative situations (school, society)
• Language as a device, not a goal in itself • Becoming proficient through carrying out
realistic, relevant and motivating tasks • Task-based approach for every learner
regardless of his/her language background
Task-based approach of CTM
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Task-based assessment
• Task is central concept, not construct of LP
• Not to elicit components of system
• Interest in performance on task itself
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Principles
Three principles concerning development of language tests and assessment instruments:
1. Embedded in education
2. Implementation
3. Impact
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Three interrelated basic questions to start with:
• WHY is a test needed? purpose• WHAT should be tested? content• HOW should language proficiency be
tested? format
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• To monitor the language development process and diagnose possible problems
• To provide feedback and specific support on the basis of diagnostic information perspective of learner: to avoid problems and/or to overtake these perspective of teacher: to adjust own education
• To take decisions• To inform parents• ...
WHY?
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Why do teachers evaluate?
0%
10%
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60%
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90%
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WHAT?
• Language performance in relation to Intermediate goals / Governmental attainment goals / Framework of Reference for young learners
• No global level system such as the CEFR but goals in terms of the language tasks that learners should be able to perform at a certain age within and outside the school context
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Which goals do teachers assess?
Kindergarten Primary School
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HOW?
• The most appropriate procedures/instruments to test/assess with regard to
- WHY you want to test- WHAT you want to test- but also the GROUP of PUPILS that will be
tested
• principles of good testing and assessment: validity, reliability, efficiency and practicality
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Assessing very young learners’ language proficiency: a broad view…
Social
Cognitive Language
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WHY?
Purpose:
to detect children at risk in order to create a more powerful language environment
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WHAT?
‘Attainment’ or ‘developmental’ goals
Language use
In the school domain
Comprehension
No correctness
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Examples of attainment goalsend kindergarten• Listening
A child can understand an oral instruction about a concrete physical action in a here-and-now situation, and is able to show its comprehension by reacting adequately.
• SpeakingA child can answer questions about its
own feelings, intentions and interests, in a communicatively adequate way.
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What do teachers test?
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60%
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90%
100%
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HOW?
Specific demands concerning:
(1) Validity, reliability and bias• Tasks
• Test format
• Cultural/social biasAvoiding typical culture-bound elementsThemes and contexts that all children know
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(2) Efficiency and practicality
Tests demand much of the concentration of young children
as short and as natural as possible
variation and motivation
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(3) Embedding in educational context
• Possibility to draw educational consequences?
• Education effects visible?
• Evolution visible?
• Enough differentiation?
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Example 1: KOBI-TV
• Age 4• Language proficiency in the school
domain • Integrated oral skills• 27 tasks: real language use situations• Administration within the natural class
environment of the children• Allows monitoring during the school year
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100
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TASK 7
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‘Take three green blocks.Put these blocks in a row.’
TASK 17
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TASK 24
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TASK 27
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The standards of KOBI-TV
December March June
11 16 19
19 23 25
December March June
18 22 24
Immigrant children
Flemish children
All children
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Developing and implementingtasked-based language tests in the
classroom
Marleen Colpin
© 2005
VLOTVolgsysteem Lager onderwijs
Taalvaardigheid to monitor the language development of primary school pupils (8-12 year olds, L1
and L2 learners) a battery of 60 tests designed for teachers in relation to the official attainment goals
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Examples of attainment goalsfor the end of primary education
• ListeningThe pupils can understand and structure the information from an explanation or an instruction of the teacher.
• WritingThe pupils can write a letter to a familiar addressee to communicate a personal message or experience.
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• Relevant and authentic assessment tasks which relate to the official attainment goals
• Criteria/parameters for difficulty:
Text processing level Text type Public
Familiarity of topic and theme Vocabulary Reading difficulty level (AVI-level)
VLOT
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Unequal division between receptive and productive tests
Tasks with a communicative goalConfronting children with language they
encounter in real life (their world): motivation
60 tests: 1 test for each grade (5 grades) for the 4 main language skills
at 3 moments during the school year
VLOT
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Direct testing to enhance content validityPractical and efficient to be administeredTarget group: L1 and L2 learners
avoiding bias Comparable test results to monitor pupilsNeed for efficient rating scheme that
guarantees objective and reliable rating
VLOT
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Example test: Birthday partyOral instructions from the test administrator/teacher:“… You will now call X (name) on the phone to askhim/her whether he/she can come. You will tellhim/her everything he/she needs to know to come toyour party. So you will have to mention when andwhere the party will be, what time it begins and ends,if the children need to bring something, e.g. apresent, ….I will play X. I will first give you a little time to plan, sothat you can prepare what you are going to say.”
VLOT
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Comparable test resultsResults gathered from a group of more than 600 pupils in 32 schools representative for Flemish population
5 standard categories
A = goodB = average goodC = average weak D = weakE = very weak
VLOT
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VLOT
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Rating table Birthday Party task
1. Why? (the friend is invited) 1/0 1/0
2. Where? (the party takes place) 1/0 1/0
3. When? (the party takes place) 1/0 1/0
4. At what time? (the party starts) 1/0 1/0
5. What to bring along? 1/0 1/0
+ speaking fluency: 1/0
content form
VLOT
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Implementing task-based tests
Multidirectional relationships between tests,educational programme and learning goals
>< tradition of focus-on-formS language teaching methodology
>< control+ high impact and washback on views
and practice of education
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TASANTaalvaardigheidstoets Aanvang
Secundair Onderwijs Anderstalige Nieuwkomers
Test entrance secondary education non-native newcomers
Purpose: to yield information about the linguistic skills of a non native newcomer after one year preparatory class and to diagnose problematic aspects
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Parameters of task complexity Parameters concerning the world
represented in the task (e.g. ‘here-and-now’ versus ‘there-and-then’; amount of visual and linguistic support)
parameters with regard to the tasks’ cognitive processing demands
parameters with regard to linguistic complexity (vocabulary, syntactic structures, length of text)
TASAN
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Task Complexity IndicatorTASAN
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TASAN In-service trainings
Links between tasks in the test and attainment goals
Tasks in the test = examples of the tasks to be used in language education
Illustration of manipulation of complexity
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Teachers developing tests?
Difficulties:- finding or selecting proper source materials- avoiding test bias- establishing the difficulty of the test- constructing independent items- constructing objective and task-relevant
checklists for scoring productive skills
Arguments pro:+ Carefully consider attainment goals+ Elaborate professional proficiency with regard to testing
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Broad concept of evaluation
on a permanent base as well as at specific moments throughout the school year
on products the pupils produce as well as on their acquisition/learning process
with more traditional tests as well as more ‘alternative’ evaluation instruments, such as observation instruments, portfolio, ...
by the teacher as well as the pupils themselves or other pupils
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Teachers’ assessment skills
Insight in what relevant tasks are andwhat constitutes their complexity
more refined observation skillsbase assessment of pupils’ language
proficiency upon a rich and varied base of ‘real’ language use situations in the classroom
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ConclusionGive teachers insight in:• What attainment goals are claimed to be
evaluated?• How was the test constructed?• What aspects of learner performance are
assessed?
Task-based assessment as a powerful tool to promote more functional,
performance-based assessment, and task-based language education