Factors that influence Slovene students’ low achievements in ESLC reading

Author(s):

Ana Mlekuz(submitting)Urška Štremfel(presenting)

Conference:

ECER 2014

Network:

31. LEd – Network on Language and Education

Format:

Poster

Session Information

31 SES 05.5 PS, General Poster Session

General Poster Session

Time:

2014-09-03

12:30-14:00

Room:

Poster Area E (in front of B001-B003)

Chair:

Contribution

The poster analyses the relationship between different factors and reading achievements in English and German for Slovene students included in European Survey on Language Competences, which took place in 2011.

The main objective of ESLC was to gather information on foreign language knowledge among students at the end of ISCED2 or at the beginning of ISCED3 in participating educational systems. The study included 53.000 students from 16 educational systems in 14 participating countries (Belgium (Flemish, French and German Community), Bulgaria, Croatia, England, Estonia, France, Greece, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden). In each of the educational systems two most commonly taught foreign languages of the five official languages of the European Union (English, French, German, Italian and Spanish) were tested. Each student was tested in one of the two tested languages in two of the three language skills (listening, reading, writing), and had to complete a background questionnaire about their language learning and other background factors (demographic, social, economic, educational etc.). In addition, principals and teachers of foreign languages at the sampled schools were included in the survey too. Approximately 2.500 principals and 5.000 teachers were included in the survey. In Slovenia approximately 3000 students, 290 language teachers and 163 principals were included in the survey. All test results were presented in terms of Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR).

In Slovenia a large percentage of students did not reach A-1 CEFR level in reading for English and German. Moreover, reading was the weakest skill for Slovenian students for both tested languages. Therefore, the poster focuses on those children, who did not even achieve A-1 level or if we put it differently, they achieved the lowest Pre-A1 level of CEFR (this level was used for the purposes of this survey only). This means, that these students did not learn almost anything after six years of foreign language learning. Therefore, the poster investigates different factors that might influence the achievement of these students. The factors, which the poster analyses, are: demographic factors, factors in school and home environment, students’ views on language learning, the length of foreign language learning etc. One of the main objectives of this poster is to find out, which factors influence the Pre-A1 students’ achievements and moreover, how to help those students to gain better results.

Based on the theoretical background our main research questions are:

which factors influence the students’ achievements in reading in Slovenia irrespective of the CEFR level students achieved
which factors influence the reading achievements of students at the Pre-A1 CEFR level in Slovenia
do factors that influence the reading achievements of students at the Pre-A1 CEFR level different for German and English language in Slovenia
which could be the recommendations for language teachers to help students, who were placed on Pre-A1 CEFR level in reading, based on results of this paper

To summarize, the object of this poster is to detect those factors which influence the Slovene students’ reading achievements in foreign languages (English and German). Moreover, the poster tries to provide answers on how to overcome those factors and therefore help students to improve their reading skill in German and English.

Method

Participants: The participants are Slovene students which were included in ESLC for English and for German language from the sampled schools. There were 3222 students included in the ESLC for both foreign languages. Instruments: All sampled students were tested in two out of three language competences (reading competence, writing competence, listening competence). Moreover, the tests were founded on socio-cognitive model based on the CEFR’s model of language use and learning. This model recognizes two dimensions: social (which is functional language use in real-life) and cognitive (language as a developing set of competences, skills and knowledge). With the help of this model, the testable abilities were defined at each proficiency level of the CEFR. The second instrument used for this analysis was the student background questionnaire, which included questions on student’s demography, on students' computers at home, languages in students’ home environment, students’ views on foreign language learning, students’ school subjects, foreign language lessons, foreign language homework and tests, foreign language learning and students’ perception of their own foreign language knowledge. Procedures: Both instruments, questionnaire and test, were administered to designated populations during the ESLC students’ testing period in February and March 2011. Statistical analysis: We are going to divide students into two groups: those who reached Pre-A1 CEFR level (the lowest CEFR level) and those students who reached A1 CEFR level or higher. We are going to analyse which factors significantly associate with students’ achievements with regression and correlation for each groups of students. Moreover, we are going to compare factors that significantly associate with the achievements of students at Pre-A1 CEFR level and the achievements of students at the other CEFR levels.

Expected Outcomes

Based on the results we can conclude that some of the factors that influence the achievements of students at the Pre-A1 level are: the length of foreign language learning, amount of learning for a language test, parents’ foreign language knowledge, students’ views on foreign language knowledge and economic, social and cultural status. Moreover, the results also show that students’ views on foreign language usefulness are one of the strongest factors that influence the students’ achievements. Therefore, the teachers’ main task is to motivate children to learn foreign languages by explaining the importance and usefulness of foreign language learning today.

References

Alderson, J.C. (2002). Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment. Case Studies. Strasbourg: Council of Europe Publishing. Baker, C. (2002). Council of Europe: Common European framework of reference. Learning, teaching, assessment. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 6(3), 467–470. European Commission. (2013). EU Langugaes and Language policy. http://ec.europa.eu/languages/languages-of-europe/index_en.htm European Commission. (2013). Key documents. http://ec.europa.eu/languages/library/key-documents_type_en.htm European Commission. (2012a). First European Survey on Language Competences: Final Report. Brussels: European Commission. European Commission. (2012b). First European Survey on Language Competences: Technical Report. Brussels: European Commission. Kahn-Horowitz, J., Shimron, J. in Sparks, R. (2005). Predicting foreign language reading achievement in elementary school students. Reading and Writing, 18, 527–558.

Author Information

Ana Mlekuz (submitting)

Educational Research Institute

Ljubljana

Urška Štremfel (presenting)