Session Information
09 SES 04 C, Assessing Foreign Language Competencies
Paper Session
Contribution
The European Survey on Language Competences (ESLC) is the first international survey on the competences of students in modern foreign languages, conducted on behalf of the European Commission. Sixteen European countries and language communities have participated in the ESLC: three language communities of Belgium (German, French and Flemish), Bulgaria, England, Estonia, France, Greece, Croatia, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden. The survey concerned five European languages: English, German, French, Spanish and Italian. In every participating country, the two most widely taught modern foreign languages from these five have been tested for reading, listening and writing. Writing performances were marked on two criteria, language and communication. Communication addresses the question: how completely does the response address the task? - i.e. how successfully is the task fulfilled, in terms of communicating the content or information required. Language addresses the question: how adequate to the task is the vocabulary, linguistic organisation and accuracy? Specific aspects of language considered include: coherence, vocabulary, cohesion, accuracy.
One of the variables that has a relation with foreign language competences for most countries and languages is use of target language during the lessons by students and teachers. Both students and teachers were asked about the frequency of target language use in the lessons through student and teacher questionnaires; the teachers’ responses have been aggregated to the school-level. In most cases this relation is positive, often significant as well, but for some countries, languages and skills negative relations have been found (European Commission, 2012a). In the international report of the ESLC the conclusion is that use of target language is in general positively correlated with foreign language competences. This conclusion is based on the rule of thumb that at least two third of the relations go in the same direction (in this case positive) and that at least two third of the relations in this direction are significant (European Commission, 2012a). At the student-level (reported by the students) this relation is stronger for Reading and Listening than for Writing, whereas at the school-level (reported by the teachers) the relation is stronger for Writing. The research question of these additional analyses is: Which factors play a role in the tipping point from a negative to a positive relation of the use of target language with foreign language competences?
Method
Expected Outcomes
References
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.
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