Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t8hqh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T17:19:46.708Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

18 - Setting Standards for Language Learning and Assessment in Educational Contexts

A Multilingual Perspective

from Part III - Norms, Literacy and Education

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 2021

Wendy Ayres-Bennett
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge
John Bellamy
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge
Get access

Summary

This chapter discusses the setting of standards for language learning in formal education and focuses in particular on the role that assessment plays in that context. Some challenging dilemmas that face educators in seeking to apply standards are discussed. In a globalized world, one such dilemma occurs when setting international standards while respecting diversity and the need for locally determined norms and context-specific policies and practices. Three specific meanings of standards and standardization are explored in relation to language education in formal schooling. These three key aspects of standardization are interrelated. Standard languages: what is to be taught and learned in school. Standards of proficiency: the levels of competence that is to be achieved as the outcome of language learning. Professional standards: how languages are taught and assessed and how the quality of the teaching and assessment is determined and monitored. These three meanings are explored by taking into account the context where the language learning takes place and in relation to the intended uses of the target language outside of the classroom; the challenge for policymakers and educators is ultimately a multilingual one that involves the languages used in the home, in civil society and in school as curriculum subjects.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

ALTE/Council of Europe (2011). User’s Guide for Examiners. Strasbourg: Council of Europe.Google Scholar
American Educational Research Association, American Psychological Association & National Council on Measurement in Education (1999). Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing. Washington, DC: American Educational Research Association.Google Scholar
American Educational Research Association, American Psychological Association & National Council on Measurement in Education (2014). Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing. Washington, DC: American Educational Research Association.Google Scholar
Association of Language Testers in Europe (1993/2001). Principles of Good Practice for Association of Language Testers in Europe Examinations. Cambridge, UK: ALTE.Google Scholar
Association of Language Testers in Europe (1994). Code of Practice. Cambridge, UK: ALTE.Google Scholar
Association of Language Testers in Europe (1998). Handbook of Language Examinations and Examination Systems. Cambridge, UK: ALTE.Google Scholar
Bailey, B. (2007). Heteroglossia and boundaries. In Heller, M., ed., Bilingualism: A Social Approach. Basingstoke: Palgrave, pp. 257–76.Google Scholar
Blackledge, A. & Creese, A. (2010). Multilingualism. London: Continuum.Google Scholar
Boeckmann, K.-B. (2012). Promoting plurilingualism in the majority language classroom. Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching, 6(3), 259–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Busch, B. (2012). The linguistic repertoire revisited. Applied Linguistics, 33(5), 503–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Byram, M. (2018). Language education in and for a multilingual Europe. In Bonnet, A. & Siemund, P., eds., Foreign Language Education in Multilingual Classrooms. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, pp. 3356.Google Scholar
Cook, V. (1999). Going beyond the native speaker in language teaching. TESOL Quarterly, 33(2), 185209.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Council of Europe (2001). The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching and Assessment. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Council of Europe (2007). From Linguistic Diversity to Plurilingual Education: Guide for the Development of Language Education Policies in Europe. Strasbourg: Council of Europe.Google Scholar
Council of Europe (2018). The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment: Companion Volume with New Descriptors. Strasbourg: Council of Europe.Google Scholar
Council of Europe (n.d.). European Language Portfolio. Retrieved from www.coe.int/en/web/portfolioGoogle Scholar
Creese, A. & Blackledge, A. (2010). Translanguaging in the bilingual classroom: a pedagogy for learning and teaching? Modern Language Journal, 94(1), 103–15.Google Scholar
Davies, A., ed. (2004). The Ethics of Language Assessment. Language Assessment Quarterly, 1(2/3), Special Issue.Google Scholar
Davies, A. (2008). Accountability and standards. In Spolsky, B. & Hult, F. M., eds., The Handbook of Educational Linguistics. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, pp. 483–94.Google Scholar
Downing, S. M. (2006). Twelve steps for effective test development. In Downing, S. M. & Haladyna, T. M., eds., Handbook of Test Development. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, pp. 3–25.Google Scholar
Downing, S. M. & Haladyna, T.M. (2006). Handbook of Test Development. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Education Testing Service (2009). ETS International Principles for the Fairness of Assessments: A Manual for Developing Locally Appropriate Fairness Guidelines for Various Countries. Retrieved from www.ets.org/s/about/pdf/fairness_review_international.pdfGoogle Scholar
European Commission (2012). First European Survey on Language Competences: Final Report. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union.Google Scholar
European Commission (2015). Study on Comparability of Language Testing in Europe. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union.Google Scholar
European Commission (n.d.). Eurydice website. Retrieved from https://eacea.ec.europa.eu/national-policies/eurydiceGoogle Scholar
European Commission (2018a). Commission Staff Working Document Accompanying the Document ‘Proposal for a Council Recommendation on a Comprehensive Approach to the Teaching and Learning of Languages’, Part 1. Brussels: European Commission.Google Scholar
European Commission (2018b). Proposal for a Council Recommendation on a Comprehensive Approach to the Teaching and Learning of Languages. Brussels: European Commission.Google Scholar
García, O. (2009). Bilingual Education in the 21st Century: A Global Perspective. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.Google Scholar
García, O. & Wei, L. (2014). Translanguaging: Language, Bilingualism and Education. Basingstoke: Palgrave.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gumperz, J. J. (1964). Linguistic and social interaction in two communities. American Anthropologist, 66(6/2), 137–53.Google Scholar
Gutierrez Eugenio, E. & Saville, N. (2017). The role of assessment in European language policy: a historical overview. Retrieved from www.meits.org/policy-papers/paper/the-role-of-assessment-in-european-language-policy-a-historical-overviewGoogle Scholar
Heugh, K., Prinsloo, C., Makgamatha, M., Diedericks, G. & Winnaar, L. (2017). Multilingualism(s) and system-wide assessment: a southern perspective. Language and Education, 31(3), 197216.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
International Language Testing Association (1993). Code of Ethics. Retrieved from: https://cdn.ymaws.com/www.iltaonline.com/resource/resmgr/docs/ILTA_2018_CodeOfEthics_Engli.pdfGoogle Scholar
International Language Testing Association (2010). Guidelines for Practice. Retrieved from https://cdn.ymaws.com/www.iltaonline.com/resource/resmgr/docs/ilta_guidelines.pdfGoogle Scholar
Joint Committee on Testing Practices (1988/2004). Code of Fair Testing Practices in Education. Retrieved from www.apa.org/science/programs/testing/fair-testing.pdfGoogle Scholar
Jones, N. & Saville, N. (2009). European language policy: assessment, learning and the CEFR. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 29, 5163.Google Scholar
Kane, M. T. (2006). Validation. In Brennan, R. L., ed., Educational Measurement, 4th edn. Washington, DC: American Council on Education/Praeger, pp. 1764.Google Scholar
Krumm, H-J. (2007). Profiles instead of levels: the CEFR and its (ab)uses in the context of migration. Modern Language Journal, 91(4), 667–9.Google Scholar
Kunnan, A. J. (2000a). Fairness and justice for all. In Kunnan, A. J., ed., Fairness and Validation in Language Assessment: Selected Papers from the 19th Language Testing Research Colloquium, Orlando, Florida. Cambridge, UK: UCLES/Cambridge University Press, pp. 114.Google Scholar
Kunnan, A. J., ed. (2000b). Fairness and Validation in Language Assessment. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Kunnan, A. J. (2004). Test fairness. In Milanovic, M. & Weir, C. J., eds., European Language Testing in a Global Context: Proceedings of the ALTE Barcelona Conference. Cambridge, UK: UCLES/Cambridge University Press, pp. 2748.Google Scholar
Kunnan, A. J., ed. (2014). The Companion to Language Assessment. Oxford: Wiley.Google Scholar
Kunnan, A. J. (2018). Evaluating Language Assessments. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Little, D., Leung, C. & van Avermaet, P., eds. (2014). Managing Diversity in Education: Languages, Policies and Pedagogies. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
MacSwan, J. (2017). A multilingual perspective on translanguaging. American Educational Research Journal, 54(1), 167201.Google Scholar
Martyniuk, W., ed. (2010). Aligning Tests with the CEFR: Reflections on Using the Council of Europe’s Draft Manual. Cambridge, UK: UCLES/Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
May, S., ed. (2013). The Multilingual Turn: Implications for SLA, TESOL, and Bilingual Education. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Messick, S. (1989). Validity. In Linn, R. L., ed., Educational Measurement, 3rd edn. New York: American Council on Education/Macmillan, pp. 13104.Google Scholar
Murray, N. (2016). Standards of English in Higher Education: Issues, Challenges and Strategies. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
National Education Examinations Authority (2018). China’s Standards of English Language Ability. Beijing & Shanghai, China: Higher Education Press & Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press. Retrieved from http://cse.neea.edu.cnGoogle Scholar
North, B. (2000). The Development of a Common Framework Scale of Language Proficiency. Frankfurt am Main, etc.: Peter Lang.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Saville, N. (2002). Striving for fairness: the ALTE Code of Practice and Quality Management Systems. Research Notes, 7, 1214.Google Scholar
Saville, N. (2005). Setting and monitoring professional standards: a QMS approach. Research Notes, 22, 25.Google Scholar
Saville, N. (2010). Auditing the quality profile: from code of practice to standards. Research Notes, 39, 24–8.Google Scholar
Saville, N. (2012). Quality management in test production and administration. In Davidson, F. & Fulcher, G., eds., Routledge Handbook of Language Testing. London: Routledge, pp. 395412.Google Scholar
Saville, N. (2013). Using standards and guidelines. In Kunnan, A. J., ed., The Companion to Language Assessment. Oxford: Wiley, pp. 906–24.Google Scholar
Saville, N. & Gutierrez Eugenio, E. (2016). European Strategy on Multilingualism – Policy and implementation at the EU Level (European Parliament, Policy Department, Culture and Education Publication no. IP/B/CULT/IC/2016-063). Retrieved from www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/STUD/2016/573456/IPOL_STU(2016)573456_EN.pdfGoogle Scholar
Schissel, J. L., Leung, C., López-Gopar, M. & Davis, J. R. (2018). Multilingual learners in language assessment: assessment design for linguistically diverse communities. Language and Education, 32(2), 167–82.Google Scholar
Sheils, J. (2004). Council of Europe language policy and the promotion of plurilingualism. In Milanovic, M. & Weir, C. J., eds., European Language Testing in a Global Context: Proceedings of the ALTE Barcelona Conference July 2001. Cambridge, UK: UCLES/Cambridge University Press, pp. 157–71.Google Scholar
van Avermaet, P., Kuijper, H. & Saville, N. (2004). A code of practice and quality management system for international examinations. Language Assessment Quarterly, 1(2&3), 137–50.Google Scholar
van Avermaet, P., Sierens, S., Slembrouck, S., Van Gorp, K. & Maryns, K. (2018). The Multilingual Edge of Education. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Wild, C. L. & Ramaswamy, R., eds. (2008). Improving Testing: Applying Process Tools and Techniques to Assure Quality. New York: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×