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CEFR in Practice: Promises and Problems. Languages in Higher Education 2010 Conference: Raising the Standard for Languages 1-2 July, London Bahar Gün , İzmir Ekonomi Universitesi Alessandra Corda , Leiden University. Outline. Introduction
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CEFR in Practice: Promises and Problems Languages in Higher Education 2010 Conference: Raising the Standard for Languages1-2 July, LondonBahar Gün, İzmir Ekonomi Universitesi Alessandra Corda, Leiden University
Outline • Introduction • How do we know that the promises of the CEF really work? • Problems: • How do teachers correctly assess students’ performance with the CEF? • How can you train teachers in using the CEF?
The CEFR, what is this exactly? • A framework for language learning, teaching and assessment • Council of Europe, 2001: large document (264 pag .) • Aim: more transparency and comparability • Six competence levels
The Context • An English medium university • Twelve hundred students in the preparatory year • A hundred plus English languageinstructors • A new modular approach to course design • A “Gateway” exit test to the next level
Why Assessment Tasks? • From summative assessment toward a more formative approach • Encourage learning through feedback
The Process • Input to output • One afternoon, twice a module • Individual feedback slots • Written feedback • Referral to Self Access Centre
What the students say • Can you tell us if the feedback helped you? • Ali • ...we worked on these points, but then, other points appeared to work on. • I didn’t put myself into it when I was supposed to write the second draft. • ...when Rob clarified the areas better, I wrote a better text. I made fewer mistakes. • Gulşah • ...it was good to rewrite. As Ali said, it helped us both to work on writing and to see the points to improve.
Spin-offs and side effects • In addition to completing the task, the feedback helped you use English better. Can we say this? • Ali: I’ve been more careful about using articles when speaking and writing. I also tried to write things in better English. • Gülşah: I got more out of it than I expected. I made a mistake in the use of ‘which’. When Rob showed me how to use it, and also ‘when’,I corrected them.
CEF as quality insurance instrument • How can students achieve a CEF competence level? • Teachers professional development, CEF familiarisation • Right amount hours of instruction
How many hours of instruction?Tschiner, E. (2005) Das ACTFL OPI und derEuropäische Referenzrahmen, Babylonia, 2, 50-55.
CEF as quality insurance instrument • How can you prove that your students achieve a CEF competence level? • Internationally recognized language certificates related to the CEF
Teachers familiarisation instruments • CEFR “games” • Websites for online training • An example from www.erk.nl • www.webcef.eu: collaborative evaluation of oral language proficiency • CEFtrain: http://www.helsinki.fi/project/ceftrain/index.html, familiarisation activities with the CEFR
Thanks for your attention • Contact: • Alessandra Corda, Leiden University • acorda@iclon.leidenuniv.nl • Bahar Gün, İzmir Ekonomi Universitesi • bahar.gun@ieu.edu.tr