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    Home language competences
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    Fondation Taal naar Keuze (Pays-Bas)

Resources for assessing the home language competences of migrant pupils

Introduction
Why assess?
What are the principles of assessment?
Whose competences
to assess,
and how?
By
which means
 to assess?
How to get involved?
This page will be available in English soon. Please refer to the pages in French.


When and how to assess?


Examples


Drawing inspiration from the examples of methods and materials

Taal naar Keuze Foundation (Netherlands)

A local scheme that aims to expand

Back to the overview

Context

There are different types of school in the Netherlands: state schools, special (religious) schools, and general-special (non-religious) schools. There are also a few private schools. School boards administer groups of different schools, usually in the same region. These schools may be primary or secondary. School boards are autonomous in the choice and implementation of a specific orientation for their schools, in the recruitment of their staff and in the way in which education is delivered. Centralised testing and assessment of learners (not all assessments are determined by the Ministry) is regulated at Ministry level and must be carried out by all schools.

In the Netherlands, the assessment of the learning achievements of learners aged 12-18 entering the education system takes place mainly in the language of schooling (Dutch). The assessment of home language competences is attracting increasing attention in research, but there is as yet no material available, and it has not yet been extended to secondary and higher education.

According to the law, up to 15% of teaching may take place in a language(s) other than Dutch or the foreign languages in the curriculum. This may be an (official) minority language, but it may also be the learners' home language (if the school offers teaching in this language). A school board can always ask the Ministry of Education for permission to offer new subjects, such as Polish, Tigrinya or any other language.

Assessment of home language competences  

A network of researchers  Network of researchers Utrecht University of Applied Sciences (management team) Porticus (https://www.porticus.com/en/home/), an association campaigning for a fair and sustainable future The members of its social council are : SLO (national foundation for curriculum design), ICE Bureau (a commercial agency designing Dutch as a second language tests),Het ABC (a commercial agency for teacher professionalisation) and LOWAN (an association supporting the education of newcomers to the Netherlands) The members of the academic council are researchers from Ghent University, Utrecht University of Applied Sciences, Ipabo Amsterdam and Utrecht University. is currently working with primary schools for newly arrived learners to develop means of assessment that take account of the diversity of learners' languages. The learners concerned are children who arrived in the Netherlands less than a year ago and are placed in classes 5-8 (from the age of 9/10). This is a very local project, currently involving only schools taking part in the research project.

Assessing competences in certain home languages

The Taal naar Keuze Foundation  This new programme for pupils aged 12 to 16 is being developed as part of the Taal naar Keuze pilot project in the 14 colleges of the Amsterdam 'Espritschools' school council, in particular Marcanti College and Mundus College. "Choose your language" programme

This non-governmental organisation helps schools to assess children in six first languages: Chinese, Turkish, Arabic, Italian, Russian and Spanish.
The Dutch government allows nine foreign languages (Arabic - Chinese - English - German - French - Italian - Russian - Spanish - Turkish) as school subjects in the mainstream secondary education system. For these languages, tests and materials  An example of materials is the Mundus Gallery, the audio version of some of the linguistic drawings produced by new arrivals at Collège Mundus. have been developed at different levels (from A1 to C1). The aim is to enhance and recognise learners' language competences. In some cases - if a course in this language can be provided at the school - the first language can replace another subject on the curriculum (e.g. another foreign language).

Migrant learners are often treated separately from other learners. For two years or more, they are kept away from the regular curriculum. There are many Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, Spanish and Turkish-speaking migrants who could benefit immediately from the regular school programme. The foundation is trying to make contact with school boards to highlight the benefits of this approach, such as cognitive support, inclusion and personal empowerment. Heritage languages are at the heart of the activities in 'Taal naar Keuze' programmes such as 'Alle Talen' (All Languages) and their multilingual summer courses. However, this assessment of home language competences is not an official examination procedure.

The Foundation has proposed the introduction of a school subject LANGUAGE (TAAL), which can be taken in a language that the learner needs or wants to learn, in addition to the compulsory languages of Dutch, English and other optional languages.

In 2022, after the various confinements caused by Covid19, schools began to show a new interest in the linguistic repertoires of their learners.

References

At the Caland Lyceum in Amsterdam, 60-70 learners aged 12/13 took part in the "Alle Talen" programme: https://www.taalnaarkeuze.nl/resultaten
 https://www.taalnaarkeuze.nl/s/Alle-Talen-Een-impressie-juni-2022.pdf

At the Het Baarnsch Lyceum in Baarn, 20 learners aged 12/13 successfully completed the same programme.

This section was produced with the help of M. Van Popta, teacher-researcher and member of the Plurilingualism and Education research group, Utrecht University of Applied Sciences.