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    Principes généraux

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.

What general principles and values are important when  assessing home language competences?

The principles proposed by RECOLANG have been identified and discussed as part of project team's research work including the survey of assessment of home language competences, as well as in exchanges with professionals from all over Europe. These principles underpin and guide the assessment of home language competences.
1.
Recognising competences
Recognising that all speakers have competences in the languages in their repertoire, and that, within this repertoire which can be assessed, these competences combine in a dynamic way.
2.
Guaranteeing quality education
Guaranteeing the right of every learner to receive high quality and equitable education by implementing a holistic approach to languages.
3.
Accepting diversity
Accepting that the assessment of home language competences should be based on a model of language teaching and learning that is open to diversity, respects when and how learning has taken place, the learning pathways taken, and learners’ repertoires.
4.
Taking responsibility
Adopting a consistent and responsible attitude at all levels of education (classroom, school, region/state).
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Other principles that are important when assessing home language competences

Other principles can be added, particularly those relating to criteria for access to resources. These are test design criteria that minimise or eliminate factors that make it more difficult for learners to cope with assessment tasks and enable them to demonstrate the full range of their competences and knowledge. These accessibility criteria were developed as part of the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium Repository: Item Accessibility and Language Variation Conceptual Framework, 2014.

COHERENCE

Coherence means that, for example, test items with similar functions and meanings appear in the test in a similar way. Coherence also justifies the inclusion of these same items only if they relate to the learners' language experience.

SYMMETRY

Symmetry implies that equally important elements in a test are given the same level of attention and importance. When languages are treated asymmetrically, one language receives more attention than another. Asymmetry can affect the viability of the test in terms of accessibility to the assessment tasks and ultimately its validity.

CONTRAST

Contrast is a criterion according to which elements with different functions in a test are represented differently. It helps test users to notice important differences between elements.

MEANING

The criterion of meaning makes it more likely that learners are able to relate the content of test items to the contextual information they associate with their personal experience. Meaning is important in the current context of assessment, where context-rich items are used to ensure alignment with new assessment standards and practices that require assessment problems and tasks to be situated in meaningful contexts.

CONSTRAINTS

Design constraints are limits imposed on certain parameters that must be respected when designing tests. These are intended to minimise unnecessary variations in the linguistic characteristics of test items.

PERSONALISATION

Personalisation means modifying the characteristics of a text to meet certain requirements. Designing from scratch means the creation of an original text when adaptation is not possible. One argument in favour of using original literary works is the authenticity of the material learners have to work with. However, in the context of tests, this poses significant problems when the appreciation of literature or related competences are not among the competences that the questions are designed to assess.

PRAGMATIC FIT

Pragmatic fit means that features of the test items are appropriate to the context, thus ensuring that learners interpret them as the test designers intended. Analysis of pragmatic fit in item-writing us a way of examining the appropriateness of the way items are formulated in relation to  learners’ experience.

STANDARDISATION

Standardisation is the set of measures taken to ensure that all items of the same type have the same format and are produced according to the same procedure. The result of standardisation is that all items of the same type always have the same organisation and appearance. This means that learners can use their experience to deal with all items that have the same format.