Local organiser: Tatjana Kunda, Latvian Association of Teachers of English       

ECML experts: José Noijons, the Netherlands; Gábor Szabó, Hungary

Participants: 23 (language testers and examiners, item writers, teachers and teacher trainers, curriculum developers, policymakers, decision-takers)

Programme

“The ECML workshop with the focus on the RELANG module “Exploring ways to test mediation and pluricultural/plurilingual skills in the classroom” was held in cooperation with the National Centre for Education of the Republic of Latvia and the Latvian Association of Teachers of English on 19-21 February 2020.

The primary aim of the workshop was to raise the participants’ awareness and understanding of the Companion Volume in general and mediation and pluricultural/plurilingual skills in particular. The workshop took place in the context of the introduction of Latvia’s new language curriculum, which calls for changes in the choice of classroom activities and tests.

The new mediation and plurilingual/pluricultural scales in the recently published Companion Volume to the CEFR, which specify the situations and roles the participants perform, were discussed as a possible way of operationalising the curriculum attainment levels. The participants agreed that there is a need for examples of mediation tasks that would tap the specific attainment levels and would encourage teachers to explore the concept of mediation.

The positive approach and environment of the workshop and its outcomes were both highly valued and praised by participants The feedback provided has prepared the ground for further exchanges of views and opinions about the implementation of mediation activities in the classroom.”

Tatjana Kunda, local organiser, 16 March 2020

ECML project website: RELANG – EU-ECML cooperation agreement 2019-2020 "Innovative methodologies and assessment in language learning"