Testing and assessment
Relating language curricula, tests and examinations to the Common European Framework of Reference (RELANG)

Local organiser: Tamara Djordjevic, Foundation Tempus  

ECML experts: José Noijons, the Netherlands; Evelyne Bérard, France

Participants: 17 (language testers and examiners, item writers, teachers and teacher trainers, policymakers, decision-takers)

Programme

“The online RELANG workshop on Constructing valid language tests and examinations based on the CEFR and its Companion Volume was held on 2-4 September 2020 in cooperation with the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development and the Foundation Tempus. The participants were language professionals in Serbia with a background in teaching and testing English, French, German and Russian as a foreign language.

The main aims of the workshop were for the participants to gain a deeper insight into the CEFR and its Companion Volume and learn how to exploit them as a tool in language teaching and assessment, as well as to get practical advice on how to define and/or revise learning outcomes and construct speaking, listening, reading and writing tasks in line with the CEFR.

The topics addressed during the workshop included the CEFR concept of language use, methods of linking tests to the CEFR, aligning CEFR descriptors to Serbian learning outcomes, development of valid items related to the CEFR, and assessment.

The participants recognised the importance of relating locally/nationally developed tests of foreign languages to the CEFR, especially in the context of the reformed curricula in Serbia focusing on outcome-based teaching. The workshop offered many opportunities for the participants to increase their awareness of good testing practice and to reflect on the currently used tests of foreign languages in a new light.”

Tamara Djordjevic, local organiser, 18 September 2020

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

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"

Local organiser: Kamila Kolmašová, National Pedagogical Institute of the Czech Republic

ECML experts: Gábor Szabó, Hungary; Jana Bérešová, Slovak Republic

Participants: 21 (language testers and examiners, item writers, teachers, teacher trainers and curriculum developers of Czech as a foreign (second) language)

Programme

“The workshop focusing on the RELANG module “Applying the CEFR and new Companion Volume to the development of tests of second language competence” was held on 4-6 February 2020 in Prague. The participants were comprised of language testers and examiners, item writers, teachers, teacher trainers and curriculum developers of Czech as a foreign (second) language both for adult migrants and migrant pupils.

During the event the participants were familiarised with the main new elements within the Companion Volume which are descriptor scales for mediation and plurilingual/pluricultural competence, an extended definition of “plus levels” and a new “Pre-A1 level”, a more elaborate description of listening and reading in the existing scales and further developing the description at A1 and at the C levels. The structure of the workshop was carefully prepared according to participants’ needs and requirements with a special focus on evaluation of productive skills, revision of learning outcomes including the linking to relevant CEFR levels, revision of tasks and development of valid items related to the CEFR.

The whole workshop was a great opportunity for participants to provide feedback on forthcoming or already existing language tests or curricula for Czech as foreign (second) language. Participants could exchange their ideas within a format of practical or expert discussions and get to know some issues in the field of language testing much better and - last but not least - could gain deeper knowledge of language testing.”

Kamila Kolmašová, local organiser, 20 February 2020

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

Local organiser: Kati Bakradze, Estonian Association of Foreign Language Teachers    

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

Participants: 27 (language testers and examiners, item writers, teachers and teacher trainers, curriculum developers, policymakers and decision-takers)

Programme

A three-day RELANG training event, was offered by the European Centre for Modern Languages of the Council of Europe in cooperation with the Estonian Ministry of Education and Research and the Estonian Foreign Language Teachers’ Association, and co-funded by the European Commission. The workshop module “Exploring ways to test mediation and pluricultural/plurilingual skills in the classroom” brought together teachers of foreign languages, university lecturers, teacher trainers, decision makers and other experts in language education. Participants worked with mediation and pluricultural and plurilingual scales in the CEFR Companion Volume and the nuances of the Estonian national curricula. After familiarising themselves with the documents and scales, participants constructed mediation and pluricultural/plurilingual tasks as well as developed assessment grids for them. This is an important addition to the process of language acquisition as well as assessment (both summative and formative), and the workshop helped the participants in introducing the concept of mediation to the Estonian context.

Kati Bakradze, local organiser, 11 March 2020

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

Given the current situation around the Coronavirus, the RELANG and Supporting Multilingual Classrooms workshops under the ECML-EU cooperation initially scheduled for the period March-June 2020 had to be postponed until autumn. The experts and the local coordinators are working together to find new dates for the training workshops. Please visit the ECML website and the online calendar for updates.

Local coordinators from 9 countries (Armenia, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Serbia, Sweden) met with the project team at the ECML on 2-3 October to  advance preparations for national workshops to be hosted  on the theme of Relating language curricula, tests and examinations to the Common European Framework of Reference (RELANG).  The series of events targeting practitioners, multipliers and administrators at national level will take place between January and September 2020.

The RELANG initiative, providing training to Member States of the European Union and the European Centre for Modern Languages, is organised through a joint cooperation action with the European Commission - first launched in 2013 (www.ecml.at/ec-cooperation). The action will offer training and consultancy over the next year to around 500 language professionals within national systems.

Further details on the events and how to participate will be made available on the RELANG website.

In September 2019, the European Centre for Modern Languages of the Council of Europe and the European Commission, Directorate-General for Education and Culture, plan to launch another round of activity within the joint action on Innovative methodologies and assessment in language learning.

The action includes two initiatives: RELANG and Supporting Multilingual Classrooms. RELANG focuses on relating foreign/second language curricula, tests and examinations to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), and Supporting Multilingual Classrooms focuses on the linguistic integration of migrant learners in schools across Europe. The activities are scheduled to take place from 21 September 2019 to 20 September 2020, each initiative offering up to 9 national workshops during this period.

The call is open to current European Union member states and the additional member states of the ECML until 5 July 2019.

For further information, please contact Adelina Rosca (adelina.rosca@ecml.at), the ECML-EC cooperation agreement coordinator.

Local organiser: Ana Kanareva-Dimitrovska, Aarhus University

ECML experts: Rita Juknevičienė, Lithuania; Gábor Szabó, Hungary

Participants: 17; teachers, teacher trainers, curriculum developers, item writers

On 12-13 March 2019, the ECML Contact Point Denmark - The Danish National Centre for Foreign Languages - invited ECML experts in Copenhagen to provide a training and consultancy on Relating foreign language curricula to Common European Framework of Reference (RELANG). The aim of the training and consultancy activity using RELANG tools was to improve the alignment of Danish tests and examinations to the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) and Companion Volume. The focus was in particular on tests and examinations in upper secondary schools.

The participants (language teachers at university and university college, primary, secondary and upper secondary school and language consultants at the Ministry of Education) were inspired and received inspiration and clear directions on how to relate existing Danish tests and examinations to CEFR levels and descriptors. Participants gained a deeper knowledge of CEFR descriptors and received practical guidance on how to revise learning outcomes and link them to relevant CEFR levels. Participants worked on all linking phases: familiarization, specification, standardization and benchmarking. The participants were also asked to develop valid exams items for oral and written production related to the CEFR and Companion Volume. In addition, external assessment materials provided by the Danish participants and ECML experts were discussed during the training and the participants tried to link them to the CEFR levels. Some of the RELANG materials will be adapted/modified to fit a particular institutional context. 

Ana Kanareva-Dimitrovska, local organiser

25 March 2019

• Programme
• ECML project website: RELANG – EU-ECML cooperation agreement 2018-2019 "Innovative methodologies and assessment in language learning"

Local coordinators from 16 countries (Albania, Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Lithuania, Malta, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia and Spain) met with project teams at the ECML on 30-31 October to  advance preparations for  national workshops to be hosted  on the themes  of  Relating language curricula, tests and examinations to the Common European Framework of Reference (RELANG) and Supporting Multilingual Classrooms.  The  series of events targeting practitioners, multipliers and administrators at national level will take place between January and August 2019.

The RELANG and Supporting Multilingual Classrooms initiatives, providing training to Member States of the European Union and the European Centre for Modern Languages, are organised through a joint cooperation action with the European Commission - first launched in 2013. www.ecml.at/ec-cooperation. The action which is based on  two key language education concerns within the targeted states will offer training and consultancy over the next year  to around 500 language professionals within national systems.

Further details on the events and how to participate will be made available on the initiatives’ respective websites

Dedicated websites:

• RELANG
• Supporting Multilingual Classrooms

RELANG network

'Supporting Multilingual Classes' Network

Are you looking for input for an in-service training to develop the professional skills of language educators? Or are you in need of consultancy to advance local, regional or national reform processes and to meet international standards? Then take a closer look at what the ECML has on offer.

ECML experts in language education work with national authorities and local experts to devise and implement in-country activities, tailored to the particular context and target audience.

Information on offers and the 2019 request form are available online: http://www.ecml.at/TrainingandConsultancy

Requests for a training and consultancy activity must be submitted until 4 November 2018 via the national ECML representative in the Governing Board.
Educational professionals interested in organising a particular activity should therefore contact their national representative.

The ECML colloquium "Ensuring quality in language testing and assessment" (Graz, Austria, 7 December 2016) was a great success.

Thank you to everyone who contributed and participated - onsite and online! 

You may now watch or review the debates here:
- Videos and presentations of all sessions
- Photos

The colloquium on “Ensuring quality in language testing and assessment: the contribution of the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR)“ is organised by the European Centre for Modern Languages of the Council of Europe in cooperation with the European Commission.

The event will trace the progress that has been made since the publication of the Manual for Relating Language Examinations to the CEFR, offer a platform for an exchange of experiences from different European contexts and propose ways to address the ongoing challenges in aligning language curricula and examinations to the Framework.

Due to the high level of demand to participate in the event, the ECML has decided to stream the event live, starting from 9:30 am on 7 December. The event will be in English and French and will be streamed in the original language of the speaker only. During the colloquium, the following questions will be addressed:

1. How do I know whether a test is at the CEFR level it claims to be at? 
2. Can an exam that tests linguistic competence (language use) be linked to the CEFR? 
3. How do we make sure that our pass/fail decisions are related to the CEFR? 
4. Can we test at more than one CEFR level in one test? 
5. Can we link our tests to the CEFR levels even though we do not have statistics on student performance on our tests, apart from total scores? 
6. Can tests of different skills be summarized at one CEFR level?

The colloquium should be of particular interest to those who are responsible for or engaged in developing foreign language curricula and/or examinations, notably those who work in national curriculum or examination centres.

For further information on the event, including the Colloquium programme, please visit the colloquium webpage.

WEBCAST – starting on Wednesday, 7 December at 09:30.

The quality assurance matrix for CEFR use is an innovative project comparing CEFR implementation in different contexts and employing a quality assurance approach. The project will promote effective language learning by supporting teachers and other language education professionals in their use of the CEFR. It will suggest clear, coherent, and relevant procedures to facilitate planning, teaching and assessment and it will produce a practical tool, in the form of a template, which will serve for self-assessment before or during CEFR implementation and self- or external evaluation after the implementation.

Project website: English - French

Description of the work foreseen

As the project moves from a rigorous empirically based and experience informed perspective, we are looking for a fellow to support us in the project work.
Before and after the central workshop, participants will conduct semi-structured interviews in their respective countries and complete a form including both the outcomes of the interviews and their own reactions and thoughts about achievements, challenges and opportunities. The data collected will be an important source to inform the matrix which will be the final product of the project. The fellow will participate in the data analysis phase of the project under the supervision of the project coordinator and of the other team members. He/she will be subsequently involved in assisting the team in the development of the matrix.

Expected profile and involvement of the fellow

The ideal candidate will be a young individual with an MA or above in a relevant field. He/she will either be a citizen or a resident of one of the ECML member states.

His/her duties will include:

• Assisting in collating the data resulting from interviews conducted by the participants in the workshop (WS)
• Creating and compiling tables and grids for the analysis
• Analyzing data in order to identify relevant procedures to inform the template
• Assisting the team in drafting the Quality Assurance (QA) template based on project data 
• Assisting in the preparation of the network meeting of the project which will take place in May 2017.

Required skills:

• Interest in and knowledge of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (and/or capacity to quickly update knowledge of it)
• Experience in research and data analysis
• Reliability, precision
• A proactive attitude: capable of taking the initiative
• Familiarity with new technologies
• Ability to quickly join the project team and to interact with WS participants at distance
• Good planning and organisational skills
• Working languages: English and French, with at least C1 level in the first working language and minimum B2 level in the second working language

Professional benefits

The fellowship is a unique opportunity to work in the highly stimulating, multicultural and multilingual international environment of the European Centre for Modern Languages in Graz, which is a partial agreement of the Council of Europe.
The knowledge and expertise resulting from this fellowship will be a considerable asset for future endeavours both in academia and in the professional world.
The fellowship will last three months February, March and April 2017 so that the fellow can assist in preparing the subsequent network meeting in May.

Remuneration

The fellow will receive a total allowance of €3,450 EUR covering the 3 month duration of the fellowship. Travel costs will not be covered.

Procedure

Applicants from ECML member states or currently studying in ECML member states should send a letter of motivation as well as their CV in English or French to: margit.huber@ecml.at.

Closing date for applications: 28 October 2016.