The ESLC tested …
language competence in schools across Europe
the two most widely taught languages
students in final year of lower secondary
2008-2012
European Commission
SurveyLang: 2008-2012
Partner Work area Country
Cambridge English Project Management, English Language tests, Language Test Coordination
UK
Centre international d’études pédagogiques (CIEP)
French Language tests France
Goethe Institut German Language tests Germany
Università per Stranieri di Perugia Italian Language tests Italy
Universidad de Salamanca/ Instituto Cervantes
Spanish Language tests Spain
Gallup Europe Sampling + Testing tool + Translation
Belgium/ Hungary
National Institute for Educational Measurement (Cito)
Questionnaire design,Analysis
The Netherlands
In-country partners
National Research Centres
• Organisations that coordinated the ESLC on behalf of their national governments
Spain: The INEE (National Institute of Educational Assessment)
Key aims
Provide information on the level of foreign language knowledge of
students across Europe
Provide strategic information to policy makers, teachers and learners
Who was tested?
Over 50,000 students in over 2,000 schools in 14 countries (16 entities)
The two most commonly taught languages per country
Students at end of lower secondary, 15-17 years old
1500 per country per language
Representative sample
Survey instruments
Language tests
• English, French, German, Italian, Spanish
• 3 skills (Reading, Listening, Writing)
• A1 to B2 levels of CEFR
Contextual questionnaires
• For students, teachers, principals and countries
Comparability
• Results had to be comparable across 5 languages and all participating countries
Test delivery
Reading, Listening, Writing
Tests at 3 levels
As short as possible
Each student took 2 skills plus questionnaire
Linked design, individual tests
Results
CEFR levels First language (Skills averaged)
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
UK-
ENG
(FR)
FR
(EN)
BE nl
(FR)
PL
(EN)
ES
(EN)
PT
(EN)
BE fr
(EN)
BG
(EN)
BE
de
(FR)
EL
(EN)
HR
(EN)
SI
(EN)
EE
(EN)
NL
(EN)
MT
(EN)
SE
(EN)
Pe
rc
en
ta
ge B2
B1
A2
A1
Pre-A1
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Performance
• Approx 30% are B1 or above
• Approx 70% are A2 or below
• Approx 20% are below A1Learning of English in Spain
Results
CEFR levels Second language (Skills averaged)
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
SE
(ES)
PL
(DE)
UK-
ENG
(DE)
EL
(FR)
PT
(FR)
FR
(ES)
HR
(DE)
BG
(DE)
SI
(DE)
EE
(DE)
BE fr
(DE)
ES
(FR)
MT
(IT)
NL
(DE)
BE
de
(EN)
BE nl
(EN)
Pe
rc
en
ta
ge B2
B1
A2
A1
Pre-A1
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Performance
• Approx 10% are B1 or above
• Appox 90% are A2 or below
• Approx 20% are below A1
Learning of Spanish in
other countries
Findings from questionnaires
Aim: Provide strategic information to policy makers, teachers and learners
Languages are learnt better where:
learning the language is started earlier
language learning is encouraged
learners perceive it to be useful
motivation is high
Languages are learnt better in a language-friendly living and learning environment where:
different languages are heard and seen
speakers of all languages feel welcome
parents have knowledge of same language
Languages are learnt better in a language-friendly living and learning environment where:
they are used outside school, eg, in communicating over the internet, for watching TV, or travelling on holiday
students are exposed to language through media
films are subtitled, not dubbed
Achievements of the ESLC
Hard evidence on outcomes of language educationThe most comparable set of language testing instruments yet developed
A simple and intuitive recipe for success:
a language is learnt better where motivation is high, where learners perceive it to be useful, and where it is
used outside school
the more teachers and students use the language in class, the better it is learned
Future surveys?
Digital
Include Speaking
More detailed, formative feedback on performance
Quicker, cheaper and easier to administer
More localised
Conclusions
Language competences still need to be significantly improved
Rich potential for peer learning in language policy and learning
A language policy to take Europe forward should place communication and intercultural
competence at its centre
We learn languages in order to communicate. We learn languages best by communicating
Belgium Flemish French English
Belgium French English German
Belgium German French English
Bulgaria English German
Croatia English German
England French German
Estonia English German
France English Spanish
Greece English French
Malta English Italian
Netherlands English German
Poland English German
Portugal English French
Slovenia English German
Spain English French
Sweden English Spanish
First and second languages
Achieving comparability and quality
Test produced in 5 countries
Shared construct and
test specifications
Shared item authoring tool and
item banking system
Innovative test productionprocess:
• cross-language adaptation of items
• cross-language vetting
• All marking done in-country. Issue: consistency?
• Markers usually asked to make absolute judgments about a student’s (CEFR) level
• SurveyLang introduced an innovative approach
• Markers asked to make a comparative judgment
Marking of Writing
1 3
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
2
Lower
exemplar
lower higher
5
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
4
Higher
exemplar