ERIC Number: EJ1332264
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2021-Nov
Pages: 19
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: EISSN-1072-4303
EISSN: N/A
Charting Classroom Growth: How Often Should We Assess the English Performance of 11 and 12-Year-Old Children?
Buttiler, Maria Belen
TESL-EJ, v25 n3 Nov 2021
In this study, I investigate whether three A2 Key for Schools practice tests from Cambridge Assessment English for 6th-graders (11-12 years old) in Argentina measure growth and produce scores that are meaningful. Drawing data from three consecutive years, I analyze the scores of 80 children over a school year and consider whether the tests are beneficial for both students and teachers in terms of time and instructional impact. In this English as a Foreign Language (EFL) context, the results show no significant differences among the students' average performances across the Reading and Writing section of the practice tests and some significant differences across the Listening practice tests. I discuss the affective, pedagogical, and curricular implications and argue that because the tests are administered in tight succession, growth may be too small to measure. It is important for teachers and language program coordinators to ensure that the testing they do benefits instruction and positively impacts students in language classes. This is because testing should serve and inform instruction. In this study, I suggest how other teachers in charge of their elementary and middle school assessment programs can do similar analyses to ensure their students' language evaluation programming is maximally beneficial.
Descriptors: Elementary School Students, Language Tests, Second Language Learning, Second Language Instruction, English (Second Language), Foreign Countries, Scores, Longitudinal Studies, Teaching Methods, Achievement Gains, Language Proficiency, Middle School Students, Listening Comprehension Tests, Reading Tests, Writing Tests
TESL-EJ. e-mail: editor@tesl-ej.org; Web site: http://tesl-ej.org
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Elementary Education; Junior High Schools; Middle Schools; Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Argentina
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A