The European Survey on

Language Competences

Martin Robinson, Cambridge English

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

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

Some limitations

Expensive Time consuming Hard work

No test of Speaking

Limited feedbackfrom tests

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

Questions

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

Countries and languages

English French German Italian Spanish

15 6 8 1 2

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