Student perceptions of TL use in the secondary classroom Bernadette Brouwers and Luc Le

The Assessment of Language Competence Annual international certificate program Listening and reading comprehension tests Multiple choice format Six languages – CH, FR, GE, IN, IT, JA Three levels – Certificates 1-3 Some questions in TL at level 2 and 3

Research Methodology Data 2010 ALC student results Certificates 2 & 3 listening & reading tests in Chinese, French, German, Indonesian, Italian and Japanese Approx 20, 000 students Student survey data

Research Methodology Research question How does students perceived use of the target language in the classroom and school/community environment affect their results on the ALC?

Why is this interesting or useful? Queries about nature of language programs Expectations about use of TL Developments in the national curriculum Development of professional standards Focus on intercultural language learning

Assumptions The purpose of language learning is to be able to communicate proficiently in the target language learners learn a language best when they are provided opportunities to use the target language to communicate in a wide range of activities … in meaningful situations …. P 41, ACTFL Standards for Foreign Language Learning in the 21 st Century teacher use of the target language is crucial as it provides the learners principal, even only, source of live, scaffolded input … p 7, Crawford in RELC Journal 35:1

Research Methodology Analysis Item calibration using Rasch modelling Item discrimination and test reliability index Relationship between perceived TL use and purpose and student performance in ALC tests

ALC student survey

Survey frequency CertificateFrequencyPercentValid percent Cumulative percent Chinese French French German German Indonesian Italian Italian Japanese Japanese

Language use local community 1 never 2 sometimes 3 usually 4 always

Language use teacher in classroom 1 never 2 sometimes 3 usually 4 always

Language use most students in classroom 1 never 2 sometimes 3 usually 4 always

Language purpose give information 1 never 2 sometimes 3 usually 4 always

Language purpose instructions 1 never 2 sometimes 3 usually 4 always

Language purpose discuss 1 never 2 sometimes 3 usually 4 always

Language purpose explain 1 never 2 sometimes 3 usually 4 always

Language purpose social purposes 1 never 2 sometimes 3 usually 4 always

Correlations

Discussion - listening Small but significant correlations Strongest languages for community use: –Chinese –French 3 –German 3 –Italian 2 and 3 –Japanese 2 and 3

Correlations

Discussion - listening Small but significant correlations Strongest languages for instructional use: –Chinese 2 –French 2 and 3 –German 2 –Indonesian 2 –Italian 2 and 3

Correlations

Discussion - reading Small but significant correlations Strongest languages for community: –Chinese 2, German 3, Italian 3, Japanese 2, Japanese 3 Strongest languages for teachers: –Italian 2 Strongest language for students –French 2 –German 2 –Indonesian 2 Indonesian French 3 Italian 2 Italian 3

Correlations

Discussion Small but significant correlations Strongest languages for instructions: French 2, German 2, Indonesian 2, Italian 2, Italian 3, Japanese 2, Japanese 3 Strongest languages for discussion: Chinese 2, French 3 Strongest language for social purposes: German 3 NBNo languages showed their strongest correlation for information or explanation purposes French 2Chinese 2 German 2French 3 Indonesian 2 Social Italian 2German 3 Italian 3 Explain Japanese 3Japanese 2

Limitations Data not triangulated Teacher background not taken into account

Summary Some variance according to language Positive correlation with performance on ALC tests Effect greater at Certificate 2 than at Certificate 3 level Effect slightly greater for listening than for reading

How can I use this information in my school? to stimulate discussion with colleagues –What are my schools views/practices on the use of the TL? –How does the practice in my school reflect the ALC data? –Do we expose students to authentic interactions optimising the use of the TL? –How does the use of the TL relate to our understandings of our own professional knowledge and practice? to review the languages program and look at any underlying assumptions about the use of the TL