Competence profiles for vocationally-oriented language learning Work-in-progress report presented by Dr. Karin Vogt University of Education Heidelberg / Germany

Introduction Complaints by employers and employees: no appropriate preparation for requirements of the real world at schools Foreign language instruction is not geared to learners‘ future professional lives

Purpose of the study Adapt existing scales for language activities of the CEF to different job- related situations (hotel staff, office workers, staff in export sales) Aim of the study: present foreign language competence profiles for three different jobs that secondary school leavers tend to learn at the end of their secondary schooling

Purpose of the study Further question: What kind of tasks do secondary school leavers need to perform in the foreign language to meet the requirements of their respective job? Scales and descriptors from the CEF will be adapted to vocational, job-related communication situations (A1-B2) Bachman (1990): ‘real-life‘ approach; give a picture of what a learner at a particular level can do in the real world

Methodology Qualitative study funded by the University of Education in Heidelberg Phases 1. Scales are adapted from existing CEF scales 2. Qualitative validation in two steps, with users and teachers 3. Recommendations for FL teaching and learning in grades 9 and 10

Methodology: first phase Descriptions of communicative activities are drawn from general and job-specific curricula, textbook syllabuses etc. Descriptions are formulated as (preliminary) can do-statements Preliminary descriptors are matched to descriptors of the CEF CEF descriptors are adapted => provisional CEF-based scales

Methodology: second phase Adapted scales are validated qualitatively by users Focus: categories (typical activities) Method: interviews to enable questions or requests for clarification On the basis of the interview data, provisional scales are adapted and / or completed

Methodology: second phase workshops with teachers at vocational schools, using a method adapted from Smith and Kendall (1963): descriptors cut into strips are sorted into piles according to levels A1 to B2 Purpose of the workshop: qualitative validation of the levels

Methodology: third phase Recommendations for (house) curricula at lower secondary schools, teacher training and materials Quantitative validation to scale descriptors will not be carried out due to resource and time constraints

Open questions Question of validity: if the scales cannot be calibrated using IRT methods how valid are they? CEF scales have been calibrated, then adapted What other ways are there to ensure validity?

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