A special case for young learner language assessment

Summary

By Belinda Davis

                                                       

Young language learners are those who are learning a foreign or second language and who are doing so during the first six or seven years of formal schooling. In the education systems of most countries, young learners are children who are in primary or elementary school. In terms of age, young learners are between the ages of approximately five and twelve. Many young language learners can be called bilingual. Bilingual learners are those learners who learn two (or more) languages to some level of proficiency.

A special approach and efficient programs for young learners are needed because of unique characteristics of growth and vulnerability. They have individual learning styles.

Children are in cognitive, social, emotional and physical growth. The attention span of young learners is short, as little as 10 to 15 minutes.
Children bring to their language learning their own personalities, likes and dislikes and interests, their own individual cognitive styles and capabilities, strengths and weaknesses.
As teachers we need to understand the cultural backgrounds of children, their experiences, provide scaffolding support in order to improve foreign and second language.
                                                                                                 













Assessment terms and purposes
There are many reasons or purposes to carried out assessments. Administrative should not prevail over pedagogic purposes. Sometimes teachers train children to past the test, rather than concentrate on curriculum learning needs of the children.

Formative assessment
It is usually informal, gives teachers information about how well students is doing. Formative assessment also involves diagnostic assessment, when we analyse learners' strengths and weaknesses. Teachers observed the students' performance over the time to make improvements,  changes or to check if the objectives have achieved along the way.

Summative assessment
It is used to know how student has progressed during a period. The information is used to measure learning objectives and for report to others. Parents and administratives want to know how the child has progressed. It is also used to make careful decisions.

Effective assessment provides valuable information to teachers, parents, administrators and students themselves. As teachers we need to make sure that our assessments are positive, challenging and realistic for our students.