The practice of assessing Norwegian and English language proficiency in multilingual elementary school classrooms in Norway

ABSTRACT

The increasing representation of young language-minority students in school settings around the world and recent insights into multilingualism as apotential reggsource for language learning and development call for acritical study of theoretical and practical implications for the field of language teaching and assessment. Relatively little attention has been devoted to exploring the assessment of very young students’ language proficiency in the context of multilingualism. The current study explores the role of multilingualism in language assessment in the Norwegian school context Table 1.

The study is based on teachers’ perceptions and practices as regards the way centrally and locally mandated language assessment is carried out in EFL and Norwegian (language arts) in amultilingual elementary school in Norway. The results of the study identify factors that impact on the enactment of language assessment at the beginner level and the assumptions underlying these practices. The paper contributes to our understanding of issues of validity and social consequences in connection with assessment in amultilingual education environment.

ABSTRAKT

Andelen unge elever med minoritetsspråklig bakgrunn øker på skoler rundt om iverden. Ny kunnskap om flerspråklighet som potensiell ressurs ispråklæring og utvikling krever kritisk analyse av de teoretiske og praktiske følgene dette får for språkundervisning og vurdering. Relativt lite oppmerksomhet har vært viet vurdering av de yngste elevenes språkkompetanse iflerspråklige kontekster. Denne studien bygger på lærernes forestillinger og praktiske realisering av sentrale og lokale føringer for vurdering av språkkompetanse iengelsk- og norskfaget på en flerspråklig barneskole iNorge. Resultatene istudien identifiserer faktorer som har betydning for språkvurderingen på begynnerstadiet og forestillinger lærerne gir uttrykk for omkring den praktiske gjennomføringen iklasserommet. Artikkelen bidrar til vår forståelse av validitetsproblematikk og sosiale konsekvenser iforbindelse med elevvurdering ien flerspråklig utdanningssammenheng.

Notes

¹ We are adopting the term multilingualism here to encompass both its general reference to societies where more than two languages are spoken, and what is often referred to as plurilingualism, i.e. the linguistic repertoire of individuals who know more than two languages.

² The Norwegian term underveisvurdering is officially translated into ‘formative assessment’. This is not aperfect translation; underveis implies aprocessual approach; formative has amore functional meaning.

³ Assessment for Learning is away of enacting policy-supported formative assessment which should be integrated in classroom instruction. The intention is that learners be actively involved in all the phases of assessment (identifying criteria, setting goals, self-assessment, and peer assessment). By collecting evidence of student performance during the process of learning rather than at the end, teachers can adjust their teaching and decide what is the next step towards further learning for the students (Leung & Mohan, 2004).

⁴ The organization of the classroom into learning stations means that groups of students rotate between different timed activities in the course of alesson. For instance, one station may be awriting station, another could be aplay station, areading station where students pick abook they want to read, and ateacher-led station devoted to guided reading or development of phonological awareness. In some cases, different school subjects are included, not just one.

⁵ Sami is the collective name for languages spoken by the Sami population. There are three Sami languages in use in Norway. The Sami are recognized as an indigenous or autochthonous people, according to the ILO Convention, with rights safeguarded by the Norwegian constitution.

⁶ We are using the descriptive label “dynamic screening tool “ here about aparticular tool created for formative monitoring of reading development over time, seen as the interplay between elements like phonological awareness, decoding of words, reading fluency, reading comprehension, and reading interest (Lundberg & Herrlin, 2008; Michaelsen, 2018). We are aware that the term is used by other scholars with reference to atest-intervention-retest design (e.g. Poehner & Infante, 2016).

⁷ Each learner is given apiece of paper in the shape of aticket with, for instance, five “I know… ” or “I can….” statements. The learners take the learning tickets home with them and make aparent or carer check their performance and then sign the ticket.

⁸ This refers to aself-assessment scheme mirroring traffic lights, where showing the color red signals that the learner finds atask or content too difficult, yellow means that they struggle to grasp it, and green signals that they find it easy and manageable.

⁹ NSL stands for ‘Norwegian as alanguage for learning’ (Norsk som læringsspråk). As amatter of fact, the NSL test no longer has the unique status it used to have at this school; other and more formative assessments are encouraged.

¹⁰ The Norwegian adjective «urettferdig» matches both English unfair and unjust.