Tablet-based Listening Assessment in Switzerland – Task Development in Grade 4

ABSTRACT

In Switzerland, national educational goals were implemented in 2011. They cover various fields, including listening. The goals specify the competencies Swiss students should have at certain points in their school career. The pupils’ achievement of these goals is tested regularly. This review of basic competencies takes place on tablet. In order to find out which of the competencies mentioned in the educational goals can be tested on tablet in the 4th grade (i.e., 7-8-year-old students in Switzerland), we carried out a feasibility study with the aim of showing which task formats are best suited to test each competency. The present article sheds light on the development of listening test items within the framework of the feasibility study. We present methodological and test theoretical considerations. The following questions are central: How can listening competence as defined in the Swiss educational goals for the 4th grade be operationalized? What listening items are suitable for the display on tablet? Can students aged 7 or 8 years handle the digital device? It will turn out that the tablet is entirely suitable for testing listening skills as described in the national educational goals at the end of the 4th grade.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

¹ The language of instruction is the standard language of a language region, i.e. either German, French or Italian. The basic competencies are formulated irrespective of language (Erziehungsdirektorenkonferenz [EDK], 2011, p. 9).

² For legal reasons, this is an example image here, representing the tasks used.

³ Figures 3-5 used with kind approval of the EDK.

⁴ The instruction is given by an imaginary teacher, who tells the students which symbols to select and how to arrange them.