Grading and Gathering Evidence in Swiss Elementary and Lower Secondary School English Language Classrooms

Abstract

Currently, foreign language teaching in Swiss elementary (4to 12yearolds) and lower secondary schools (12to 16yearolds) is a hot topic among politicians, educators and citizens. In the early 2000s, most Swiss cantons (the 26 political/administrative entities, member states of the Swiss Confederation) included two foreign languages in elementary schooling—a national language other than the local language (French, German, Italian or Romansh) and English. Since 2007, three curricula—one for each linguistic region: Frenchspeaking, Germanspeaking and Italianspeaking parts of Switzerland—have been developed to replace the 26 cantonal curricula. This causes slight turmoil for the evaluation and assessment of learners. Although the curricula clearly state where learners should be at the end of the eighth (end of elementary school) and eleventh (end of lower secondary school) grades, there are many questions. First of all, what do the selected descriptors (based on the Council of Europe’s (2001) Common European Framework of Reference [CEFR]) actually mean and to what level of accuracy should learners perform? Second, what should report cards include and how should these cards be interpreted? Third, what sort of evidence should elementary and lower secondary teachers be collecting to show proof of students’ level of language acquisition? The purpose of this chapter is to share the developments going on in Swiss school and teacher training and provide ideas that are also relevant to other regions of the world. First, an overview of the Swiss system and the background to foreign language teaching in and teacher training for Swiss elementary and lower second schools will be provided. Second, the development of the curriculum for Germanspeaking cantons and the issues around its implementation are described. Third, examples of changing classroom practices in the English language classroom will be described. Finally, future directions and tracks that still need to be smoothed out will be elaborated upon.