Koen Van Gorp

University entrance language tests: A matter of justice:

University entrance language tests are often administered under the assumption that even if language proficiency does not determine academic success, a certain proficiency level is still required. Nevertheless, little research has focused on how well L2 students cope with the linguistic demands of their studies in the first months after passing an entrance test. Even fewer studies have taken a longitudinal perspective. Set in Flanders, Belgium, this study examines the opinions and experiences of 24 university staff members and 31 international L2 students, of whom 20 were tracked longitudinally. Attention is also given to test/retest results, academic score sheets, and class recordings. To investigate the validity of inferences made on the basis of L2 students’ scores, Kane’s (2013) Interpretation/Use Argument approach is adopted, and principles from political philosophy are applied to investigate whether a policy that discriminates among students based on language test results can be considered just. It is concluded that the receptive language requirements of university studies exceed the expected B2 level and that the Flemish entrance tests include language tasks that are of little importance for first-year students. Furthermore, some of the students who failed the entrance test actually managed quite well in their studies – a result that entails broad implications concerning validation and justice even outside the study’s localized setting.

The B2 Level and the Dream of a Common Standard

ABSTRACT In Flanders, Belgium, university admission of undergraduate international L2 students requires a certificate of an accredited test of Dutch. The two main university entrance tests used for certification share highly comparable oral components and CEFR-based oral rating criteria. This article discusses to what extent ratings on the oral components of these tests can be compared. The data used are the ratings of the oral performances of the same 82 candidates on both oral test components, which were administered within the same week. The correlation on the overall scores is high, but lower on the oral test component. Further analyses, including linear regression and multifaceted Rasch analysis, indicate that the B2 level was interpreted differently in the two tests. The results show that using the same language proficiency scales as the basis for rating scale criteria may lead to superficial correspondences or a perceived equivalence but does not necessarily lead to greater comparability of shared criteria. The findings of this study are especially useful for contexts in which different tests use similar criteria that are based on the same descriptors, and comparability is only assumed.

Creating rich language environments for more than one language: A work in progress in Flemish childcare

This paper discusses language policy and practices in early educational settings in Flanders (Belgium). It describes the Flemish context and the challenges ECEC face. Stakeholders’ beliefs and observed linguistic practices in ECEC in general and in the province of Flemish-Brabant are presented based on a small scale quantitative and qualitative study. We also discuss how major stakeholders have shaped language policy concerning language stimulation and multilingualism in recent years and how a new policy is being implemented in childcare. Finally, we describe additional initiatives taken by regional governments to provide childcare centres with the necessary materials and training to implement this new language policy.

Introduction: The Multilingual Edge of Education

In this volume, we raise the need to invest in new educational perspectives in which multilingualism is valorized and used strategically in settings and contexts of instruction and learning. While the title of the book, ‘The multilingual edge of education’, undeniably alludes to the way in which the multilingual repertoires of pupils in mainstream classrooms are often perceived as an insurmountable problem, it equally underlines more current perspectives in which multilingualism is viewed as possessing cutting-edge potential for transforming linguistically heterogeneous classrooms into more inhabitable, more equitable and more efficiently organized spaces for teaching and learning. Is the multilingual edge an abyss, or do we look to multilingualism for giving learners the edge over the challenges faced by the educational contexts in which they participate today? The chapters in this book are written by an international group of contributors who present findings from empirical studies on different educational approaches which draw on students’ multilingual repertoires as a pedagogical resource for learning and teaching. The authors document a variety of classroom practices, while engaging with students’ and teachers’ experiential voices, local and national policy contexts and so on, so as to explore the potential of multilingualism as learning capital, which, once capitalized upon, can enrich and support educational processes in diverse sociolinguistic contexts.

Strategies of Multilingualism in Education for Minority Children

Across Western Europe, policy in the context of education for minority children has in the past 20 years increasingly stressed proficiency in and use of the dominant language as a condition for school success (in most cases, this has meant the ‘national’ language). The use of the children’s first language or home language(s) has been valued by policy makers as a cultural marker of identity, but not pedagogically as a didactic asset for learning, or as a ‘scaffold’ for the acquisition of the dominant language (Cummins 2011, 2013; Van Avermaet 2009; Extra and Spotti 2009).

The Use of the CEFR in Higher Education: A Brief Introduction to This Special Issue

One of the intended purposes of The Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) is to provide a common basis for language textbooks, curricula, and examinations across Europe. It is probably fair...

Multilingual islands in a monolingual sea: language choice patterns during group work

ABSTRACT This study explores language choice patterns during group work of bilingual pupils (Turkish–Dutch) in two mainstream primary schools in Flanders (Belgium). In each school, a group of four children performed eight different tasks, related to different subjects of the curriculum. During task performance, they were exceptionally invited to use their mother tongue (Turkish), which ran against the rules of the monolingual school. Language choice data in these temporary ‘multilingual islands in a monolingual sea’ were gathered. Results indicate that Turkish was used for purposes related to task performance throughout all tasks. The results challenge the view, currently prevalent in Flemish education, that a submersion approach is the only viable option for bilingual pupils speaking a minority language.