Piet Van Avermaet

Relating examinations to the Common European Framework: a manual

This article deals with the linking of examinations to the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR). Following the rapid adoption of the CEFR by the Council of Europe and the European Union as well as many national and local actors, there have been calls for guidance on how examinations could be made more transparent by means of the CEFR, especially by using its calibrated scales as a tool. The Council of Europe has recently produced a preliminary pilot Manual, which presents a procedure for doing this. The article describes the political and educational context of this work and presents the main procedures proposed in the Manual. Since the Manual is a preliminary document for discussion and feedback, the authors of the Manual join the discussion by presenting some critical reflections of their own. The article concludes by outlining two scenarios: one which predicts positive developments and the other which foresees less desirable consequences.

From needs to tasks: Language learning needs in a task-based approach

In this chapter, we will focus on tasks as attainment goals. Determining and describing target tasks may be regarded as the first step in the process of task-based curriculum design. In describing target tasks for language education and evaluation, a balance will need to be struck between theoretical principles and practicability. What can be argued for theoretically may not always be realizable in real-life language education or assessment. How to deal with practicalities in applying the task-based approach to the description of target tasks will therefore be one of the key issues dealt with in this chapter.

Silencing linguistic diversity: The extent, the determinants and consequences of the monolingual beliefs of Flemish teachers

ABSTRACT This article aims to deepen our understanding of the dynamic interaction between language policies, school characteristics and teachers’ beliefs about monolingualism. The study takes place in Flanders (Belgium), a region characterized by educational policies which are based on a stringent monolingual ideology. Based on a survey of 775 teachers from across 48 secondary schools, we examined how these policies affected teachers’ beliefs, whether and how teacher beliefs vary between schools, and what the consequences of these beliefs are. The results of our multilevel analysis indicate that teachers strongly adhere to monolingual policies, while there are also significant differences across schools, which are related to the ethnic composition of those schools. Furthermore, a stronger adherence to monolingualism was found to trigger teachers to have lower expectations about their students but not about their ability to teach. Finally, implications for policymakers are discussed.

Ethnic School Segregation and Self-Esteem The Role of Teacher–Pupil Relationships

The authors examine whether school segregation is related to pupils’ global self-esteem and whether this association is mediated by teacher–pupil relationships. Multilevel analyses based on a survey of 2,845 pupils (aged 10 to 12) in 68 primary schools in Belgian urban areas reveal that, for native-Belgian pupils, a higher proportion of immigrants at school is associated with increasing self-esteem. Initially no such association was found for immigrant pupils, as the effect of schools’ ethnic composition on their self-esteem was suppressed by teacher–pupil relationships. For both groups, experiences of supportive relationships with teachers were largely associated with self-esteem.

Language Testing in the Context of Immigration and Citizenship: The Case of the Netherlands and Flanders (Belgium).

In this article we focus on two specific cases illustrating how similar issues have been addressed differently. Flanders, a federal state of Belgium, and the Netherlands share Dutch as an official language, yet remarkable differences in assessment traditions and policy development exist between them. These differences are most obvious with regard to language testing in the area of immigration and citizenship. We present the current language testing policies in both countries and describe the differences from historical, political, and societal perspectives.

Interaction for transfer: flexible approaches to multilingualism and their pedagogical implications for classroom interaction in linguistically diverse mainstream classrooms

ABSTRACT This study focuses on how teachers construe and give meaning to a pedagogical experiment in which the use of the home language in a primary school in Flanders was permitted in order to acknowledge the urban multilingual realities and resources of the pupils and to turn them into didactic capital (functional multilingual learning, FML). Using ethnographic interviews, teachers were asked to comment on recorded classroom activities in which FML played a role. Results showed that teachers created space for FML by facilitating and stimulating peer interaction, but tended to leave the interaction in the hands of the pupils. Teachers viewed individual learning outcomes as more important than collectively organized interactional efforts. Individual pupil characteristics occurred as a starting point to manage and organize classroom activities.

What can technology offer to linguistically diverse classrooms? Using multilingual content in a computer-based learning environment for primary education

ABSTRACT Computer-based learning environments (CBLEs) have the potential to integrate the linguistic diversity present in classrooms as a resourceful tool in pupils’ learning process. Particularly for pupils who speak a language at home other than the language which is used at school, more understanding is needed on how CBLEs offering multilingual content can assist them. With this study, we aim to gain insight into the way pupils interact with a CBLE which provides support in their home language through different digital tools. Therefore, E-Validiv was developed, a CBLE offering multilingual content, namely in the language of instruction and pupils’ home language. Six fifth-grade pupils were videotaped while working on E-Validiv and their activities were logged. Afterwards, they were interviewed by means of stimulated recall on the way they had used the CBLE. The results show that the pupils functionally use their home language to support their learning process. Pupils interact with the multilingual CBLE through different digital tools to improve understanding of words and content. The study also identifies barriers which may hinder pupils to use the multilingual content in an optimal way.

Schools as Laboratories for Exploring Multilingual Assessment Policies and Practices.

ABSTRACT Across Europe we can observe the reinforcement of monolingual education policies, despite increasing multilingualism. Recent research has shown that the emphasis is on language proficiency in the socially dominant language. This is viewed as the key to educational success. The use of other languages or linguistic repertoires is not valued in educational policies, nor in educational practices. These monolingual policies and practices affect the assessment of pupils’ (language) proficiencies and practices. Pupils who do not (solely) speak the school language at home also take content-related tests in e.g. mathematics or science in a language they are often not yet familiar with. In this paper, we discuss why and how this imposes limitations on test results and may result in unfair disadvantage. We first present alternative ways of assessing multilingual pupils for purposes of large-scale testing which can be explored in future research. Second, we focus on the potential of classroom-based and learner-oriented multilingual assessment. We conclude the paper by introducing the concept of Functional Multilingual Assessment For Learning and argue that this can be a powerful means to overcome some of the limitations in the assessment of multilingual pupils who are still in the process of learning the language of instruction.

Bilingual Education in Migrant Languages in Western Europe

This review focuses on bilingual education (BE) in migrant languages in Western Europe. In the Early Developments section, we will argue that educational arrangements targeting migrant languages initially arose from bottom-up initiatives for immigrant children. In the Major Contributions section, we will discuss the pioneering role of both the local and supranational levels in developing migrant language programs and policies in mainstream schooling and promoting multilingualism as civic ideology. Although these initiatives focused on mother tongue instruction (MTI), BE came forward as an alternative approach, reaching a peak in the late 1970s/early 1980s and resulting in a limited number of local experiments in transitional BE. However, national states in Western Europe have been reluctant to include migrant languages in their language-in-education policies. BE in migrant languages has nowhere been able to establish itself as a fully valued teaching model. Notwithstanding this, two-way immersion models offering migrant languages are currently successful in Germany – as is pointed out in the Work in Progress section. Although practical problems can partially explain the difficult introduction of bilingual approaches in education for immigrants, the principal obstacle is the monolingual ideology that underlies educational and social integration policies and practices across Europe. A return to assimilation has resulted in dwindling official support of MTI/BE in many Western European countries in the past decade (Problems and Difficulties). In the final section, we will outline some Future Directions, of which the challenge of linguistic superdiversity of school populations for received language-in-education approaches is most important.

Community Schools in Ghent: Strengthening Neighbourhoods in Belgium (Flanders)

This chapter describes how the City of Ghent, a city in Flanders (Belgium), has uniquely developed and scaled up the concept of community schools. Inspired initially by the community schools movement in the Netherlands, leaders for this innovation developed their own design and implementation strategy. These leaders’ developmental story covers 15 years and identifies key features of this approach as well as the different phases in its development. One noteworthy feature of this exemplar is the neighborhood-oriented model of community schools. In this model, all primary schools and participating organizations in the selected geographical area (neighborhood) are included. This chapter provides valuable insights in the pioneering work at the local level in which bottom-up initiatives in different neighborhoods, jointly developed by educators and human services providers, are progressively supported by local policy makers and aldermen (local politicians). Ghent’s leaders opted to provide funds for infrastructure supports and resources, with a special priority for the community school coordinator, emphasizing the importance of cross-boundary work, coordination and resource maximization. The authors conclude with an overview of lessons learned, pointing to factors that can further support the development and sustainability of the community school initiatives that serve children and adults, while strengthening their schools and neighborhoods.