Title: Assessments used in teaching English as a foreign language at elementary schools in Asia: Cases from Korea, Taiwan, and Japan
1Assessments used in teaching English as a foreign
language at elementary schools in Asia Cases
from Korea, Taiwan, and Japan
- Yuko Goto Butler
- (University of Pennsylvania, USA)
- Chinfen Chen
- (National Taipei University of Education, Taiwan)
- Won-Key Lee
- (Seoul National University of Education, South
Korea)
2Questions
- (1) What are the political, social and
educational contexts into which English FLES
(Foreign Language at Elementary Schools) is being
introduced in each of these countries? - (2) What types of assessments have been
administered thus far? - (3) What challenges do policymakers face in
evaluating the effectiveness of English FLES? - (4) What results have been obtained so far in
terms of students English learning?
3English at Elementary Schools in Korea, Taiwan,
Japan
Korea Taiwan Japan
Dates officially introduced 1997 academic subject 2001 academic subject 2002
Government oversight Strong central gov. initiative General guidelines Based on local choice
Grades that are taught 3rd and beyond 3rd and beyond, but some start from 1st Varies greatly
4Japan English assessments and diversity
- Yuko Goto Butler
- University of Pennsylvania
5Current policy contexts in Japan
- In 2002, MEXT allowed local governments and
individual schools to conduct foreign language
activities (which are overwhelmingly English
activities) based on their own choice - Introduced as a means of fostering international
understanding - In 2006, a sub-panel on foreign language
education for MEXTs Central Council for
Education proposed that English should be
compulsory for the 5th and 6th grade levels - MEXT has not yet made English compulsory at
elementary schools - Tremendous diversity in practice across schools
and local governments
6Assessments for English Activities
- Assessments are not required by government
policies - One can see the effects of English activities
based on childrens self-assessments and teacher
observations in select school reports. - The results of such effects vary from school to
school. - Strong need for systematic assessment
7Butler Takeuchi (2006)
- Background
- Substantial variability in practice
- Heated discussions regarding whether or not the
central governments policy is necessary - Aims
- To examine communicative skills in English by
grade levels among students in select schools - To examine the relationship between
policy-related factors and students
communicative skills in English
8Major policy related issues
- At which grade level should English be
introduced? - How many hours of instruction should children
receive? - What goals should be set for English at the
elementary school level? - Should foreign teachers teach English?
- To what extent do the English lessons that
students receive outside of their schools
influence their performance?
9Participants
- 6,541 elementary school students in Japan
- 697 3rd grade students
- 1,666 4th grade students
- 2,337 5th grade students
- 1,814 6th grade students
- Enrolled in 28 schools (24 public and 4 private)
- School sizes ranging from schools with less than
50 students to schools with more than 800
students - Various types of schools, including pilot schools
- Instruction ranges from twice per week to once
per month
10Measurements
- The Junior STEP Silver Test
- Developed by STEP (originally established as part
of the MOEs English language education policy) - Designed to measure basic oral communicative
abilities among young learners of EFL - The Junior STEP Tests have three levels Bronze,
Silver, and Gold - The Silver Test was chosen based on a pilot study
conducted in 2005 among 5,087 students - The Silver Test measures basic listening skills
and word recognition skills among young learners
who have undergone oral-based instruction at
school for at least 2 years - Examining students self-assessments and their
attitudes towards English activities based on a
survey
11Result 1
- How do students communicative skills in English
differ by grade level?
12Performance by Grade Level
13Result 2
- What are the relationships between policy-related
factors and students communicative skills in
English? - Grade level
- Goals of English activities set by schools
- Total hours of English instruction at school
- Frequencies of instruction by foreign teachers at
school - Extra lessons that students receive outside of
their schools
14Multiple regression analysis of variables for
predicting Silver Test scores
B SE B ß t
Grade 1.51 .08 .23 18.05
Goals set by the school .81 .08 .13 10.28
Total hours of English instruction at school .01 .001 .06 4.67
Frequencies of instruction by foreign teachers at school -.40 .05 -.09 -7.36
Extra lessons received outside of school 1.38 .05 .31 25.49
p lt .01
15Correlations between Silver Test scores and
instructional hours
Grade No. of students Total hours of instruction Hours of instruction per week
3 604 -.08 -.09
4 1,448 -.13 -.11
5 2,091 .19 .19
6 1,506 .13 .10
16Conclusions
- The older the students, the higher their Silver
Test scores became - The biggest performance gap across grade level
was found in the subsection on Word Recognition - In addition to grade level, the number of extra
English lessons that students received outside of
their school was an important predictor - Total English instructional hours at school and
frequencies of instruction by foreign teachers at
school was not very influential variables.