The 5th Annual International Conference of the Asian Association for Language Assessment (AALA) (AALA 2018)

248 / 2018-04-15 20:50:31

Assessment of Primary Chinese EFL Learners' Oral and Aural Language Skills and Their Relations to the National English Curriculum Standards Targets

language assessment,EFL young learners,curriculum implementation,oral competence

Plenary track > Principles and methodology of developing standards for language assessment

In recent years, the governments of many non-native English speaking countries are incorporating English as a foreign language (EFL) programs into primary school curricula at increasingly lower grade levels. However, despite an increasing number of young EFL learners around the world, relatively little contextualized research has looked into the teaching and assessment practices and learning outcomes of young EFL learners at the primary level, especially in East Asia countries. The present empirical study set out to address these issues in order to provide more information about primary EFL learning in China.
The aim of the present study is to investigate the assessment of the oral and aural language abilities of Chinese EFL young learners at the primary level. The study looked at the intended curriculum targets of the National English Curriculum Standards (NECS) in relation to the actual interpretations and practices of local school teachers. Specifically, this research examined how teachers/local authorities actually teach and assess their students’ oral and aural ability in Grade 4 and Grade 6; what tasks they were using and how these tasks were related to the NECS targets; and what students can actually accomplish regarding speaking and listening upon finishing Grade 4 and Grade 6. To answer these issues, a mix-methods research design was employed, combining quantitative analysis of teacher and student questionnaires and individual assessments and qualitative analysis of classroom observation, teacher and student interview. Four EFL teachers, 106 Grade 4 and 116 Grade 6 students from two local Chinese state primary schools participated in this study. It is hoped that the findings of the current research could provide rich information about the teaching and assessment process and learning outcomes in listening and speaking in state primary schools in China. This is an ongoing DPhil project, at the current stage, the emerging findings are mainly related with the student outcomes. Students individual assessment results were mapped onto the NECS via the standard-setting methodology, and the results indicates that less than half of the Grade 4 students and around half of the Grade 6 students could achieve the NECS targets in listening and speaking skills.