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18 - Setting Standards for Language Learning and Assessment in Educational Contexts

A Multilingual Perspective

from Part III - Norms, Literacy and Education

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 2021

By
Antony John Kunnan  and
Nick Saville
Edited by
Wendy Ayres-Bennett  and
John Bellamy
Wendy Ayres-Bennett
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge
John Bellamy
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge
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Summary

This chapter discusses the setting of standards for language learning in formal education and focuses in particular on the role that assessment plays in that context. Some challenging dilemmas that face educators in seeking to apply standards are discussed. In a globalized world, one such dilemma occurs when setting international standards while respecting diversity and the need for locally determined norms and context-specific policies and practices. Three specific meanings of standards and standardization are explored in relation to language education in formal schooling. These three key aspects of standardization are interrelated. Standard languages: what is to be taught and learned in school. Standards of proficiency: the levels of competence that is to be achieved as the outcome of language learning. Professional standards: how languages are taught and assessed and how the quality of the teaching and assessment is determined and monitored. These three meanings are explored by taking into account the context where the language learning takes place and in relation to the intended uses of the target language outside of the classroom; the challenge for policymakers and educators is ultimately a multilingual one that involves the languages used in the home, in civil society and in school as curriculum subjects.

Keywords

standard languagesstandards of proficiencyprofessional standardsscales and frameworksCEFRplurilingualismaction-orientated approachvalidity and validationcodes of practice and quality managementfairness and justice
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Language Standardization , pp. 496 - 516
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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