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Mewald, C. (2014) Competency based foreign language education. In: BIFIE (Hrsg.) Bildungsstandards Englisch 8. Unterrichtsvideos und Begleitmaterialien. BIFIE: Salzburg
AI
This document examines the essential role of criterion-based assessment in competency-based foreign language education, emphasizing the influence of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). It discusses the components of communicative competence identified by the CEFR, including linguistic, sociolinguistic, and pragmatic competences. Additionally, the Austrian E8 Bildungsstandards are outlined, which provide descriptors for language skills and expected outcomes after eight years of foreign language instruction in Austria.
Theoria et Historia Scientiarum
Competence is one of the fashionable terms which permeate public and academic discourses of the 21st century. Accompanied by a plethora of meanings, competence has, rather expectedly, become an inflated notion (Weinert & Helmke, 1998; Virkus, 2009). While we intuitively know what competence, competency or a competent person mean, precise definitions are hard to obtain. To paraphrase Felstead et al. (2002), considering the enormous interest in competence-its structure, development and distribution-there is surprisingly little consensus on what competence actually refers to. This status quo is not helped by context-dependence of competence, i.e. its conceptual reliance on a particular domain within which the term is applied. Thus, the use of competence in psychology, economics or linguistics renders dissimilar understandings, with no framework generally accepted to support them (Koper, 2000). Imprecise on the one hand, competence is simultaneously (and rather paradoxically) viewed as self-explanatory. A combination of intricate cognitive skills, complex knowledge structures, interpersonal and social abilities, as well as attitudes and values, competence is taken as given, with most researchers assuming its meaning to be apparent or transpiring from everyday contexts (see Savolainen, 2002 for an overview). Likewise,
2018
Competence is one of the fashionable terms which permeate public and academic discourses of the 21st century. Accompanied by a plethora of meanings, competence has, rather expectedly, become an inflated notion (Weinert & Helmke, 1998; Virkus, 2009). While we intuitively know what competence, competency or a competent person mean, precise definitions are hard to obtain. To paraphrase Felstead et al. (2002), considering the enormous interest in competence – its structure, development and distribution – there is surprisingly little consensus on what competence actually refers to. This status quo is not helped by context-dependence of competence, i.e. its conceptual reliance on a particular domain within which the term is applied. Thus, the use of competence in psychology, economics or linguistics renders dissimilar understandings, with no framework generally accepted to support them (Koper, 2000). Imprecise on the one hand, competence is simultaneously (and rather paradoxically) viewed...
2012
When referring to the academic literature regarding foreign language teaching, the most relevant methodology is the communicative one since it helps the student develop the necessary competence for an efficient communication when interacting in real environments. This competence is known as communicative competence and has been discussed by various authors. The definition used in this paper is based on the one by Canale and Swain (1980) and Canale (1983) and comprises structural competence, sociolinguistic competence, discourse competence, strategic competence and intercultural competence. The purpose of this paper is to propose different strategies for the assessment of each of these competences in an international university context.
ALTRALANG Journal
Since the introduction of competency-based teaching into the Algerian English language syllabuses in 2005, teachers have been supplied with a big deal of theory about this instructional model, without practical applications for day-to-day classroom instruction. This study focuses on practical issues of the competency system through a concrete illustration of the teaching of the four language skills (listening, reading, speaking, and writing). Essentially, the teaching of these basics is embedded in life skills, and their practice is carried out through the prior teaching of the competency pre-requisites of knowledge, skills, and attitudes. Next, an authentic global task is presented to learners to harmoniously reinvest their newly acquired knowledge, skills and attitudes to solve a problem.
Competency-based language teaching (CBLT) is an application of the principles of competency-based education. It concerns accountability, management and quantification. CBLT focuses on the competencies and outputs. If teaching competencies becomes an end in itself, stakeholders become the object rather than the subjects of the educational process. On the other hand, if competencies are seen as tools to enable learners to act for change in their lives, critical thinking will be promoted. After a brief history, this article introduces competency-based language teaching. Then it will be followed by how it will be evaluated. Finally the pros and cons of this kind of instruction are elaborated in details.
CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research - Zenodo, 2022
In the last five years, the Dominican educational system has undergone a series of transformations, as a result of the implementation by the Ministry of Education (MINERD) of a process of revision and update of the curricular bases, with a view to the implementation of a new curricular design by competencies. These reformulations seek, in short, the achievement of the goals set around the improvement of educational quality demanded by society and the "right to full and comprehensive human development of all citizens. The general objective of the study is to develop a methodology with the integration of technology for the development of linguistic competence in the learning process of the English language, as a foreign language at the preuniversity level of the Dominican educational system, and thus positively influence in the fulfillment of the objectives foreseen in the curricular design (linguistic level B2) For the fulfillment of the outlined objectives, the various scientific methods of theoretical, empirical and statistical-mathematical research are used. For data collection, two questionnaires were used for teachers to publicize the methodologies that are implemented for the development of linguistic skills in the teaching of English as a foreign language at pre-university levels, generating a scientific contribution for their contribution and perfect it. The results obtained from the research indicate a group satisfaction index by teachers of 0.9, thanks to the strategies and their impact on the development of linguistic skills as a foreign language, taking advantage of the influence of families. Also, a favorable score was obtained in the activity plan for teacher training. On the other hand, the application of focus group techniques in which the methodological conceptions and the plan to train teachers are considered. Finally, recommendations are made for the strengthening of these activities and at the same time, collaborate to continue with the effectiveness of the strategies in linguistic competences.
The Open Applied Linguistics Journal, 2008
European educational systems are making great efforts to improve students' command of foreign languages, as there are many students who leave compulsory education with only the most limited ability to communicate in a foreign language. In this context the implementation of CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) courses is becoming commonplace throughout Europe, because this approach is believed to significantly improve overall language competence in the target language. This paper examines the implementation of CLIL in the Basque Country (Spain), a bilingual community in which both Basque and Spanish are official languages and where English represents the third language included in the curriculum. The results show that the CLIL approach is successful and helps to improve students' foreign language competence even in bilingual contexts where English has little social presence.
Welcome to issue 52 of Research Notes, our quarterly publication reporting on matters relating to research, test development and validation within Cambridge English Language Assessment. This issue features articles on the first European Survey on Language Competences (ESLC) and from the second round of the Cambridge English Funded Research Programme. The issue starts with Dr Neil Jones, the Director of the ESLC, providing an overview of the project, summarising the main findings and describing the implications of these findings for educational policy makers and Cambridge English Language Assessment. Jones highlights the importance of this survey and how it confirms the widely held views that language learning is successful when language is used for communicative purposes. Martin Robinson, who was the Manager of Test Development for the survey, then describes the language testing framework that was used as the basis to develop the ESLC survey instruments. His article details the challenges that had to be overcome when developing comparable language tests in five languages. The next two articles describe how countryspecific ESLC data is being used for secondary research and to inform national policy decisions. First, Magdalena Szpotowicz, the ESLC national research coordinator for Poland, discusses the Polish experience while her counterpart in Croatia, Jasminka buljan Culej, follows with the Croatian experience. Karen Ashton, the ESLC Project Manager, reflects on the lessons learned from this first survey and offers recommendations for the second survey. Stephen McKenna then reports on the public reaction to the ESLC. The issue then moves on to highlight studies undertaken in 2011 as part of the Cambridge English Funded Research Programme (Round 2). The first is by Anthony Green, Hanan Khalifa and Cyril J Weir, which explores the features that distinguish reading texts at three proficiency levels using Coh-Metrix. The second, by Okim Kang, investigates criterial features that can be used to distinguish aspects of spoken language at different CEFR levels. The findings from these research studies can inform both test development and classroom instruction.
2019
Abstract The teaching and learning of English have experienced many ups and downs. Each approach reveals some positive and negative aspects. However, it is undeniable that the understanding of the nature of language determines the teaching approach. As time goes, the grammar-translation which used to dominate all the teaching practice reveals some drawbacks. As a reasult of the teaching method, learners are unable to use what they learnt for communication but description. This paper attempts to restate principles of the commonly used approach worldwide which put language in the right position of what it is "communication". By reviewing some key features of communicative competence which is the fundamental of the Communicative Language Teaching (CLT), we hope that will benefit practioners who are sparing no efforts to make the teaching and learning of English more efficient. KEY WORDS: coomunicative competence, communicative language teaching.
This presentation describes and discusses two models for language development based on communicative competence development for Language Facilitators of English: the American Council for the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) Proficiency Guidelines, and the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR). ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines has six specific criteria that will be presented and discussed. The CEFR is a guideline which focuses on learning, teaching, and assessment used to describe achievements of learners of foreign languages. Both provide a description for each level of linguistic competence development: skills and knowledge expected to develop while teaching and/or learning English as an additional language. The main purpose here is to help language facilitators become familiar with the description each model provide so that both EFL/ESL learners and themselves as language users can find their own competence level of language knowledge and command, mainly considering the fact we are non-native English users, both learners who want to accomplish their communicative competence, and facilitators to know they can show their level of / expertise in the language.
Theoria et Historia Scientiarum, 2018
The European Recommendation on Key Competences for Lifelong Learning (2006) advocates communication in both the mother tongue and the foreign language as an essential learning strategy for citizens in a knowledge-based society. In Spanish education, linguistic competence has been widely developed and researched. However, the Common European Framework of Reference divides communicative competence into linguistic, sociolinguistic and pragmatic subcompetences. Considering this, the aim of the present paper is to provide strategies and resources to develop these three subcompetences in the foreign language and content and language integrated learning (CLIL) classrooms. The results will allow both teachers and learners to know which aspects speakers of foreign languages must master if they want to become communicatively competent.
Competency-based instruction is an approach to language teaching that has its focus on teaching the skills and behaviors needed to perform competencies. Competency-based education has its basis on a set of outcomes derived from an analysis of tasks learners are required to conduct in real life situations. It is one of a number of approaches to instruction in which the curriculum is couched in terms of sets of learner performance. This paper aims at having a closer look at different aspects of competency-based instruction, its application in classroom teaching, teacher education and syllabus design. Pro and con views, advantages, and criticisms have been mentioned. English language classroom teachers, teacher trainers, and syllabus designers may benefit from the discussions of this study.
TIRF Language Education in Review (LEiR) , 2020
2016
Summary. When referring to the academic literature regarding foreign language teaching, the most relevant methodology is the communicative one since it helps the student develop the necessary competence for an efficient communication when interacting in real environments. This competence is known as communicative competence and has been discussed by various authors. The definition used in this paper is based on the one by Canale and Swain (1980) and Canale (1983) and comprises structural competence, sociolinguistic competence, discourse competence, strategic competence and intercultural competence. The purpose of this paper is to propose different strategies for the assessment of each of these competences in an international university context.
In today's competitive world, where one language is simply not enough for functioning competently, learning a second language more than an option, is a must. In the past, most people who learned languages used to do it in their pursuit of a better education or simply for pleasure and being able to read and understand was usually sufficient. However, nowadays people need to be able to communicate in multiple ways. That need to communicate effectively in different scenarios has led to the search for the most suitable approach to language teaching and learning. One might wonder: Is there such approach or method capable of fulfilling that increasing necessity? The response to that question is simple, have learners develop their " communicative competence " (CC) that is, " what a speaker needs to know to communicate appropriately within a particular language community (Saville-Trioke, 2006). In her definition, she describes precisely what people need in terms of foreign language learning (FLL). Furthermore, (Savignon, 1983) stated " Competence is defined as a presumed underlying ability, and performance as the manifestation of that ability. " If we ponder everything abovementioned, including the question about the approach or method to obtain such results, then, we would need to agree that curricula should be substantially developed on communicative competence because this method emphasizes interaction as both the means and the ultimate goal of learning a language. By implementing CC as a core component of our teaching practice, we, language teachers, would fully-equip our students with the right tools to produce successfully both in written and spoken language. The notion of CC is one of the theories that underlie the Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) to FLL, also known as " Communicative Approach ". Dell Hymes is
Revista Inclusiones, 2020
In connection with the active integration and globalization processes taking place in the world, the focus of attention of linguists, philosophers, culturologists and teachers is the cultural and linguistic interaction between representatives of different language communities. Of recent interest in these problems has been the theory and methodology of teaching foreign languages. Third-generation Federal State Educational Standards of Higher Education, aimed at modernizing the system of language education in Russia, towards qualitative changes in the preparation of graduates, orient the process of foreign language education in a modern Russian university towards compliance with established international levels, the standards adopted in the European higher education, and educational programs meeting the requirements of the Council of Europe. The development of foreign language communicative competence today means not only mastering a set of certain knowledge, skills, and abilities, but also forming a full readiness of students, primarily students of linguistic specialties, to communicate in various situations, to a comparative study of the mother
3i: intellekt, ideâ, innovaciâ, 2023
This article considers aspects of the formation of communicative competence in students of the Pedagogical Faculty of Foreign Languages. In the context of the new requirements for graduates of linguistic universities, there is a need to train new-breed educators capable of effective cross-disciplinary communication. This article discusses the training of professionals in foreign language education, focusing on the humanities, economics, and natural sciences. To enhance students' communicative competence within the Faculty of Foreign Language Education, a series of training materials (Communicative practicum manuals) has been developed and incorporated into the educational process by the Department of Foreign Language Teaching Methodology for three above-mentioned fields of education. These manuals contain the content required for the formation and development of students' communicative competence -communicative situations, role-playing games, issues for discussion, case studies, project technologies, and more. Probation of the teaching manuals has demonstrated effectiveness during practical classes and contributed to the development of students' communication skills in foreign language sectoral education.
The creation of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) has evidenced the need for the development of language policies at universities. University-based language centres have made a great contribution to the development of language learning since their emergence and have played a major role in the development and implementation of language policies and language education. In addition to teaching and training Language Centres have another important function as university students are now required to prove their language competence at different stages during their university studies for mobility, graduating, entrance to master programmes, etc., as well as for better job opportunities in the international market. This new function of language centres can be defined as the need for the development of more reliable systems for the accreditation or certification of language competence which will provide a basis for comparability of levels of assessment at European level. As a consequence, national language associations throughout Europe are immersed in a process for the design of a common model for the accreditation of language competence in higher education institutions that allows for comparability in achievement across languages and institutions, but which at the same time, allows for degrees of variation and the possibility to reflect the specific needs and aims of the different institutions. In the present work we describe the evolution of the accreditation process in Europe, with special attention to the model developed by the Spanish Association of Higher Education Language Centres (ACLES).
Language Teaching, 1997
Council of Europe and pluricultural competence which is deliberately transitory and heterogeneous, although unified in one repertoire, but that he or she should also have been able to work using varied learning materials, have tested various learning routes and have accordingly enriched his or her own perceptions of languages, cultures and learning pathways.
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