Relating language curricula, tests and examinations to the Common European Framework of Reference (RELANG) 

Local organiser: Kati Bakradze, Estonian Association of Foreign Language Teachers    

ECML experts: José Noijons, the Netherlands; Gábor Szabó, Hungary

Participants: 27 (language testers and examiners, item writers, teachers and teacher trainers, curriculum developers, policymakers and decision-takers)

Programme

A three-day RELANG training event, was offered by the European Centre for Modern Languages of the Council of Europe in cooperation with the Estonian Ministry of Education and Research and the Estonian Foreign Language Teachers’ Association, and co-funded by the European Commission. The workshop module “Exploring ways to test mediation and pluricultural/plurilingual skills in the classroom” brought together teachers of foreign languages, university lecturers, teacher trainers, decision makers and other experts in language education. Participants worked with mediation and pluricultural and plurilingual scales in the CEFR Companion Volume and the nuances of the Estonian national curricula. After familiarising themselves with the documents and scales, participants constructed mediation and pluricultural/plurilingual tasks as well as developed assessment grids for them. This is an important addition to the process of language acquisition as well as assessment (both summative and formative), and the workshop helped the participants in introducing the concept of mediation to the Estonian context.

Kati Bakradze, local organiser, 11 March 2020

ECML project website: RELANG – EU-ECML cooperation agreement 2019-2020 "Innovative methodologies and assessment in language learning"

Given the current situation around the Coronavirus, the RELANG and Supporting Multilingual Classrooms workshops under the ECML-EU cooperation initially scheduled for the period March-June 2020 had to be postponed until autumn. The experts and the local coordinators are working together to find new dates for the training workshops. Please visit the ECML website and the online calendar for updates.

Local coordinators from 9 countries (Armenia, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Serbia, Sweden) met with the project team at the ECML on 2-3 October to  advance preparations for national workshops to be hosted  on the theme of Relating language curricula, tests and examinations to the Common European Framework of Reference (RELANG).  The series of events targeting practitioners, multipliers and administrators at national level will take place between January and September 2020.

The RELANG initiative, providing training to Member States of the European Union and the European Centre for Modern Languages, is organised through a joint cooperation action with the European Commission - first launched in 2013 (www.ecml.at/ec-cooperation). The action will offer training and consultancy over the next year to around 500 language professionals within national systems.

Further details on the events and how to participate will be made available on the RELANG website.

In September 2019, the European Centre for Modern Languages of the Council of Europe and the European Commission, Directorate-General for Education and Culture, plan to launch another round of activity within the joint action on Innovative methodologies and assessment in language learning.

The action includes two initiatives: RELANG and Supporting Multilingual Classrooms. RELANG focuses on relating foreign/second language curricula, tests and examinations to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), and Supporting Multilingual Classrooms focuses on the linguistic integration of migrant learners in schools across Europe. The activities are scheduled to take place from 21 September 2019 to 20 September 2020, each initiative offering up to 9 national workshops during this period.

The call is open to current European Union member states and the additional member states of the ECML until 5 July 2019.

For further information, please contact Adelina Rosca (adelina.rosca@ecml.at), the ECML-EC cooperation agreement coordinator.

Local organiser: Ana Kanareva-Dimitrovska, Aarhus University

ECML experts: Rita Juknevičienė, Lithuania; Gábor Szabó, Hungary

Participants: 17; teachers, teacher trainers, curriculum developers, item writers

On 12-13 March 2019, the ECML Contact Point Denmark - The Danish National Centre for Foreign Languages - invited ECML experts in Copenhagen to provide a training and consultancy on Relating foreign language curricula to Common European Framework of Reference (RELANG). The aim of the training and consultancy activity using RELANG tools was to improve the alignment of Danish tests and examinations to the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) and Companion Volume. The focus was in particular on tests and examinations in upper secondary schools.

The participants (language teachers at university and university college, primary, secondary and upper secondary school and language consultants at the Ministry of Education) were inspired and received inspiration and clear directions on how to relate existing Danish tests and examinations to CEFR levels and descriptors. Participants gained a deeper knowledge of CEFR descriptors and received practical guidance on how to revise learning outcomes and link them to relevant CEFR levels. Participants worked on all linking phases: familiarization, specification, standardization and benchmarking. The participants were also asked to develop valid exams items for oral and written production related to the CEFR and Companion Volume. In addition, external assessment materials provided by the Danish participants and ECML experts were discussed during the training and the participants tried to link them to the CEFR levels. Some of the RELANG materials will be adapted/modified to fit a particular institutional context. 

Ana Kanareva-Dimitrovska, local organiser

25 March 2019

• Programme
• ECML project website: RELANG – EU-ECML cooperation agreement 2018-2019 "Innovative methodologies and assessment in language learning"

Local coordinators from 16 countries (Albania, Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Lithuania, Malta, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia and Spain) met with project teams at the ECML on 30-31 October to  advance preparations for  national workshops to be hosted  on the themes  of  Relating language curricula, tests and examinations to the Common European Framework of Reference (RELANG) and Supporting Multilingual Classrooms.  The  series of events targeting practitioners, multipliers and administrators at national level will take place between January and August 2019.

The RELANG and Supporting Multilingual Classrooms initiatives, providing training to Member States of the European Union and the European Centre for Modern Languages, are organised through a joint cooperation action with the European Commission - first launched in 2013. www.ecml.at/ec-cooperation. The action which is based on  two key language education concerns within the targeted states will offer training and consultancy over the next year  to around 500 language professionals within national systems.

Further details on the events and how to participate will be made available on the initiatives’ respective websites

Dedicated websites:

• RELANG
• Supporting Multilingual Classrooms

RELANG network

'Supporting Multilingual Classes' Network

Are you looking for input for an in-service training to develop the professional skills of language educators? Or are you in need of consultancy to advance local, regional or national reform processes and to meet international standards? Then take a closer look at what the ECML has on offer.

ECML experts in language education work with national authorities and local experts to devise and implement in-country activities, tailored to the particular context and target audience.

Information on offers and the 2019 request form are available online: http://www.ecml.at/TrainingandConsultancy

Requests for a training and consultancy activity must be submitted until 4 November 2018 via the national ECML representative in the Governing Board.
Educational professionals interested in organising a particular activity should therefore contact their national representative.

The ECML colloquium "Ensuring quality in language testing and assessment" (Graz, Austria, 7 December 2016) was a great success.

Thank you to everyone who contributed and participated - onsite and online! 

You may now watch or review the debates here:
- Videos and presentations of all sessions
- Photos

The colloquium on “Ensuring quality in language testing and assessment: the contribution of the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR)“ is organised by the European Centre for Modern Languages of the Council of Europe in cooperation with the European Commission.

The event will trace the progress that has been made since the publication of the Manual for Relating Language Examinations to the CEFR, offer a platform for an exchange of experiences from different European contexts and propose ways to address the ongoing challenges in aligning language curricula and examinations to the Framework.

Due to the high level of demand to participate in the event, the ECML has decided to stream the event live, starting from 9:30 am on 7 December. The event will be in English and French and will be streamed in the original language of the speaker only. During the colloquium, the following questions will be addressed:

1. How do I know whether a test is at the CEFR level it claims to be at? 
2. Can an exam that tests linguistic competence (language use) be linked to the CEFR? 
3. How do we make sure that our pass/fail decisions are related to the CEFR? 
4. Can we test at more than one CEFR level in one test? 
5. Can we link our tests to the CEFR levels even though we do not have statistics on student performance on our tests, apart from total scores? 
6. Can tests of different skills be summarized at one CEFR level?

The colloquium should be of particular interest to those who are responsible for or engaged in developing foreign language curricula and/or examinations, notably those who work in national curriculum or examination centres.

For further information on the event, including the Colloquium programme, please visit the colloquium webpage.

WEBCAST – starting on Wednesday, 7 December at 09:30.