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Evaluation(s)
Évaluation(s)
« Études en didactique des langues »(EDL) Journal n°33
Revue « Études en didactique des langues » (EDL) n°33
Published on Wednesday, December 26, 2018
Abstract
Evaluation has taken a very important place in language teaching. It does not only concern marks and diplomas; it has a much wider field of action: the evaluation of learners by teachers but also that of teachers by students; the evaluation of research, teaching systems, pedagogical content, etc. It is therefore all these aspects of evaluation that are the focus of this issue of EDL.
Announcement
Argument
We have entered an era of constant evaluation. We can no longer approach a coffeehouse or corner shop without our phone (which is said to be smart) asking us to evaluate the visit, to give an opinion, without any need for justification. With social networks and their “like”, a word that has even become the abominable French verb, liker, there is a constant rat race for obtaining the highest numbers. The direct or indirect evaluation of laboratories by various European, regional, institutional organizations such as the AERES/HCERES, ANR, as well as IDEX projects deplete important human resources, both in the development of projects and in their evaluation, without necessarily ensuring the financing of doctoral contracts, missions, equipment or grants, especially in humanities. The term “evaluate” comes from value (old French), meaning “value or price”; or from the Latin valere: “to be strong, to be worthy”. These two etymologies seem to refer to two complementary notions, one quantitative, the other qualitative; one material, the other moral or abstract. Although the term is relatively recent in the field of teaching and learning (Tardieu 2005: 9), what it covers has taken on a very central role in teaching. Dissertations, tests, mid-terms, and exams have set the rhythm and continue to set the rhythm of school and university life. The need for these repeated evaluations is rarely questioned. Yet, evaluation is an integral part of the learning process (Bachman, 1998; Brindley, 1998; Fulcher 2015; Narcy-Combes, 2005). Evaluations involve collecting evidence from candidates following a task or set of tasks to determine a score or “label” that can generally be interpreted by a broader audience, such as university admission officers or company recruiters. It is not a direct process, as it requires the interpretation of a given skill in a target language area. Language assessment and evaluation have become a major political issue in the curriculum. Cumming (2009) highlights how the imprecision of descriptive criteria, assessment scales, and benchmarks based on professional judgement rather than empirical surveys challenges the transposition of curriculum standards into evaluation instruments, particularly in projects related to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFRL) (Conseil de l’Europe, 2001). This model has become omnipresent in the debate on language teaching and learning across Europe, particularly on evaluation and policy issues. However, the CEFR does not include descriptors for some tasks for specific purposes, such as describing graphs (Fries, 2008). The recent CEFR complement mentions a possible link between general and specific language skills in a communicative perspective (Conseil de l’Europe, 2018). Evaluation is not only about grades and diplomas. It has a much wider field of action and therefore this n° 33 of FLLTR will be devoted to evaluation in a broad sense, in the field of languages: that of learners by teachers but also the evaluation of teachers by students, the evaluation of research, the evaluation of teaching systems, educational content, etc. Possible, but not exclusive areas of reflection are: - What is being evaluated or assessed and why? - What skills and knowledge are targeted? What is not? - What is the meaning of and importance given to grades/marks or certifications? - Facility, mistakes and correction. - The measurement of competence and performance. - The various types of evaluation. - Objectivity/subjectivity and transparency/opacity.
References
- Bachman, L. F. 1998. Appendix: language testing – SLA interfaces. In Bachman, L. & Cohen, A. D. (Eds.) Interfaces between second language acquisition and language testing research. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press.
- Brindley, G. 1998. Describing language development? Rating scales and SLA. In Bachman, L. & Cohen, A. D. (Eds.) Interfaces between second language acquisition and language testing research. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Conseil de l’Europe. 2001. Cadre Européen commun de référence pour les langues : apprendre, enseigner, évaluer. Strasbourg : Unité des politiques linguistiques.
- Conseil de l’Europe. 2018. Cadre européen commun de référence pour les langues : apprendre, enseigner, évaluer. Volume complémentaire avec de nouveaux descripteurs. Strasbourg : Unité des politiques linguistiques. Cumming, A. 2009.
- Language assessment in education: Tests, curricula, and teaching. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 29, 90-100.
- Fries, M.-H. 2009. Mise en cohérence de l’anglais de spécialité et du CECRL en France : difficultés et enjeux. Asp, La Revue de GERAS 56, pp. 105-125.
- Fulcher, G. 2015. Re-examining language testing: A political and social inquiry. London and New York: Routledge. Narcy-Combes, M.-F. 2005. Précis de didactique – Devenir professeur de langue. Paris : Ellipses. Tardieu, C. 2005. L’épreuve de didactique aux concours. L’évaluation en langues. Paris : Ellipses. Collection CAPES/Agrégation langues.
Submission guidelines
Complete contributions should be sent directly, as there is no preliminary selection of proposals.
They may be written in French or English. Manuscripts (between 6,000 and 10,000 words) addressing one of the subjects above, will respect the style sheet available on-line (http://edlple.simplesite.com/438385492).
The manuscripts should be sent by email
before 30 June 2019
to edl@lairdil.fr to be published in issue number 33 of EDL/FLLTR that will appear at the end of the year 2019.
Scientific committee
- David Banks (Université de Brest),
- Khadoudja Belkhenchir (Université Oran - Es Sénia, Algérie),
- Jean-Claude Bertin (Université du Havre),
- Marie-Christine Deyrich (Université de Bordeaux),
- Carmen Fonseca (Université de Huelva, Espagne),
- Pierre Frath (Université de Reims),
- Oksana Gavrilyuk (Université de Krasnoïark, Russsie),
- Anna Gvozdeva (Université d'état de Koursk, Russie),
- Hélène Knoerr (Université d’Ottawa, Canada),
- Jean-Rémi Lapaire (Université de Bordeaux),
- Lutz Küester (Université Humboldt, Berlin, Allemagne),
- Marie-Françoise Narcy-Combes (Université de Nantes),
- Jean-Paul Narcy-Combes (Université Sorbonne Nouvelle - Paris 3),
- Sylvie Ngilla McGraw (University of San Diego, USA),
- Christian Puren (Université de Saint-Etienne),
- Françoise Raby (Université de Toulouse), Claire Tardieu Université Sorbonne Nouvelle - Paris 3),
- Annalisa Zanola (Université de Brescia, Italie), Bin Zou (Université Xi'an Jiaotong, Chine - Liverpool University, GB).
Subjects
- Modern (Main category)
- Mind and language > Education > Educational sciences
- Periods > Modern > Twenty-first century
- Mind and language > Epistemology and methodology
Places
- Toulouse, France (31)
Date(s)
- Sunday, June 30, 2019
Attached files
Keywords
- evaluation, langues, enseignement, recherche
Contact(s)
- Nicole Décuré
courriel : nicole [dot] decure [at] univ-tlse3 [dot] fr
Reference Urls
Information source
- Nicole Décuré
courriel : nicole [dot] decure [at] univ-tlse3 [dot] fr
License
This announcement is licensed under the terms of Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal.
To cite this announcement
« Evaluation(s) », Call for papers, Calenda, Published on Wednesday, December 26, 2018, https://doi.org/10.58079/11l3
