Transforming Language Education

Learning a new language is perhaps the ultimate workout for the brain. With functional brain imaging, neuroscientists can see brain activity involved in listening, understanding, speaking and remembering. My group's research shows how brain activity during learning, and during overnight sleep after learning, contributes to learning new words, figuring out grammar and gaining fluency. I will offer ten neuroscientific facts about language learning and the brain with implications for education. Based on these, I will offer brain-inspired tips for language teachers.

Dr Matt Davis is a programme leader in Hearing and Language at the Medical Research Council, Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit in Cambridge, UK. His research group uses methods from psycholinguistics, cognitive science and neuroscience to study the brain systems that allow people to successfully hear, understand and learn language. His research findings have been applied in assessing spoken language comprehension in brain injured and non-conscious individuals and in designing rehabilitation programmes for cochlear implant users. He has provided neuroscientific input to language education policy discussions in the UK Government Department of Education.

I will present a model for thinking about language education which takes account of both the ‘macro’ policy level and the ‘micro’ level of classroom teaching, and emphasises the role of formal and informal assessment in delivering effective teaching and learning.

This Learning Oriented Assessment model is based on extensive research, including large-scale surveys at national and international levels, as well as long-term impact studies. It offers an approach which supports the effective implementation of large-scale educational reform, while enabling teachers and learners to make more systematic use of formal and informal evidence to ensure that teaching is sensitive to the specific needs of each learner.

My presentation will emphasise the importance of basing policy on insights into the learning process and of ensuring that language teaching enables each student to achieve the highest level that he or she is capable of, rather than simply aiming for statistical improvements.

Nick Saville is a member of the Cambridge English Senior Management Team and is responsible for directing the work of the Research and Validation Group. He holds a PhD from the University of Bedfordshire in language test impact, as well as degrees in Linguistics and in TEFL from the University of Reading. He has specialised in language assessment since 1987. Before joining Cambridge in 1989, he taught at the University of Cagliari, Italy, and managed test development projects in Tokyo.

In 2014, Nick was elected Manager of the Association of Language Testers in Europe (ALTE) and has close involvement with European initiatives, including the Council of Europe’s Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) and related ‘toolkit.’ He is also a member of the Board of Trustees for The International Research Foundation for English Language Education (TIRF). His current research interests include the development of models for investigating test impact, the implementation of quality management systems (QMS) in test development and validation, the uses of language assessment for migration and citizenship purposes, and the use of language corpora in test development and validation.

Watch Dr Nick Saville (Director Research & Validation, Cambridge English, UK) speaking at the Cambridge English Centenary Conference, UK, 7 September 2013

The results of the ‘European Survey of Language Competences’ (SurveyLang) highlighted a need for a more focused political approach to how to improve English language teaching and learning in Portugal. Among other decisions taken at the time, an external English language assessment compulsory at the end of 9th grade was agreed as an innovative solution - both educationally and financially.

I will present the Key for Schools Portugal project (KfS) as an integrated approach that includes the assessing of an entire cohort of students, a comprehensive teacher training programme and the opportunity to make an internationally recognised foreign language certificate accessible to Portuguese students, regardless of their socio-economic status or place of living. The KfS Portugal project was also an opportunity to include a ‘Speaking’ component in a national assessment context in Portugal for the first time in more than 40 years, so far, with very promising impact both on students and on Portuguese speaking examiners.

From a financial perspective, the KfS Portugal Project also triggered a unique and new financial approach to supporting an educational project in the Portuguese public educational system. Private sponsorship, together with parents’ commitment to enroll their children for a KfS certificate, made it possible without major costs to the public budget.

Helder Sousa President of the Executive Board – IAVE, I.P.

IAVE, I.P. is the Portuguese Assessment Board and is responsible for delivering the national exams and tests for elementary, lower and upper secondary levels.

Created in January 2014, IAVE is the successor to GAVE (1997-2013), the former national assessment board. Apart from external assessment, IAVE manages several teacher training programmes in assessment and general marking. The Institute's mission also includes organizing the Portuguese participation and assessment results analysis for PISA, TIMSS, TIMSS Advanced and PIRLS and other such research projects and initiatives.

In 2010-2011, GAVE managed the SurveyLang study for Portugal and since then there has been a consistent concern and need to monitor and improve the quality of English language teaching and learning. These concerns led to the implementation of Key for Schools for all students in the 9th grade of their state education in 2014. What has been referred to as the Key for Schools Portugal project is part of an ambitious new long term programme to deliver other tests which provide higher levels of certification, like Preliminary for Schools of First for Schools in the near future.

Helder Sousa is President of the IAVE Executive Board.

He completed his Geography Degree in 1980 and has worked as a Geography and Social Sciences teacher for more than 20 years.

In 1988, Helder began working for the Ministry of Education primarily in the department of Curriculum and Assessment. In this specific field, he has worked as an item writer as well as national exams coordinator (Geography) between 1988 and 2004.

In 2004, he became Assessment Director of GAVE, then General Director in 2010 and then President of the Executive Board of IAVE in January 2014.

My talk is divided into three main parts. In the first I will focus on language policies and strategic objectives in Italy (competence based approach, innovative methodologies, definition of trainers' and teachers' profiles, importance of foreign language certificates). In the second part I will deal with the difficulties in implementing language policies. I will focus on CLIL/EMILE as a change agent in education since it enables integration in the curriculum and benefits cross-section and cross-curricular dialogue, thus offering an example of an innovative educational model. In the third part I will analyse key areas to be faced by different actors in implementing language policies – the identification of needs and resources, training and qualifications for teachers, the development of classroom applications, and certification for students and teachers. To conclude, I will focus on three guiding criteria for "managing the change" – convergence, flexibility, and sustainability.

Gisella Langé is a Foreign Languages Inspector with the Italian Ministry of Education, advising on internationalisation and foreign languages. A researcher, writer and consultant on issues relating to foreign language teaching, curriculum development and intercultural education, she has vast experience of working on culture and language learning solutions and web-based teacher training. An expert within the European Commission and the Council of Europe, thematic groups, studies and projects she has been involved with include language policies, early language learning and bilingual education. She is currently involved in National Groups organised by the Ministry of Education on Primary teacher training, National Guidelines and CLIL.

Watch Professor Gisella Langé (Foreign Languages Inspector, Ministry of Education, Italy) speaking at the Cambridge English Centenary Conference, UK, 7 September 2013

Spain is made up of 17 Regional Governments plus two autonomous cities. It has a number of dialects and there are at least four co-official languages. While each region decides on their language policy and how to implement it, the recent law which all autonomous regions must adhere to is the Ley Organica para la Mejora del la Calidad Educativa (LOMCE) and this states that “foreign language and plurilingualism is a priority, because of the importance of languages in a globalized society, reinforced by the European Union’s goals for education”. 

However, the teaching and integration of two or more languages in the curriculum via bilingual or plurilingual programmes is not new in Spain with some programmes running for five years or more. I will present a summary of some of these bilingual and plurilingual programmes in Spain and the challenges they face with some examples from other purilingual contexts around the world. I will then move on to highlight some of the features of these programmes which are contributing to their success in contexts where Regional Governments are making language skills a priority in response to the need to become an economically competitive region nationally and internationally.   

Belinda Cerdá is Head of Assessment Services for Spain and Portugal for Cambridge Assessment English. Before taking on this role, she was based in Cambridge where she started off supporting the test production process of a number of high stakes exams. In recent years, she has managed Educational Language Reform projects in countries such as Kazakhstan, Colombia, Chile, Italy, Mongolia, Spain and Portugal in collaboration with Ministries of Education and other educational organisations. 

Before working for Cambridge English, she was an English language teacher trainer in the UK and Germany working with teachers from around the world to develop their skills as part of both in-service and pre-service teacher training courses. She has twenty years experience in English Language Teaching, teacher training, curriculum design and assessment in the UK, Spain and Germany. She has written teacher support material including the Face2Face Elementary Teacher’s Book and teacher development DVDs. She holds an MA in ELT & Applied Linguistics from King’s College London focusing on Computer Adaptive Testing and her research interests include bilingualism and identity.

Watch the video of Mercedes Marín (Deputy Director Innovation Programmes, Comunidad de Madrid, Spain) and Emilio Díaz Muñoz (General Secretary, FERE-CECA Madrid, Spain) speaking at the Cambridge English Centenary Conference, UK, 7 September 2013

To reach their maximum potential and to achieve the best results for their students, teachers need not only pre-service training but also professional development opportunities and support throughout their career. Teachers need support in identifying the best ways to achieve excellence – which kinds of development will be most useful and appropriate at each stage of their career journey?

In this session, I will discuss how teachers’ skills can be developed and kept up to date. It will introduce the Cambridge English Teaching Framework which defines the competences that teachers need at each stage of their careers, from Foundation, through Developing to Proficient and Expert stages of teaching. At each stage new competences are developed through reflective practice, training and development workshops and professional development activities with other teachers.

Michael Carrier is Director of Strategic Partnerships for Cambridge English.

He has worked in language education for many years as a teacher, trainer, author and director in Germany, Italy, Poland, UK and USA, and has lectured worldwide.

He was formerly Executive Director of Eurocentres USA, CEO of the International House World network and Director, English Language Innovation at the British Council.

He has written many ELT materials and is Technology Editor of Modern English Teacher. He serves on many ELT Boards including ELTJ, EAQUALS, TIRF and ICC, and is a member of the RSA, IOD and Society of Authors.

Bilingual teaching implies more than just changing the language of instruction, since it puts the language at the very centre of the teaching-learning process without therefore becoming extended language teaching. This increased weight given to language has important implications for the general approach to teaching and for the role of teachers in this context. In this presentation I will try to briefly outline what these changes consist of, highlighting at the same time the reasons why they may pose challenges which need to be addressed if we want to assure the quality of bilingual education and take full advantage of its potential.

Ana Halbach is a full-time lecturer at the Universidad de Alcalá (Spain), where she directs the Master’s in Teaching English as a Foreign Language. Her main research interests lie in ELT methodology and teacher training, and her work has, in the past years, increasingly focused on bilingual education. She is currently involved in a research project on the development of literacy skills in content teaching in CLIL contexts financed by the Council of Europe. Ana also works as a teacher trainer for various institutions, and has published widely in the field.

In my book ’The non-native teacher’ (1994), I argued that non-native-speaking teachers of English were unable to emulate native speakers in terms of their English-language competence. I also claimed, on the other hand, that non-natives were in possession of certain attributes that could well offset their linguistic handicap. To prove my point I put forward two sets of hypotheses. Although partly based on empirical evidence, ’The non-native teacher’ received mixed responses at the time of its publication and afterwards.

In addition to briefly presenting the gist of the book and its aftermath, this lecture gives a brief overview of developments that have since taken place both in the native/non-native dilemma and in ELT in general. With a new paradigm looming large, I propose that a fundamental rethink of steps to be taken in language policy and practice is required. My ideas are specified in a 12-point action plan for deliberation.

Péter Medgyes, CBE, is Professor Emeritus of Applied Linguistics and Language Pedagogy. During his career he has been a schoolteacher, teacher trainer, vice rector, deputy state secretary and ambassador of Hungary. He has been a plenary speaker in 45 countries and is author of numerous books and articles published both in Hungary and abroad, including The Non-Native Teacher (Macmillan, 1994, winner of the Duke of Edinburgh Book Competition), Laughing Matters (Cambridge University Press, 2002) and Golden Age: Twenty Years of Foreign Language Education in Hungary (National Textbook Publishing Company, 2011). In 2014, he was elected incoming (vice) president of IATEFL.

Watch Péter Medgyes (Eötvös Loránd University, Hungary) speaking at the Cambridge English Centenary Conference, UK, 7 September 2013