EFL in Europe: Challenges for Empirical Research

• In Event: Conceptualizing and Assessing English as a Foreign Language: The European Perspective

Abstract

This paper aims to give an overview of key challenges facing researchers in English as a foreign language (EFL) in the European context, focusing particularly on Germany and Switzerland. Using the dynamic model of educational effectiveness (Creemers & Kyriakides, 2008) as a point of reference, we introduce our audience to systemic aspects of EFL education in Europe. We will then elucidate how empirical researchers within this system operationalize “good teaching”, how they conceptualize individual background factors (e.g. motivation), and what assessment techniques they use to evaluate learning outcomes.
According to the European Union, foreign language competences represent key qualifications for employability, science and business in modern knowledge-societies, specifying that every citizen should be able to use three community languages (European Commission, 2008). Researchers working on EFL must thus ask themselves (a) how to assess educational outcomes in a way that is objective, reliable, and valid, yet non-reductive regarding the tasks and competences included in the assessment; (b) how to account for the different factors predicting learner success at individual, school and system level; and (c) how to translate good research into good practice.
Nation-wide assessments of learners’ English competences in Europe have focused mainly on reading and listening skills. For Germany, results show large differences in student achievement by school type in year 9, with the top third of the learner population acquiring solid communicative competences, yet with the bottom third failing even to master basic skills in English (Köller, Knigge et al., 2010; Leucht, Frenzel et. al., 2010). Such data underscores the risks of students leaving school without the basic competences for a successful life.
Beyond such assessment questions, this paper will focus on aspects of high quality EFL teaching. By what methods, we will ask, can learners achieve the high standards for the EU, and what innovations are need in classroom instruction and teacher education to make these happen? Key elements according to EFL research would be use of the foreign language by teachers and learners, timely feedback from teachers and peers, use of varied texts and media as input materials and explicit focus on learning and communication strategies (Ellis, 2008, Oxford, 1990). In the main section of this paper, we will give an overview of empirical research on the effectiveness of these factors from the European context, and outline areas for further study.
One main challenge, especially in the upper levels of secondary education, is fostering writing competences, which is key for learners’ employability (Keller, 2013). This is the main focus of the MEWS project, which will figure in all the empirical papers in this session. In introducing MEWS, we will focus both on teaching methods used in Europe for fostering essay writing, and on new methods for measuring the outcomes validly and objectively. In an effort to make this leap, European research groups have started to co-operate with researchers in USA in order to apply and evaluate modern artificial intelligence (AI)-based techniques (automated essay evaluation), in addition to human raters.

Authors

• Stefan Daniel Keller, University of Applied Sciences of Northwestern Switzerland

• Olaf Koeller, Leibniz Institute for Science and Math Education