Moving From a Monolingual to Multilingual Language Construct in Assessing Young Learners' Language Development

• In Event: 66.040 - Exploring the Linguistic Repertoires of Multilingual Children in Kindergarten

Abstract

Objectives/purposes:

Within Canada, the province of Ontario has led the way in education reform to support the teaching and learning needs of ELLs. The Ontario Ministry of Education has addressed the need to put adequate procedures in place to: (1) ensure that students whose first language is not English are provided with the programs and services they require; and (2) measure and report on the effectiveness of ESL/ELD programs. Foremost among these aims has been the system-wide implementation of the Steps to English Proficiency (STEP) language assessment framework for students in grades 1-12. Importantly, both English as a Second Language (ESL) teachers and classroom teachers are using the STEP framework to support students. However, the STEP framework does not address the role of languages other than English, nor how students’ multilingualism can be foundational as both a scaffold for assessment and a resource for ongoing instruction and assessment. This paper engages with these issues, drawing on current perspectives in applied linguistics to examine possibilities for assessing language development, particularly in the early years.

Perspectives/Theoretical Framework:

Significant research in Ontario and other jurisdictions, including the United States, Europe, and elsewhere highlights the positive contributions that students’ home languages can bring to education: scaffolding new learning; promoting metalinguistic awareness; developing biliteracy; and valorizing students’ cultural and linguistic identities (Cenoz & Gorter, 2015; Creese & Blackledge, 2015; Garcia, 2009; Garcia & Wei, 2014; Pulinx, Van Avermaet & Agirdag, 2016; Van Avermaet et al., 2018). Importantly, this research positions multilingualism as the norm and emphasizes the complex and dynamic language practices of multilingual speakers. For assessment, recent studies suggest that taking a multilingual approach contributes to better performance and more accurately reflects the knowledge of multilingual students, allowing teachers to make more appropriate inferences about students’ teaching and learning needs (Heugh, Prinsloo & Makgamatha, 2017; Leung & Scarino, 2016; Rea-Dickens, Khamis & Olivero, 2011; Schissel, DeKorne & Lopez-Gopar, 2018).

Methods and Data Sources:

Drawing on data gathered during two validation studies of the STEP framework (Stille, Jang, Wagner, 2016; Jang et al., 2015; Jang, Wagner, Stille, 2011a; 2011b), it was identified that the framework is based on a monolingual rather than a multilingual language construct. Subsequent fieldwork in relation to STEP with ESL teachers across 16 school districts (Stille et al, 2016) highlighted that this foundation has consequences for teaching and learning beyond English language assessment. Importantly, this research found that teachers were developing ad-hoc strategies to include students’ multilingual competence as a functional resource in the classroom.

Results and Significance:

Reflecting on the ongoing development of KSTEP, and samples of children’s oral language in Ontario’s play and inquiry based kindergarten learning context, the paper articulates opportunities and challenges for engaging with children’s multilingualism in instruction and assessment. The paper suggests a multilingual approach to assessing young learners may incorporate students’ multilingual competence for cognitive processing and learning new knowledge, supporting metalinguistic awareness and language development. The paper concludes with suggestions for developing a systematic approach to multilingual assessment in the early years.

Author

• Saskia Stille, York University