Language Assessment Frameworks as Language Policy: Is a Multilingual Approach Possible?

• In Event: Centering Multilingualism for More Equitable Education Systems in Assessment: Global Perspectives

Abstract

Objectives
Reviewing language assessment policy and its implementation in Ontario, Canada, this presentation calls attention to how language proficiency is operationalized in English language proficiency (ELP) standards in ways that may institutionalize hierarchies among home, school and community language practices. Ontario education follows an assessment for learning model that prioritizes classroom-based assessment standards and teacher judgment in evaluating students’ expanding repertoires of practice. This approach to language assessment ensures that students are assessed the way they are taught in the classroom; however, it also places enormous responsibility on teachers to observe and assess students’ language, calling attention to how language proficiency is operationalized in assessments and used by teachers to interpret and make judgments about students’ bi/multilingual language practice.

Theoretical framework
Across Canadian classrooms, students and teachers actively engage a multitude of semiotic resources for communication and meaning-making. A translanguaging theory of language (Li Wei, 2018) is useful to make sense of the sociolinguistic context of this school-based language use, reflecting the strategic, dynamic language practices of bi/multilingual students; however, engaging with multilingualism in assessment is unaddressed in Canadian education. Whereas students’ multilingual competence may be a welcome resource for learning, the languages of instruction and assessment remain Canada's official languages (English/French).

Data sources/methods
Analyzing the development, use, and impact of STEP in Ontario education (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2012a, b), a system-wide English-language assessment framework for use with newcomer and Canadian-born bi/multilingual students as an illustrative case, we discuss how the implementation of language assessment frameworks create and enact language policy at the system, district and school level. We first outline key issues in school-based English language assessment and how approaches to assessment function to influence teaching and learning in significant ways, drawing attention to the possibilities and potential offered by multilingual approaches. Focusing on the role of educators in adopting, adapting, and shaping language assessment, we elaborate on the theoretical tenets of classroom-based language assessment (CBLA) and the theory of action behind the use and implementation of language proficiency assessment frameworks for increased equity in multilingual school contexts. We then describe the development and implementation of the STEP framework, focusing in particular on the nature of language proficiency operationalized by the framework and whether and how this orientation functions to potentially perpetuate social inequities and artificial divides between every day- and school-based language practices for bi/multilingual children and youth.

Findings/scholarly significance
Broadly, we aim to contribute to critical dialogue on language assessment practice and support the construction of more inclusive language in education policy to support institutional change and education reform (Author, 2019; Shohamy, 2006). Finally, drawing upon evidence from the implementation of the STEP framework in 16 school districts, we discuss possibilities to engage with multilingualism in CBLA to align language assessment practice with the sociolinguistic realities of Ontario classrooms and communities and to advocate for critical inquiry into the educational experiences of children and youth from migrant backgrounds in Ontario schools.

Authors

• Saskia Van Viegen, York University

• Eunice Eunhee Jang, University of Toronto