We are happy to announce that the following renowned specialists have agreed to
participate in our conference and deliver plenary lectures:
Thomai Alexiou
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece
“When we change, everything changes”.
New insights in early EFL with research evidence from the EAN project in Greece
According to the new educational policy in Greece, the introduction of English in preschools is prioritised in line with plurilingualism and multicultural aspects of the classrooms on par with the 21st-century skills development. As of September 2021, EFL is introduced in all Greek preschools through a funded project called EAN. A fresh pedagogical and methodological framework is established, advancing international practices and catering for the holistic development of children, hence making early EFL a quality experience at preschool education.
In this presentation, the following aspects will be presented and discussed.
(i)The philosophy and main features of the project
(ii)The teacher training scheme
(iii)The process of developing educational materials for EFL pre-primary learners
(iv)The reported learning outcomes
The educational strategic design of EAN is based on a top-down and bottom-up approach, actively involving all stakeholders (policymakers, academics, education leaders, teachers, parents and children) in the process. Teacher training scheme addressed both to in-service EFL teachers and preschool teachers (approximately 18.000 participated) was designed and the positive impact of the EAN training scheme on teachers’ self-efficacy has been proved as statistically significant differences emerged. The EAN project supports teachers’ work through the provision of developmentally suitable CLIL educational scenarios (including more than 150 activities) that relate to the New Preschool Curriculum in Greece. Moreover, considering the central role children play in this process, their learning outcomes are investigated using various measurement tools, both quantitative and qualitative and revealed linguistic, cognitive and socio-emotional gains.
Nils Jäkel
University of Copenhagen, Denmark
A closer look at the long-term impact of Early Foreign Language Education
The long-term effects of early foreign language learning (EFLL) have been a topic of debate. Different interpretations have had considerable implications for curricular development and wider EFLL language policies.
More recently, the body of research on proficiency development from elementary to secondary school has been growing. I will reflect on recent research and its impact on current policy. However, collaborative research that transcends borders and moves beyond an evidence base of a selected few countries is crucial to move the field forward. Learning from practices in other educational contexts fosters a better understanding of the potential of early language learning.
Further, in research and practice, we need to address the interplay of EFLL success with learners’ individual differences, such as biological sex, heritage languages, socioeconomic status, and affective factors, across time. I will discuss the need to investigate the long-term development of affective factors, e.g., motivation and self-efficacy, within EFLL is key to ensuring high-quality language teaching that is responsive to learners' needs and fosters equitable opportunities for every student.
EFLL holds immense potential for educating students to become globally competent citizens who can thrive in an increasingly interconnected world. By nurturing the research-practice loop, we can maximize the long-term benefits of evidence-based teaching and ensure equitable language learning opportunities for all learners.
Ana Llinares
Autonomous University of Madrid, Spain
Early Language Learning in the context of the SDG ‘Quality Education’
Quality Education is one of the United Nations sustainable development goals (SDGs) for 2030, with the main objective of ensuring inclusivity and quality education for all. But what are the specific challenges for Early Language Learning and how can these be addressed by the research community? In this session, I will focus on some of the targets proposed by the UN for achieving the Quality Education SDG (namely, literacies, critical thinking and teamwork) and will address them in relation to Early Language Learning. Drawing on recent research carried out by the UAM-CLIL research group as well as on other studies, I will address the changing role of the target language where L2 disciplinary literacies and Content and Language Integrated Learning have gained momentum, also at early levels of schooling (e.g. Llinares & Nashaat-Sobhy, 2021). I will also address some myths about the risks of focusing on critical thinking and higher-order thinking skills with young L2 learners (e.g. Llinares & Nikula, 2023). Finally, I will problematize that the continuously growing multilingual and multiliteracy school settings require teamwork more than ever, where language teachers, content teachers and researchers work collaboratively on early language teaching and assessment (e.g. Morton & Nashaat-Sobhy, 2023).
Autonomous University of Madrid, Spain
Early Language Learning in the context of the SDG ‘Quality Education’
Quality Education is one of the United Nations sustainable development goals (SDGs) for 2030, with the main objective of ensuring inclusivity and quality education for all. But what are the specific challenges for Early Language Learning and how can these be addressed by the research community? In this session, I will focus on some of the targets proposed by the UN for achieving the Quality Education SDG (namely, literacies, critical thinking and teamwork) and will address them in relation to Early Language Learning. Drawing on recent research carried out by the UAM-CLIL research group as well as on other studies, I will address the changing role of the target language where L2 disciplinary literacies and Content and Language Integrated Learning have gained momentum, also at early levels of schooling (e.g. Llinares & Nashaat-Sobhy, 2021). I will also address some myths about the risks of focusing on critical thinking and higher-order thinking skills with young L2 learners (e.g. Llinares & Nikula, 2023). Finally, I will problematize that the continuously growing multilingual and multiliteracy school settings require teamwork more than ever, where language teachers, content teachers and researchers work collaboratively on early language teaching and assessment (e.g. Morton & Nashaat-Sobhy, 2023).
Marianne Nikolov
University of Pécs, Hungary
Age-appropriate Assessment for Learning in Early Foreign Language Programs
Over the past decades, due to parents’, teachers’, and other stakeholders’ enthusiasm, early foreign language (FL) programs have gained in popularity. Interest in modern foreign languages, especially English (EFL) in contexts where it is not an official language, have gone through multiple waves (Johnstone, 2009). Low achievements, mostly due to unrealistic expectations, a lack of appropriately educated and motivated teachers, and issues related to transition between programs, tended to lead to a decline in enthusiasm.
The most recent fourth wave can be characterized by four trends: (1) an exponential growth in the number of children learning English around the globe; (2) a shift in emphasis from fun activities with no specific language outcomes to assessing what young learners (YLs) can do in the target language; (3) programs involve not only school-age YLs between age 6 to 12 or 14, but also children between 2 and 5; and (4) content-based FL programs have also gained ground (Johnstone, 2010), thus increasing the time devoted to language learning.
In the first part of the presentation, I overview the recent shift to standards-based measurement of outcomes in formative and summative assessment. How stakeholders’ interest has moved away from approaches to YL assessment conceptualized as “fun and ease”, emphasizing anxiety-free positive testing experiences (Nikolov, 2016a, p. 4), towards accountability, and the need to define realistic, age-appropriate achievement targets (Johnstone, 2009; Nikolov, 2016b; Rixon, 2016). Many relevant ideas and frameworks were proposed for teaching and assessing YLs (e.g., Cameron, 2003; Inbar-Lourie & Shohamy, 2009, McKay, 2006); however, implementing them in age-appropriate ways can be challenging (Nikolov & Timpe-Laughlin, 2021).
In the second part, I discuss a few questions to outline where more research is needed: (1) What do we want to assess and why? What does the construct of YLs’ FL abilities comprise? (2) Who needs the test results, how are they used, and for what purposes? (3) How can diagnostic assessment scaffold YLs’ learning and inform teaching? (4) What learning-oriented task types and alternative assessments (e.g., self-assessment, Butler, 2022) can be conducive to FL learning? (5) How can gamification and digital technologies scaffold development? (7) What are the implications of young learners’ slow progress for assessment and maintaining their motivation (Mihaljević Djigunović & Nikolov, 2019)?
Agnieszka
Otwinowska-Kasztelanic
University of Warsaw, Poland
Children’s own voice in research?
Child bilinguals, qualitative data and quantitative outcomes
Child bilingualism research heavily relies on numerical data, which provide ‘rigorous’ and ‘credible’ results. Experiments, tests and parental questionnaires yield outcomes that can be generalised from samples to populations. On the other hand, SLA research often favours qualitative data, which are supposed to be more ‘nuanced’, ‘in-depth’ and 'contextualised' than quantitative results. Interviews, learners’ written reflections and narratives provide researchers with insights into language users’ subjectivity. Non-numerical data are then analysed primarily by non-statistical methods, such as content analysis. Can and should such qualitative methods also be introduced to child bilingualism studies? Should children be given their own voice in research?
In the talk, I will demonstrate that the qualitative and quantitative data analyses do not necessarily stand in opposition, but can be intimately related. I will present two studies on Polish child bilinguals, one carried out in the UK, in the context of natural language acquisition, and the other in the context of bilingual education in Poland. In both studies, qualitative language data (oral narratives or written reflections) were elicited directly from children. Then, content analysis was used, its results coded numerically and analysed statistically. I will demonstrate how quantitative analysis of qualitative narrative and reflective data revealed generalizable patterns in Polish bilingual children’s language acquisition and use. Finally, I will argue that both qualitative and quantitative data are necessary to expand our knowledge of how children develop and learn in bilingual contexts.