Abstract
In Chile, as in other countries that have been following an international trend the past decades, the age children start learning English has lowered. So, it has become imperative that teachers acquire the proper knowledge to instruct these young learners. However, it is common to find in language classrooms across the country teachers who do not have such training. This reality creates challenges in areas such as assessment, materials design, and professional development. This chapter presents a study that explores how Chilean teachers of English without previous experience or training in Teaching English to Young Learners (TEYL) assess children in primary schools. Through an online survey, data was collected from 56 participants from the central zone of the country. The findings of this study are in line with those of previous studies conducted in different countries over the world, which suggests that the main issues regarding TEYL are cross-cultural.
TopIntroduction
During the last decades, many countries have decided to lower the age of instruction of English as a second or foreign language (Nunan, 2003; Enever et al, 2009). Therefore, teaching English to young learners has become an increasingly important area. However, decisions regarding education policies have been made with an uncritical acceptance of the assumption that the younger children are, the better it is to teach them another language (Butler, 2009). These uninformed policy decisions have posed several challenges, particularly the lack of teachers trained to work with young learners (Nunan, 2003; Rixon, 2013): a challenge that has been commonly addressed by recurring to teachers that have no training working with children, or to primary teachers with insufficient command of the English language. All this in spite of the extensive research that has shown that superficial solutions like these, have led to further challenges, such as the need for a curriculum, materials and assessment design (McKay, 2006; Rixon, 2013; Copland & Garton, 2014; Barahona, 2016).
The issue of young learners has received considerable critical attention during the last decades. Nowadays, it has become imperative that teachers acquire the proper knowledge to instruct young learners. However, in language classrooms worldwide it is still common to find teachers who do not have such training. And a further difficulty is faced when the time comes to assessing young learners.
In Chile, research about English language teaching is focused on the beliefs and perceptions of pre- and in-service teachers. A search of the literature reveals that only a few studies have focused on the instruction of young learners in the particular context (Inostroza, 2015; Barahona, 2016; Avalos & Bascopé, 2017). This shows the need for more information about teaching practices with young learners and highlights the importance of the contribution of the present research.
This chapter reports on a study about how Chilean teachers of English assess English language learning in primary schools, despite having no training or experience teaching young learners. It is estimated that this study will contribute to a deeper understanding of teaching practices and young learners with a focus on assessment in the primary years.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Young Learners: Children between the ages of five and twelve years old.
Paper-and-Pencil Tests: A traditional for of assessment. A type of test that is printed on a piece of paper and that is answered in the same paper with a pencil.
TBLT: Task-based language teaching.
CPD: Continuous professional development. This can be any type of course of study in order to deepen one’s knowledge about a subject. It can be an online course or seminar, a diploma, a master’s degree, etc.
CLT: Communicative language teaching.
Teacher Training: For the purposes of this chapter, teacher training is understood as the training teachers have that allows them to teach young learners.
Teacher Collaboration: Any type of contact between two or more teachers with the purpose of reflect or discuss their practice. It can be face to face or in online groups or message boards.