This paper reviews developments and future challenges in language policy, planning and assessment... more This paper reviews developments and future challenges in language policy, planning and assessment in Finland, where several important changes in legislation, curricula and assessment systems have recently taken place. Language proficiency requirement of immigrants and civil servants have been redefined, school curricula have been revised and new language examinations have been developed. The Common European Framework has been particularly influential. The paper also explores the tensions caused by changes, such as uncertainties in implementing new curricula in teaching and assessment, and differences between curricula and national examinations. The gate-keeping function of examinations also raises questions about social and educational consequences, especially for immigrants.
... on the study of program use, which we conducted with six learners of Finnish as a secondlangu... more ... on the study of program use, which we conducted with six learners of Finnish as a secondlanguage. ... Both are practiced in language classes, and the types of discourse that they call for ... Further-more, both tasks allowed the writers either to write as themselves or to assume a role ...
In this article, we report a case study on the Finnish as an L2 writing skill of weak writers in ... more In this article, we report a case study on the Finnish as an L2 writing skill of weak writers in grades 7–9 of comprehensive school. The study is based on writing performances of 25 students who each completed four different writing tasks (i.e., 100 texts) and a questionnaire about their background information, self-assessment of writing and literacy practices. First, we discuss target language writing proficiency in the school context from the curriculum and pedagogical point of view. Then we present the results of the questionnaire data and focus on the performances of writers with A1 writing proficiency on the CEFR scale. The findings show that students with low writing proficiency in fact also write in various out-of-school printed and media texts. Further, despite a weak proficiency level the students are at some point able to produce texts and make meanings syntactically and textually. Finally, we discuss some implications concerning migrants and literacy-oriented culture in F...
ABSTRACT The article examines student teachers' pedagogical language knowledge. The analy... more ABSTRACT The article examines student teachers' pedagogical language knowledge. The analysis is based on data from an applied task in which Finnish student teachers (n = 221) of 16 school subjects assessed second language (SL) learners' writing skills. First, we briefly discuss subject teachers' role in language and literacy teaching in the multilingual and multicultural classroom. Our findings indicate that the student teachers use a range of criteria but focus mainly on word-level assessment when assessing writing samples, and that their assessment orientation varies from technical to analytical. Finally, we discuss the challenges of developing teacher education to promote pedagogical language knowledge across the curriculum.
... Ehkä joidenkin teistä ensimmäiseksi mieleen tulleet kokemukset liittyvät arvioi-jana olemisee... more ... Ehkä joidenkin teistä ensimmäiseksi mieleen tulleet kokemukset liittyvät arvioi-jana olemiseen, siihen, miten on tullut lä-hiaikoina arvioitua opiskelijoiden ... luokitte-lee, jakaa ja arvioi tietoa, kertoo myös val-lan jakaantumisesta ja sosiaalisesta kontrol-lista (Eggleston 1990: 59). ...
This paper reviews developments and future challenges in language policy, planning and assessment... more This paper reviews developments and future challenges in language policy, planning and assessment in Finland, where several important changes in legislation, curricula and assessment systems have recently taken place. Language proficiency requirement of immigrants and civil servants have been redefined, school curricula have been revised and new language examinations have been developed. The Common European Framework has been particularly influential. The paper also explores the tensions caused by changes, such as uncertainties in implementing new curricula in teaching and assessment, and differences between curricula and national examinations. The gate-keeping function of examinations also raises questions about social and educational consequences, especially for immigrants.
... on the study of program use, which we conducted with six learners of Finnish as a secondlangu... more ... on the study of program use, which we conducted with six learners of Finnish as a secondlanguage. ... Both are practiced in language classes, and the types of discourse that they call for ... Further-more, both tasks allowed the writers either to write as themselves or to assume a role ...
In this article, we report a case study on the Finnish as an L2 writing skill of weak writers in ... more In this article, we report a case study on the Finnish as an L2 writing skill of weak writers in grades 7–9 of comprehensive school. The study is based on writing performances of 25 students who each completed four different writing tasks (i.e., 100 texts) and a questionnaire about their background information, self-assessment of writing and literacy practices. First, we discuss target language writing proficiency in the school context from the curriculum and pedagogical point of view. Then we present the results of the questionnaire data and focus on the performances of writers with A1 writing proficiency on the CEFR scale. The findings show that students with low writing proficiency in fact also write in various out-of-school printed and media texts. Further, despite a weak proficiency level the students are at some point able to produce texts and make meanings syntactically and textually. Finally, we discuss some implications concerning migrants and literacy-oriented culture in F...
ABSTRACT The article examines student teachers' pedagogical language knowledge. The analy... more ABSTRACT The article examines student teachers' pedagogical language knowledge. The analysis is based on data from an applied task in which Finnish student teachers (n = 221) of 16 school subjects assessed second language (SL) learners' writing skills. First, we briefly discuss subject teachers' role in language and literacy teaching in the multilingual and multicultural classroom. Our findings indicate that the student teachers use a range of criteria but focus mainly on word-level assessment when assessing writing samples, and that their assessment orientation varies from technical to analytical. Finally, we discuss the challenges of developing teacher education to promote pedagogical language knowledge across the curriculum.
... Ehkä joidenkin teistä ensimmäiseksi mieleen tulleet kokemukset liittyvät arvioi-jana olemisee... more ... Ehkä joidenkin teistä ensimmäiseksi mieleen tulleet kokemukset liittyvät arvioi-jana olemiseen, siihen, miten on tullut lä-hiaikoina arvioitua opiskelijoiden ... luokitte-lee, jakaa ja arvioi tietoa, kertoo myös val-lan jakaantumisesta ja sosiaalisesta kontrol-lista (Eggleston 1990: 59). ...
EUROCALL 2018 Future-proof CALL: Language learning as exploration and encounters, 2018
Current technological advancements are timely considering the present understanding of language a... more Current technological advancements are timely considering the present understanding of language as social and multimodal and language education as a process for which both the teacher and the learner are responsible. The role of language assessment, too, has expanded from measuring learning outcomes to promoting learning. There is little denial that technology provides affordances for assessment for learning, the social role of technology in assessment anticipated already twenty years ago (McNamara, 1998).
These developments are recognised in the Finnish National Curricula (e.g. FNBE, 2016) that emphasise the role of technology in the classroom and the role of assessment as guiding the learning process. The uniqueness of the Finnish context is in that Finland does not have standardised external examinations, with the exception of the Matriculation Examination (ME) at the end of the upper secondary school. Furthermore, teachers in Finland have an exceptional freedom as regards how to conduct classroom assessment. While these factors should foster technology-mediated assessment for learning, in actuality, summative assessment appears to dominate teachers’ thinking about assessment and classroom assessment practices (e.g., Välijärvi et al., 2009). However, if teachers' assessment literacy is not very high, which is not a problem unique to Finland (e.g., Hill, 2017), it could be even less so in technology-mediated assessment.
The three papers in this symposium explore whether and how technology shapes teachers’ understanding of and practices in assessment for learning in the context of Finland. First, Professor Huhta will provide an overview of the current developments in technology-mediated assessment in Finland with a particular focus on assessment for learning. Next, Dr. Leontjev, Professor Huhta, and Dr. Hildén will elaborate on the impact of the new digitised Matriculation Examination and the National Core Curriculum on the language classroom, discussing how ME expands ways that learners’ language abilities can be elicited in assessment but also increases the emphasis on summative assessment in the language classroom, basing the latter on the results of a recently conducted survey of upper secondary school teachers of English in Finland. In the final paper, Dr. Sulkunen and Professor Tarnanen will outline – with the focus on languages and literacies – the role of technology-mediated formative assessment in the classroom. Specifically, they will present some digital tools that have been used for supporting assessment process and teachers’ experiences of using these tools.
With the focus on assessment for learning, the symposium will aim to address the topic of the role of technology in the assessment culture and pedagogical practices in Finland. The audience will be invited to contribute to this discussion.
Uploads
Journal articles by Mirja Tarnanen
Papers by Mirja Tarnanen
These developments are recognised in the Finnish National Curricula (e.g. FNBE, 2016) that emphasise the role of technology in the classroom and the role of assessment as guiding the learning process. The uniqueness of the Finnish context is in that Finland does not have standardised external examinations, with the exception of the Matriculation Examination (ME) at the end of the upper secondary school. Furthermore, teachers in Finland have an exceptional freedom as regards how to conduct classroom assessment. While these factors should foster technology-mediated assessment for learning, in actuality, summative assessment appears to dominate teachers’ thinking about assessment and classroom assessment practices (e.g., Välijärvi et al., 2009). However, if teachers' assessment literacy is not very high, which is not a problem unique to Finland (e.g., Hill, 2017), it could be even less so in technology-mediated assessment.
The three papers in this symposium explore whether and how technology shapes teachers’ understanding of and practices in assessment for learning in the context of Finland. First, Professor Huhta will provide an overview of the current developments in technology-mediated assessment in Finland with a particular focus on assessment for learning. Next, Dr. Leontjev, Professor Huhta, and Dr. Hildén will elaborate on the impact of the new digitised Matriculation Examination and the National Core Curriculum on the language classroom, discussing how ME expands ways that learners’ language abilities can be elicited in assessment but also increases the emphasis on summative assessment in the language classroom, basing the latter on the results of a recently conducted survey of upper secondary school teachers of English in Finland. In the final paper, Dr. Sulkunen and Professor Tarnanen will outline – with the focus on languages and literacies – the role of technology-mediated formative assessment in the classroom. Specifically, they will present some digital tools that have been used for supporting assessment process and teachers’ experiences of using these tools.
With the focus on assessment for learning, the symposium will aim to address the topic of the role of technology in the assessment culture and pedagogical practices in Finland. The audience will be invited to contribute to this discussion.