Schedule: 2009-09-11 (15:00 - 15:45)
Parallel Session 2 (Room A-34)

Title: WebCEF: An innovative way to benchmark your language evaluation skills for oral proficiency
Authors: Antje Neuhoff
Abstract: Every language instructor is familiar with the uncomfortable feeling after an oral exam when s/he cannot really present evidence why the students’ performance should be rated with an “excellent” rather then a “very good” or “good” (or the other way round). There is a great deal of subjectivity involved and many teachers agree that oral skills are the most difficult to evaluate.

A few years ago, we were provided with the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEF). One of the objectives was (is) to establish more standardisation to all individuals involved in language teaching and testing throughout Europe. Within the CEF, scales for successive stages of learning were developed. They are designed to set clear standards to be attained and for evaluating results in an internationally comparable manner.

But however carefully the scales have been formulated, many instructors still find overlaps and ambiguities so that it is extremely difficult for newcomers to work with the CEF scales as such. And as described earlier, experienced instructors also may want to check how their evaluations compare with those of colleagues within their institution, on a national or even European level. Consequently, there has been a growing need for commonly recognised benchmarking of language skills.

WebCEF, a European consortium of seven higher education institutions from 7 EU countries, has been addressing this need by developing tools and services to facilitate online collaboration amongst language teachers. In the “showcase” of the WebCEF internet portal, the user finds assessed and annotated samples of video recordings of learners performing comparable tasks at different CEF levels. The assessment scales are taken from the CEF. Thus, the “showcase” can help teachers to acquire a better understanding of the scales and descriptors in the CEF.

The central feature of WebCEF, however, is the online assessment tool which is linked with the WebCEF portal. After registering on the site, the WebCEF user becomes a member of one or more groups. Within a group, members can upload recordings and can assess, annotate and review their own and each other’s recordings. This way, users have access to multiple assessments within their own group(s). Group members, however, are able to invite other colleagues to become a member of their group to share their assessments with teachers (and learners) across Europe. The application as well as all community features of WebCEF are entirely open; information on how to become an active participant is given on the website www.webcef.eu.

In the talk, the philosophy of WebCEF with its didactic model will be explained and the showcase as well as the assessment tool will be demonstrated.
Keywords: Common European Framework of reference; Assessment of oral proficiency; Online assessment of oral production

Main topic: Assessment, testing, feedback and guidance in CALL

Biodata: Director of Multimedia Language Centre at Dresden University of Technology, Germany
Type of presentation Paper presentation

Paper category Research & Development

Target educational sector Higher education

Language of delivery English

EU-funded project Yes

Schedule:	2009-09-11 (15:00 - 15:45) Parallel Session 2 (Room A-34)
Title:	WebCEF: An innovative way to benchmark your language evaluation skills for oral proficiency
Authors:	Antje Neuhoff
Abstract:	Every language instructor is familiar with the uncomfortable feeling after an oral exam when s/he cannot really present evidence why the students’ performance should be rated with an “excellent” rather then a “very good” or “good” (or the other way round). There is a great deal of subjectivity involved and many teachers agree that oral skills are the most difficult to evaluate. A few years ago, we were provided with the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEF). One of the objectives was (is) to establish more standardisation to all individuals involved in language teaching and testing throughout Europe. Within the CEF, scales for successive stages of learning were developed. They are designed to set clear standards to be attained and for evaluating results in an internationally comparable manner. But however carefully the scales have been formulated, many instructors still find overlaps and ambiguities so that it is extremely difficult for newcomers to work with the CEF scales as such. And as described earlier, experienced instructors also may want to check how their evaluations compare with those of colleagues within their institution, on a national or even European level. Consequently, there has been a growing need for commonly recognised benchmarking of language skills. WebCEF, a European consortium of seven higher education institutions from 7 EU countries, has been addressing this need by developing tools and services to facilitate online collaboration amongst language teachers. In the “showcase” of the WebCEF internet portal, the user finds assessed and annotated samples of video recordings of learners performing comparable tasks at different CEF levels. The assessment scales are taken from the CEF. Thus, the “showcase” can help teachers to acquire a better understanding of the scales and descriptors in the CEF. The central feature of WebCEF, however, is the online assessment tool which is linked with the WebCEF portal. After registering on the site, the WebCEF user becomes a member of one or more groups. Within a group, members can upload recordings and can assess, annotate and review their own and each other’s recordings. This way, users have access to multiple assessments within their own group(s). Group members, however, are able to invite other colleagues to become a member of their group to share their assessments with teachers (and learners) across Europe. The application as well as all community features of WebCEF are entirely open; information on how to become an active participant is given on the website www.webcef.eu. In the talk, the philosophy of WebCEF with its didactic model will be explained and the showcase as well as the assessment tool will be demonstrated.
Keywords:	Common European Framework of reference; Assessment of oral proficiency; Online assessment of oral production
Main topic:	Assessment, testing, feedback and guidance in CALL
Biodata:	Director of Multimedia Language Centre at Dresden University of Technology, Germany
Type of presentation	Paper presentation
Paper category	Research & Development
Target educational sector	Higher education
Language of delivery	English
EU-funded project	Yes