Standards in English Language Teaching and Assessment

Plenary Speaker:
Penny McKay

Do Standards Have Something to Answer For? A Pedagogic Response to Standards.

Standards based curriculum and assessment frameworks are now widely used in education systems around the world, primarily because administrators like them. Standards have emerged out of a climate of managerialism, and tend to reflect the purposes of administrators which are to have clear statements about what should be learned, and then to establish whether this learning has taken place. From this information accountability can be pursued and other administrative decisions can be made. But how much do standards reflect pedagogic purposes? From a pedagogical perspective, what makes a good set of standards, and how should teachers respond to standards in a way that benefits teaching and learning? I will suggest that one way to respond is to be aware of the differences between short-term and long-term assessment. I will also discuss other ways that standards, which have provided some benefits to education in the macro sense, can be more aligned with pedagogy.

Bio

Penny McKay has a special interest in the teaching and assessment of English as a Second Language (ESL) and foreign language learners of all ages. She has published widely, and has coordinated three large ESL/bilingual projects in Australia, including a standards project developing the NLLIA ESL Bandscales. She has recently won a large research grant to validate the ESL Bandscales. Penny is a past President of the national Australian Council of Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages Associations (ACTA).

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Photo by Tony Quirke