1. Assessing Young Learners
By: Penny McCay
Silvia Andrea Tarazona
Natalia Forero González

2. 
 Young Learner:
students attending to the
first seven years of
formal schooling. (aged
5-13).
 Bilingual Learners:
Students who are
proficient in two
languages.
Some Key Concepts
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3.  High stakes
 Low stakes
 External assessment
 Stakeholders
 Diagnostic assessment
 On-the-run assessment
Key concepts
Image retrived from: www.mhastakeholders.com

4. 
 Foreign Language Learning: Learning a language that is
rarely heard outside the
classroom.
 Second Language Learning: Learning a language to
communicate in a country
where the majority of people
speak it since birth.
Image retrieved from: www.poliglotti4.edu.co

5. 
 age
 Appropiatness of curriculum
 Language proficiency of teacher
 Teacher s teaching skills
 Exposure to the target language
Expected Learning outcomes
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6. 

7. 
 Young learners in the upper school years are
moving to Piaget s formal operational stage.
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8. 
 The attention span of
young learners .
YL are developing
abilities to think in
new ways.
Cognitive Growth
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9. 
Cognitive Growth
5 to 7 years
old
8 to 10 years old 11 to 13 years
old
Students learn
by direct
experiences.
Students are
trying to
manipulate
ideas, but direct
experience is still
very important.
It is possible to
use the L2 to
talk about recent
events, plans for
the future and
career
aspirations

10. 
 It is important to take into
account the stage of
delevolpment for
appropiate assessment.
 Assessment should take
place in a quiet setting.
 Assessing through team
games .
Assessing Young Learners During
Cognitive Growth
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11. 
 Socioeconomic and
cultural background
influence children´s
individual experience of
the world.
 They start developing a
possitive or negative
concept of self.
Emotional and Social Growth
Retrieved from: www.parenting.com

12. 
 Children start developing independence.
 School years:
deal with hostility,dominance
and friendship.
Interact with peers to lead and to be lead.
to hide anxiety
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13. 
 In this stage students
need: love, security, and
recognition to function in
groups.
 Build students social skills.
Emotional and Social Growth
Retrieved from: www.population.org

14. 
 Take into account students likes and interests.
 Peer influence may affect the reaction to certain
tasks.
 Assessment should involve cultural-based topics and
tasks.
 Environment should be “ psychologically safe”.
 Tasks can involve movement and play.
 Instructions and reviews should be clear.
 Feedback needs to be immediate and friendly.
Assessment During Emotional and
Social Growth

15. 
Physical Growth
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16. 
 Development of motor skills:
1. Gross-motor skills: run, climb,
balance.
2. Fine-motor skills: write, cut, draw.
Implies hand-eye coordination.
Retrieved from: www.preschoolactivities.com

17. 
 Physical activity to accompain language-related
response.
Assessing Young Learners During
Physical Growth
5 to 7 years old 9 to 13 years old
Assessment tasks should
involve playing since they
incorporate fantasy, reality
and fun.
They get tired more easily
sitting than moving.
Physical growth needs to take
into account assessment tasks
in terms of tiredeness and
hand-eye coordination
Involve safe and physical
activities to assess.

18. 
Literacy Skills
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• Writing is helped through
drawings in the first years.
• Children are developing
understanding about how
reading and writing work.
image retrieved from: www.voyaprenderingles.com

19. 
Literacy Skills
5 to 7 years old 8 to 10 years old 11 to 13 years old
Children have
started to write, with
well developed oral
skills in L1.
Stdents start to
organize ideas to
write.
Students can read
and write about
fiction and non-
fiction and start to
develop critical
thinking.

20. 
5 to 7 years old 8 to 10 years old 11 to 13 years old
Students understand
that the print “tells”
the story.
Learners begin to self-
correct errors.
Students increase their
silent reading rate.
Students develop
basic vocabulary and
can read slowly.
They are
understanding how
literacy works.
Students still combine
drawings with words.
Students start reading
and writing for
specific purposes.
Learners understand
that people can
interpret in different
ways the same
material.
Students can read for
pleasure.
Literacy skills

21. 
 Text that students can
read and really
understand.
 Set clear expectation for
the writing tasks.
 Tasks should help them to
feel good and to
encourage creativity.
Assessing Young Learners´
Literacy Skills
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22. 
 Students self-
esteem is strongly
affected by
experiences at
school.
Vulnerability
Retrieved from: www. trasfonounisucre.blogspot.com

23. 
• Assessment should give
student a sense of
progression.
• Friendly feedback to
avoid loss of motivation.
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24. 
Not every child develops the same way, and all
dimensions do not develop at the same time.
Rate of development
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www.feminainfame.com.ar

25. 
Beliefs and Practices
of Elementary
Education
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26. 
 Gardner, 1993. Established 8 different types of intelligences.
Multiple Intelligences
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27. 
In constructivist education,
children’s learning skills are
promoted; children are
encouraged to become active
learners through a two-way
communication of ideas with
other people, with other
peers and with teachers.
Constructivist Education
Retrieved from: www.banaajam.com

28. 
 skills or procedures are
thoroughtly learned.
 Range of examples with a
common structure.
 The new tasks appears
similar to the old ones.
Scaffolding Support
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29. 
The Power of
Assessment
on Young
Learners
lives.

30. 
 Provide meaningful and
appropriate information about
a child’s language use
ability, and avoid bias against
any child because of that
child’s characteristics .
Fair Assessment
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31. 
 Gives educators feedback in the teaching learning
process.
 Provides information to administrators.
 Provides information to parents about their children.
 Gives students knowledge on their own progress.
Effective Assessment

32. 
 It sets power relationships that
become established and habitual
(Foucault, 1979).
.
Assessment is not effective
when….
www.privateschools.com

33. 

34. 
Pedadogic Purposes Administrative Purposes
Aim to promote learning,
takes into account students
needs.
Furnishing information
about students and schools
performances for
managment and account
goals.
• It is believed that administrative purposes prevail over pedagogical
standards .
• Assessment is related to standards :
Content Standards Performance Standards

35. 
BIAS FOR BEST
www.mirror.co.uk
• Possitve feedback
to motivate them
to succeed.
• Appropiate tasks
and instructions

36. http://dawningyearsacademy.com/services/preschool/

37. Language use ability, the ability to use language communicatively
http://www.visualphotos.com/

38. • understand new language.
• respond appropriately to
directives.
• create their own
utterances.
• use language appropriately
in non-rehearsed
interactions.
http://www.futureleaderacademy.com

39. • understand extended
teacher input and interaction
• interact with peers,
teachers and others
• read and write in the
language
• employ language learning
strategies
http://archive.dailycal.org/

41. ‘Learning how to mean’
http://diversidadsociocultural.bligoo.com

42. The role of speaking and silence
http://umsenglishdepartment.
blogspot.com
Interpersonal relationships
http://www.johngoodpast
ure.com
Rules of politeness
http://carmetamoran.com/?
www.qualvu.com
Non-verbal behavior

43. Language is ‘the most salient way we
have of establishing and advertising our
social identities’
The nature of the classroom determines how
well children develop their new identities in
the second language
http://beyx.deviantart.com

44. The discourse of the classroom can be said to be made up of the social interaction
amongst participants. Learning the specific discourses of curriculum
content areas such as science, social studies, physical education and
mathematics.
http://tccl.rit.albany.edu

45. Include, at least, the following four features: a focus on meaning, interesting and engaging input
and interacting, selected opportunities to focus on form,
and a safe and supportive learning environment.http://www.samfordpines.com

46. Children do not simply absorb the language around them.
http://www.cleveland.com

47. • ‘use L1’ in order
to double-check
words or
expressions not
available in L2.
• ‘appeal for
assistance’.
• ‘build patterns’
Printes (1999)
Children in a foreign language situation:
https://engage.intel.com/
• The Silent period

48. Effective language
assessment builds up
children’s abilities to use
language in the full
meaning of the term.
Assessment and feedback
need to evoke positive
emotions in children about
language learning, about
themselves and about
others

49. Conclusions
• It is important to take into account students cognitve, social, emotional
and physical growth in order to design appropiate tasks for assessment.
• Assessment can have a possitive or a negative impact on students´
lives, reason why assessment must be valid and fair.
• L1 should be considered as a tool of reference for young students in their
process of learning a L2.
• Language learning is a social process rather than an individual process.
• Feedback is important to improve the learning process , to encourage and
motivate students in their learning process.
• Assessment not only affect learners, it also affects stakeholders in diferent
ways.

50. ACTIVITY
1. Disscuss in groups wheter the tasks suggested are
apprpiate or inapproapiate for young learners taking
into account:
• Age
• Cognitive development
• Social and emotional development
• Physical development
• Literacy development