ASSESSING AND TRAINING LANGUAGE SKILLS WITH MOBILE TECHNOLOGIES AND METHODS

Measuring language learners’ skills is a challenging task. The European Council Assessment Grid provides the best framework with a range of levels of speaking, writing, listening, reading and conversation skills, but applying this on large student groups is often a near insurmountable task. The Grid’s descriptions of the typical language learner’s characteristics are useful for self-assessment or at best assessment of a small group of students in the span of a lesson. However, due to the 30 such descriptions the teacher has to remember and apply to a large group of students, effective and productive skill assessment is often a deeply missed element of language training.

This article suggests that a targeted and carefully planned application of student response technology in conjunction with classroom activity can be instrumental in diagnosing students’ skills effectively and even providing a post-diagnostic means of skills training. These are the indications of an ongoing pilot project at HiST Sør-Trøndelag University College in Norway, whose HiST Mobile software allows for individual student responses from handheld devices and an appropriately progressive methodology to promote learning.

Applying these tools in a two-step process, an initial diagnostic phase followed by a remedial phase in response to the results of the diagnosis, students and lecturers will be able to see the real status of the students’ skills and take appropriate steps to improve. Due to the participation engendered by mobile technology and BYOD training, this procedure is likely to reach more students than traditional training, since the ease with which students can make an initial investment in the process is dramatically increased. This, in combination with follow-up peer learning tasks, seems to promote skills learning effectively in class.