Session Information
09 SES 11 B, Language and Literacy Assessments (Part 1)
Paper Session
Contribution
“Cities are greenhouses for educational change“(ECER 2011) – this is true for economic, technical as well as social developments of society which typically have their offspring in urban areas. Since urbanization is increasing writing has become an indispensable qualification for both private and working life. However, in the field of written language education there is a need for further research as teaching written language is not yet efficient for all students – particularly in the rapidly changing urban areas, due to the linguistic and social diversity of students. One major demand in this field calls for reliable tests that allow measuring the development of a competency appropriately.
In the research project presented, the spelling competency as part of written language competence is at the fore. The spelling competency proves to be a predictor for the school career (Schneider, 2008). This is due to the fact that spelling competence is not the fulfillment of norms but it provides information on how the students reflect and analyze written language and its relation to spoken language. Therefore, the spelling competency is also closely related to reading competence as well as to the students` vocabulary and grammar. In order to measure the spelling competency in a profound way one cannot only count the number of mistakes. Instead, mistakes have to be inspected closely and in relation to the structure of written language. A theoretical linguistic frame is needed and moreover, the competency development has to be taken into consideration (Blatt et al, in print). Therefore, test development is an interdisciplinary challenge: didactic and language researchers are responsible for test content that determines the development of the spelling competency in a proper way. From the psychometric point of view, the competency has to be modeled and longitudinally assessed. Furthermore, computerized testing has become one further aim of test development as the manual analysis of students` spelling is costly in terms of labour und time. Therefore, the research team unites the didactics and psychometrics with researchers from the field of informatics.
For the paper presented, we will shortly outline a model for the spelling competence based on Eisenberg (2006), followed by introducing reliable tests that have been used in several studies in grade 4 and 5 (i.e. PIRLS 2006). Thereafter we are going to introduce the development of computerized testing tools as well as the test development for grades 6 and 7 in the context of the National Education Panel Study (NEPS).
Method
Expected Outcomes
References
Blatt, I./Voss, A./Kowalski, K./Jarsinski, S. (in print): Messung von Rechtschreibleistung und empirische Kompetenzmodellierung. In: Bredel, Ursula. (eds.): Weiterführender Orthographieunterricht. Baltmannweiler: Schneider Verlag Hohengehren. (DTP (Deutschunterricht in Theorie und Praxis)) Eisenberg, Peter (2006): Das Wort. 3., durchgesehene Auflage. Stuttgart, Weimar: J.B. Metzler (Grundriss der deutschen Grammatik, 1). Kolen, M. J. and R. L. Brennan (2004). Test Equating, Scaling, and Linking: Methods and Practices. New York, Springer. Schneider, Wolfgang (2008): Entwicklung und Erfassung der Rechtschreibkompetenz im Jugend- und Erwachsenenalter. In: W. Schneider; H. Marx; M. Hasselhorn (eds.): Diagnostik von Rechtschreibleistungen und -kompetenz. Göttingen, Bern, Wien et al.: Hogrefe (Jahrbuch der pädagogisch-psychologischen Diagnostik, Tests und Trends, Band 6), p.. 145–157.
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