The landscape for young learners is changing to one which includes DVDs, fire engines and life on the beach with sand and shells. Updating vocabulary to reflect the different language used in lessons and by children themselves is just one of the ways in which the Cambridge Young Learners English (YLE) Tests have been modified for 2007.
The revision project has been a major undertaking for Cambridge ESOL, involving input from candidates, parents, teachers and exam centres around the world. A stakeholder questionnaire was circulated to gather feedback and trials were carried out around the world on the revised version.
Juliet Wilson, Subject Manager for YLE at the time of the review, said: ‘The response of teachers and their pupils was extremely encouraging. They were very satisfied with the tests' format and content. However, we still believed small modifications to some of the tasks would improve the tests.’
Cambridge ESOL carries out a continuous process of evaluation to ensure the YLE tests are accessible and relevant to candidates. YLE has been designed as a gentle introduction to English language assessment and its primary purpose is to ensure the tests are a positive experience and stimulate ongoing learning in the classroom.
Changes to the tests
Overall, the changes include simpler and more clearly positioned visual prompts, more gap fill exercises and speaking materials being made available in a new booklet format. The vocabulary list was also updated on the basis of a research and consultation exercise which involved a comprehensive study of primary ELT coursebooks used globally as well as a study of the Cambridge YLE spoken corpus which revealed the words candidates actually use during their YLE Speaking Tests. The revised tests were available from January 2007.
Trialling and quality assurance
The new tests were piloted with hundreds of children of different nationalities to check that the standards of test difficulty and integrity remain high. Cambridge ESOL’s Research & Validation Group ran analyses on pilot results to check test validity and to guide final decisions on test tasks.
Supporting teachers
Three different teacher training seminars have been developed by Cambridge ESOL to help teachers become familiar with the changes. The teacher support website, Teaching Resources www.CambridgeESOL.org/teach/yle2007/ has been updated with activities and YLE handbooks and sample papers can be downloaded from www.CambridgeESOL.org/support/
Publishers around the world were informed and have already published their coursebooks containing the updates.