Crossing the bridge to literacy in foreign languages: C-test as a measure of language development
-
Ingrid Gogolin
Abstract
Throughout an educational career, literacy skills become more elaborated. However, little is known about the development of reading and writing skills in foreign languages in adolescents. In this contribution, we focused on the development of language skills in the foreign languages English and French in Germany as measured by a C-Test. Hereby, we aimed to explore the potential of C-tests to provide a differentiated approach to the assessment of foreign language development in secondary school students. We draw on the data from the German panel study “Multilingual Development: a Longitudinal Perspective” (MEZ) on students’ language skills in the foreign languages English (n = 1987) and French (n = 662). We investigated the differences in the means of “classical” and “word recognition” scores in English and French C-tests and the development of these differences. The application of both scores in our study provided differentiated information on students’ receptive and productive aspects of literacy in adolescents and showed that students in secondary school are still on their way of developing spelling skills in both foreign languages. Furthermore, our results reveal that the receptive and productive components of language proficiency show different developmental patterns at various stages of foreign language learning.
Funding source: The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research
Award Identifier / Grant number: MEZ (01JM1406)
References
Aguado, Karin, Rüdiger Grotjahn & Torsten Schlak. 2007. Erwerbsalter und Sprachlernfolg: Zeitlimitierte C-Tests als Instrument zur Messung prozeduralen sprachlichen Wissens. In Helmut J. Vollmer (ed.), Synergieeffekte in der Fremdsprachenforschung. Empirische Zugänge, Probleme, Ergebnisse, vol. 27, 137–149. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang Kolloquium Fremdsprachenunterricht.Search in Google Scholar
Ahmed, Yusra, K. Richard & Wagner. 2020. A “Simple” illustration of a joint model of reading and writing using meta-analytic structural equation modeling (MASEM). In Rui A. Alves, Teresa Limpo & R. Malatesha Joshi (eds.), Reading-writing connections. Literacy studies. Cham: Springer (Perspectives from Cognitive Neurosciences, Linguistics, Psychology and Education, 19).10.1007/978-3-030-38811-9_4Search in Google Scholar
Alves, Rui A., Teresa Limpo & R. Malatesha Joshi. 2020. Introduction to reading-writing connections: the integration roads ahead. In Rui A. Alves, Teresa Limpo & R. Malatesha Joshi (eds.), Reading-writing connections. Literacy studies, pp. 1–7. Cham: Springer (Perspectives from Cognitive Neurosciences, Linguistics, Psychology and Education, 19).10.1007/978-3-030-38811-9_1Search in Google Scholar
American Educational Research Association, American Psychological Association, National Council on Measurement in Education, Joint Committee on Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing (U.S.). 2014. Standards for educational and psychological testing. Washington, DC: AERA.Search in Google Scholar
Drackert, Anastasia & Anna Timukova. 2019. What does the analysis of C-test gaps tell us about the construct of a C-test? A comparison of foreign and heritage language learners’ performance. Language Testing 37(1). 107–132. https://doi.org/10.1177/0265532219861042.Search in Google Scholar
Autorengruppe Bildungsberichterstattung. 2020. Bildung in Deutschland 2020: Ein indikatorengestützter Bericht mit einer Analyse zu Bildung in einer digitalisierten Welt. Bielefeld: wbv Publikation.Search in Google Scholar
Baur, Rupprecht & Melanie Spettmann. 2007. Screening – diagnose – Förderung: Der C-Test im Bereich DaZ. In Bernt Ahrenholz (ed.), Deutsch als Zweitsprache: Vorausetzungen und Konzepte für die Förderung von Kindern und Jugendlichen mit Migrationshintgergrund, 95–110. Freiburg: Fillibach.Search in Google Scholar
Brandt, Hanne, Marina Lagemann & Sharareh Rahbari. 2017. Multilingual development – a longitudinal perspective: Mehrsprachigkeitsentwicklung im Zeitverlauf (MEZ). European Journal of Applied Linguistics 5(2). 347–357. https://doi.org/10.1515/eujal-2017-0024.Search in Google Scholar
Hanne Brandt, Marion Krause, Irina Usanova & Sharareh Rahbari (eds.). 2021. Language development in diverse settings: Cross disciplinary findings from the Project “Multilingual Development: A longitudinal perspective (MEZ)”. Westport: Springer.Search in Google Scholar
Cheung, Gordon W. & Roger B. Rensvold. 2002. Evaluating goodness-of-fit indexes for testing measurement invariance. Structural Equation Modeling: A Multidisciplinary Journal 9(2). 233–255. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15328007SEM0902_5.Search in Google Scholar
Daller, Michael, Amanda Müller & Yixin Wang-Taylor. 2020. The C-test as predictor of the academic success of international students. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism. 24(10). 1502–1511.10.1080/13670050.2020.1747975Search in Google Scholar
Eckes, Thomas & Rüdiger Grotjahn. 2006. A closer look at the construct validity of C-tests. Language Testing 23. 290–325. https://doi.org/10.1191/0265532206lt330oa.Search in Google Scholar
Enders, Craig K. 2010. Applied missing data analysis. New York: Guilford Press (Methodology in the social sciences).Search in Google Scholar
Fitzgerald, Jill & Timothy Shanahan. 2000. Reading and writing relations and their development. Educational Psychologist 35. 39–50. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15326985ep3501_5.Search in Google Scholar
Gogolin, Ingrid. 2018. Literacy and language diversity: Challenges for education research and practice in the 21st century. In Lori Diane Hill & Felice J. Levine (eds.), Global perspectives on education research, 3–24. New York: Routledge (Taylor & Francis).10.4324/9781351128421-1Search in Google Scholar
Gogolin, Ingrid, Thorsten Klinger, Marina Lagemann & Birger Schnoor. 2017. Indikation, Konzeption und Untersuchungsdesign des Projekts Mehrsprachigkeitsentwicklung im Zeitverlauf (MEZ) (MEZ Arbeitspapiere No. Nr. 1) Hamburg. Available at: http://www.pedocs.de/volltexte/2017/14825/pdf/Gogolin_et_al_2017_Indikation_Konzeption_Untersuchungsdesign.pdf.Search in Google Scholar
Gogolin, Ingrid, Sarah McMonagle & Tanja Salem. 2019. Germany: Systemic, sociocultural and linguistic perspectives on educational inequality. In Peter A. Stevens & Gary. A. Dworkin (eds.), The Palgrave Handbook of Race and Ethnic Inequalities in Education, 2nd ed., 557–602. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.10.1007/978-3-319-94724-2_14Search in Google Scholar
Grotjahn, Rüdiger. 2002. Konstruktion und Einsatz von C-Tests: Ein Leitfaden für die Praxis. In Rüdiger Grotjahn (ed.), Der C-Test. Theoretische Grundlagen und praktische Anwendungen, vol. 4, 211–225. Bochum: AKS-Verlag.Search in Google Scholar
Grotjahn, Rüdiger. 2004. Der C-test: Aktuelle Entwicklungen. In Armin Wolff, Torsten Ostermann & Christoph Chlosta (eds.), Integration durch Sprache: Beiträge der 31. Jahrestagung DaF 2003, 535–550. Regensburg: Fachverband Deutsch als Fremdsprache.Search in Google Scholar
Grotjahn, Rüdiger, Christine Klein-Braley & Raatz Ulrich. 2002. C-Tests: An overview. In James A. Coleman, Rüdiger Grotjahn & Raatz Ulrich (eds.), University language testing and the C-test, 93–114. Bochum: AKS-Verlag.Search in Google Scholar
Hastings, Ashley J. 2002. Error analysis of an English C-Test: Evidence for integrated processing. In Rüdiger Grotjahn (ed.), Der C-Test. Theoretische Grundlagen und praktische Anwendungen, vol. 4, 53–66. Bochum: AKS-Verlag.Search in Google Scholar
Heller, Kurt A. & Christoph Perleth. 2000. Kognitiver Fähigkeitstest für 4. bis 12. Klassen, Revision: KFT 4-12+R. Göttingen: Beltz.Search in Google Scholar
Kim, Young-Suk Grace. 2020. Interactive dynamic literacy model: An integrative theoretical framework for reading-writing relations. In Rui A. Alves, Teresa Limpo & R. Malatesha Joshi (eds.), Reading-writing connections. Literacy studies, 11–34. Cham: Springer (Perspectives from Cognitive Neurosciences, Linguistics, Psychology and Education, 19).10.1007/978-3-030-38811-9_2Search in Google Scholar
Klinger, Thorsten, Irina Usanova & Ingrid Gogolin. 2019. Entwicklung rezeptiver und produktiver schriftsprachlicher Fähigkeiten im Deutschen. Zeitschrift für Erziehungswissenschaft 22(1). 75–103. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11618-018-00862-0.Search in Google Scholar
Murnane, Richard, Isabel Sawhill & Catherine Snow. 2012. Literacy challenges for the twenty-first century: Introducing the issue. The Future of Children 22(2). 3–15. https://doi.org/10.1353/foc.2012.0013.Search in Google Scholar
Pae, Hye K. & Beth O’Brien. 2018. Overlap and uniqueness. Linguistic componential traits contributing to expressive skills in English as a foreign language. Reading Psychology 39. 384–412.https://doi.org/10.1080/02702711.2018.1443298.Search in Google Scholar
Kristina Reiss, Mirjam Weis & Eckhard Klieme (eds.). PISA 2018. Grundbildung im internationalen Vergleich. Münster: Waxmann.Search in Google Scholar
Rubin, Donald B. 1987. Multiple Imputation for nonresponse in surveys. New York, NY: Wiley.10.1002/9780470316696Search in Google Scholar
Russak, Susie. 2019. A study of literacy acquisition in English as a foreign language amongst native Hebrew and Arabic speaking pupils. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism. 1–19.10.1080/13670050.2019.1581126Search in Google Scholar
Schafer, Joseph L. 1997. Analysis of incomplete multivariate data. Boca Raton: Chapman & Hall.10.1201/9781439821862Search in Google Scholar
Schafer, Joseph L. & John W. Graham. 2002. Missing data: Our view of the state of the art. Psychological Methods 7(2). 147–177. https://doi.org/10.1037//1082-989X.7.2.147.Search in Google Scholar
Schrauf, Robert W. 2013. Using correspondence analysis to model immigrant multilingualism over time. In Joana Duarte & Ingrid Gogolin (eds.), Linguistic superdiversity in urban areas: Research approaches, pp. 27–44. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.10.1075/hsld.2.04schSearch in Google Scholar
Wilfried Bos (ed.). 2010. KESS 8. Kompetenzen und Einstellungen von Schülerinnen und Schülern am Ende der Jahrgangsstufe 8. Münster: Waxmann (HANSE-Hamburger Schriften zur Qualität im Bildungswesen, Bd. 6).Search in Google Scholar
© 2021 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Editorial
- Foreign language learning in multilingual Germany
- Articles
- VOT production, writing skills, and general proficiency in multilingual learners of French: approaching the intertwinement of different linguistic levels
- Crossing the bridge to literacy in foreign languages: C-test as a measure of language development
- Multilingual lexical transfer challenges monolingual educational norms: not quite!
- Do minority-language and majority-language students benefit from pedagogical translanguaging in early foreign language development?
- Heritage languages and the ʻmultilingual boostʼ: intercomprehension skills of Russian and Polish heritage speakers in Germany
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Editorial
- Foreign language learning in multilingual Germany
- Articles
- VOT production, writing skills, and general proficiency in multilingual learners of French: approaching the intertwinement of different linguistic levels
- Crossing the bridge to literacy in foreign languages: C-test as a measure of language development
- Multilingual lexical transfer challenges monolingual educational norms: not quite!
- Do minority-language and majority-language students benefit from pedagogical translanguaging in early foreign language development?
- Heritage languages and the ʻmultilingual boostʼ: intercomprehension skills of Russian and Polish heritage speakers in Germany
