The Benefits of Exams for Young Learners

A guest piece from Michelle Worgan of So This is English blog (www.inspireyourlearners.blogspot.com ).

“I am usually quite reluctant to use formal assessment with my students, young or old, and rarely give them exams or tests. However, while I was making a list of advantages and disadvantages of exams for this guest post, I was surprised to find that I had quite a few more of the former. The negative points were all the typical ones you can probably imagine, but I had plenty of reasons why it could be beneficial for children to do exams. Does this mean I am a closet exam-lover and am really a traditionalist in sheep’s clothing? (jeans and t-shirt, by the way!) Of course it doesn’t, but writing this article is getting me thinking about the reasons for testing, and my students may well find that they have an exam in a couple of weeks’ time!

Living in a country where the educational system is totally exam-based and assessment is usually 100% exam, I find that most of my students have no imagination, no creativity and are not able to think for themselves. Every week they tell me that they are late to class because they have been studying for their physics exam the next day, and they have four more exams this week. Their revision consists of memorising fact after fact and paragraph after paragraph, even at Primary level. They have no study skills whatsoever, and for this reason are revising the night before the exam. This situation can be heartbreaking for me when I see my students worried, stressed and with no free time to play or relax. For this reason then, I do not usually give my students many exams.

This is the situation I am living in, and there is nothing I can do to change the system, since I work in the private sector. However, even though I don’t give my students exams, this doesn‘t mean that I can’t see the benefits exams can give. Let’s look at some of those reasons why exams may be useful.

Firstly, because of the state education system is exam-based; children are used to doing exams. It is the only form of assessment they have experience of. The exams end in a mark, which to them is something tangible. Getting an eight (out of ten) is excellent, a two terrible, but whatever the mark, they understand the system. Most children will ask you what mark it is when you write Good! on their work. If you refuse to give them a number, they will compare that Good! with someone else’s Excellent! or Good effort!, in the attempt to find the value of the comment. Children in this type of education setting need marks to know how well they are doing, and the easiest way to give a mark is by giving an exam. Exams and tests are something they expect and generally most children are happy to do them, as long as they know what is going to be tested. Exams can give young learners a chance to show off what they know, to the teacher, their classmates and their parents.

Another positive aspect of doing exams is that learners have a sense of achievement when they have done well. As long as the exam is the right level for the child (not too difficult but not so easy that everyone gets full marks), most children will have a positive feeling afterwards, and especially when they get the result. The important thing is to prepare your learners for the exam, so that they will do as well as can possibly be expected. This means no “surprise exams”, since they generally just cause panic, making it difficult for even the best student to do well. Doing well in an exam is very encouraging and motivating for a child, and they will want to carry on learning. It is important to make sure that you give every child encouraging comments, whatever their mark so that the opposite does not occur and some of the learners become demotivated due to a low score.

For motivational reasons, it is necessary for learners of all ages to feel that they are making progress. Exams or progress tests are a good way to show learners how they are advancing and that they are ready to move on to the next stage in their learning. External exams especially encourage this as they are usually a series of exams at different levels and when one has been passed, candidates are encouraged to keep on studying to get to the next level.

These are some of the main reasons for doing general or internal exams, but now I am going to focus more specifically on the series of exams for young learners provided by the University of Cambridge: The Cambridge Young Learners English Tests. These are available at three levels: Starters, Movers and Flyers and take children aged between 7 and 12 up to CEF level 2. You will find more detailed information and practice activities for these tests on my blog.

So what reasons do Cambridge give for the testing of young learners? Actually very few. On their website (http://www.cambridgeesol.org/exams/young-learners/yle.html) they give plenty of reasons why children should learn English, but not for why they should be tested. It seems that Cambridge’s main reason, apart from the motivational aspect of following a series of stages (as I mentioned earlier), is to get children into their system as early as possible. If they do the Young Learners Tests they are likely to go on to do the Cambridge Main Suite of examinations such as PET and FCE. Of course, there is no mention that these exams are highly profitable, the Young Learners tests starting at around 60 Euros per candidate (where the only paid member of staff supervising the exams is the oral examiner) going up to 185 Euros for CPE. If a learner takes an examination at each CEF level up to C2, they will have spent over 800 Euros just on formal assessment!

In spite of the shortage of reasons given by Cambridge, there are some advantages of doing these tests. The first is that the tests assess all four skills. This means that learners need plenty of practice in these skills before doing the tests. The exams focus on common real life topics and situations, and use natural English, both oral and written, therefore candidates need to be exposed to this kind of language. It means that L2 should be used as much as possible in the classroom and focuses the learning on these areas. Of course, it is not actually necessary for students to sit the exam; you can make sure your teaching includes all the skills and similar activities to the ones that appear in the exams without entering a single candidate.

However, if your learners will be moving on to the Cambridge Main Suite of examinations in the future, it can be useful to give them this kind of preparation when they are young. The format and task types are similar in Flyers and KET, which are at the same level. Sitting these tests helps learners become accustomed to the type of tasks they will have to do at later levels and they will be more relaxed than if they have never done such an exam.

Another reason for doing these tests is the fun aspect. The tests include activities such as drawing and colouring which most children enjoy doing. The other tasks involve little writing, mostly tick the box, write yes or no, so they are not tiresome for the children. As I mentioned earlier, most children do not mind doing exams and if the exams include fun activities such as colouring in, they will be quite enthusiastic about doing them.

The final positive aspect of these specific exams is that no child can fail. Marks are awarded for what candidate can do (rather than what they can’t do) and everyone is given a certificate with their “grade” appearing as shaded shields. Learners know the maximum is 5 shields, but if they only get two or three, you should encourage them by showing them what they need to work on. Evidently, a child who is getting less than 40% should not be entered for the exam, as there is nothing worse for a child than doing an exam that is too difficult. If a child is entered for the right exam, receiving a certificate with four or five shields for each skill is extremely rewarding and motivating for both the child and his/her parents.

So what is the negative side of exams for young learners? I have discussed how exams can be a positive thing if they are the right level for the learners, how motivating doing well in an exam can be. But what happens when things don’t go as expected and the children find the exams too difficult? We have all been in a situation where we have had horrible feelings of failure because things have not gone as well as we had hoped. For a child these feelings can be devastating. Children feel that they are letting everyone down: their parents, their teacher; they feel embarrassed at doing worse than their friends. Even while doing an exam, a child can see that their classmates are busily working away when he/she is stuck, causing such feelings. When the results come through, all the children will naturally compare their marks with those of their classmates, again, bringing these feelings to those who have not done so well. Is it worth risking this kind of situation just so that the children can get a certificate? This sense of failure gives children a terribly negative experience of education and can cause a grave impact on their future education, especially language learning. How many adult students have you met who had a terrible time learning a language at school and have a negative attitude towards learning? This is caused by bad experiences at school such as failing exams. Do we really want this to happen to our students? Of course we don’t and this is why it is so important to not give exams of the wrong level and without warning.

Exams should be a positive experience during which learners feel comfortable. They should also be used for assessment purposes, but they should not be the only form of assessment. Self-assessment, coursework such as portfolios and class work should all be included, to complement the exams. One of the most important things is that learning should be taking place and the exams should be assessing what has been learnt, rather than learning in order to pass the exam. They should also not just be memory tests; if possible include exercises that test understanding, or allow some creativity. It is much better to include activities that encourage the learners to use their imagination and personal experience rather than just filling in the gaps.

I would suggest that formal assessment is not necessary for young learners. There is no need to be constantly testing children on what they do or don’t know. What is important is that the children are learning. If you feel you need to impose tests in order to see what has or hasn’t been learnt, by all means go ahead. Tests can be a great diagnostic tool for teachers, showing us what we need to do more work on and what not. However, it is necessary to provide a positive learning environment in which young learners feel secure and happy. You can include exams as long as it adds to the positive experience for the children. If giving young learners exams gives them a sense of security and progression, then they are a beneficial part of the learning experience.”

Many thanks to Michelle. Anyone else got experience or thoughts on the topic?

Tags: guest writers

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010 at 11:49 am and is filed under Cambridge Young Learner Exams, EFL exams, Teaching young learners, TEFL. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.