Helping Students Navigate through Exams
The acquisition of a foreign language, the mission to teach it, aiming at full or satisfactory learners’ autonomy, is a notoriously complex task. The process is full of pitfalls, unexpected obstacles, and is aggravated by the mystery of what is, eventually, the most crucial element in language acquisition? To provide a hint of the complexity of the endeavor, “the process”, according to Kramsch (2000, 139), is not “an innocent relabeling of the familiar furniture of the universe. It reconfigures one’s whole classification system”, note DaSilva et al. (2005, 115). “That is, learning another language is the process of creating, conveying, and exchanging signs: it is not primarily the acquisition of grammatical elements as much of the L2 acquisition literature characterizes it” (ibid).
Text by: Marina Siskou
The academic discussion aside, language examinations are one certain reality. Exams are better addressed when a strategy of learning habits and assessments is laid out to students early.
- Accustom learners to real-life exams as soon as possible. Practically, moderate formative and mainly, summative assessments according to the type of the language examination. It helps learners develop optimal strategies and regulate their time and resources, even in the course of a formative evaluation.
- The uses of difficulty. Examinations are the target of slander, based on the rationale that they only force meaningless memorization and that they kill learners’ productivity. This is not the case. Exams and the mentality surrounding exam preparation promote students' ability to generate meaning, retrieve knowledge, activate their learning apparatus, rely on prior knowledge, and employ personal skills. This is why language understanding and language output is so unique. It is because, every learner employs a highly personal mode of learning and because they carry a wholly unique learning and cultural background that interacts differently with the new knowledge. Perception is massively different. This brings us to the concept of the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD), one so central to language acquisition. According to DaSilva (2005, 114), [t]he revolutionary view of the ZPD stems from the dialogical approach to learning, which assumes that participants share meaning-making in constructing their social, psychological, and physical world (McCafferty, 2002). Reproduction, on the other hand, is essentially restricted to passing on knowledge that students “bank for later use” (Freire, 1970), add DaSilva et al. (2005, 114). Metalinguistic awareness is greatly promoted during exam preparation. Development is not simply the reproduction of information and behaviors: individuals interact with their knowledge (DaSilva, 2005, 114). A final consideration of the ZPD concerns the development of metalinguistic knowledge/awareness, elaborate DaSilva et al (2005, 114): Swain (1995), suggests that “output” (production) promotes noticing (conscious attention to linguistic form) which, in turn, promotes language learning (ibid).
- Prepare learners for the unexpected. Even the most learner-friendly examinations include tricks. Students should realize that they will encounter the unknown and learn how to address it. Thus, to develop problem-solving strategies. That is, the zone of proximal development, the margin that enables learners rely on their critical ability, asks them to retrieve and combine information and skills they have acquired. Even if the strategy fails, notes Neuhus (2019: 100) “making, recognizing, and reflecting on mistakes is an essential part of learning and continually relearning” (Bain, 19; Cohan: Faculty Focus Special Report: Teaching Mistakes from the Classroom; Jackson; Palmer; Steward).
- Concentration quality is indispensable. Exams serve as evaluation tools for teachers, but for students, they are primarily instruments for understanding, reflecting, developing, and creating meaning. Increased exposure to exams, including related activities and simulation practices, enhances the personalization and effectiveness of students' strategies. Exam material can be presented in various formats, such as main, introductory, or plenary activities during regular lessons. Deep concentration facilitates memory retention, emphasizing the need for concentration-promoting activities in the classroom. Discovering one's personal learning, understanding, and performing style is a gradual process, underscoring the importance of early familiarization with each stage of exams. The value of concentration in language learning is acknowledged early in the literature: 'When practice requires endless repetition to produce small results, it suggests a lack of concentration or unsatisfactory methods,' notes A. Jett (1968, p. 436, emphasis added)
- Use time wisely. Success is concretely evaluated and one of the factors is the relation to a timeframe, usually allocated based on level and age. It promotes concentration and helps them build up their competence. Even in informal settings and casual instruction, timeframes are indispensable to learning, let alone in examination. Notice how learning competence improves after each examination.
- Awareness of exam mission and architecture. For each language examination, it is advisable that we fully comprehend its architecture and its mission. Every exam organization releases its mission statement for each examination, accompanied by the grid of the success criteria. Students would be more confident if they mastered them. Exam preparation and participation lead to incremental progress and internalization, boost learners’ confidence and self-reliance, and enhance autonomy, if provisioned according to learning stages and accompanied by smart learning strategies and elaborate language teaching.
