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Student Teaching in Spain in the Time of COVID

The European Quality Chart on Internships and Apprenticeships describes higher education and vocational school practices in participating companies and entities as a training-oriented component of students’ coursework (European Youth Forum, n.d.). In the educational realm, these experiences help teacher education candidates develop and refine their professional competencies and provide them with an easier transition to the job market, increasing their chances of finding quality, stable jobs (European Youth Forum, n.d.). These practices are known in Spain as the practicum.

The practicum, a required subject in the coursework of both early childhood and primary education BA degrees, consists of a series of collaborative activities between teacher training and education colleges and professional development schools, aimed at offering student teachers the opportunity to acquaint themselves with the realities of teaching in the early grades en route to adopting and developing their own teaching styles. Its formative objective is to provide student teachers with the opportunity to apply the knowledge acquired in their academic training to real classrooms and thereby acquire the necessary skills and abilities to foster their professional preparation and improve their employability prospects (Real Decreto 592/2014, 2014). To regulate the experience, universities sign MOUs with the Departments of Education of the different regional governments describing, among other things, the role of student teachers in the delivery of instruction and classroom organization, the duties of supervising school and university mentors, and the number of credits earned at the completion of the experience. Student teachers are also required to participate in university seminars as part of the practicum to reflect on aspects related to the realities and challenges of the job, their own performance during classroom presentations and explanations, and discrepancies in the theory–practice connection (Guía del Practicum, 2021).

While the benefits of the practicum for student teachers have been documented, information on its impact for placement school mentors is scant. Obtaining more information on the latter was therefore the objective of two of the authors, professors at the University of Extremadura in Spain. They decided to investigate the extent of student teachers’ cooperation with, and support for, their respective mentors in Extremadura during the extended nationwide COVID-19 mandated lockdown, when online teaching was the only instructional delivery mode allowed, as well as when a decrease in the spread of the virus permitted the regional government to lift the restrictions and allow a return to face-to-face instruction. Participants were 15 early childhood and primary education veteran school mentors with student teachers in their classrooms. Their responses appeared to point to the following three areas:

Support for “fatigued” teachers: One year after the beginning of the pandemic, the mentors agreed they were experiencing “fatigue,” described by Michie, West, and Harvey (2020) as “a presumed tendency for people to naturally become ‘tired’ of the rules and guidance they should follow to prevent the spread of COVID-19.” They alluded to episodes of fear and anxiety due to both the expansion of the pandemic and the unexpected recurrent virus spikes, as well as overwhelming stress caused by their having to adopt and incorporate into their teaching routines instructional delivery modes and technological resources most of them were not familiar with. As the lockdown was progressively lifted in Spain and they had to return to the classroom, they began to show psychological effects similar to those seen in health-care workers in potentially unsafe conditions (TFA Editorial Team, 2020), namely exhaustion and fear (Duffy and Allington, 2020). These effects were especially prevalent among veteran teachers, many of whom decided to resign and apply for early retirement. In fact, according to Núñez (2021), 2020 early retirement figures in the region showed a 30% increase over those in 2019. It was not therefore surprising, given this context, that the mentors interviewed appreciated having additional help in their classrooms, as the presence of student teachers provided much-needed assistance controlling students and making it easier to pay more individualized attention to those needing extra help or identified as having learning difficulties or disabilities. Moreover, the energy, novel approaches to teaching, and innovative tech tools, software, and activities brought and implemented by student teachers helped their respective mentors partially overcome their own tech deficiencies, acting as a singular vaccine against the latter’s previous fear, exhaustion, doubts, and even apathy.

Support with virtual learning and IT: The teaching force in Extremadura is aging. Thus, during the 2013–2014 academic year, 33% of its teachers were more than 50 years of age and just 2% of the total were under 30, compared to 25% and 12% respectively in 2004–2005 (Moral, 2015). A subsequent report placed Extremadura among the autonomous communities with the fewest young teachers in both primary and secondary education (Infoempleo, 2017). Despite significant efforts reinforcing the importance of the integration of information technologies in the educational system of the community (Fundación Maimona, 2014), many veteran teachers still have difficulties incorporating tech resources into their teaching routines. Fortunately, the student teachers in this project were able to offer their struggling mentors ongoing individual, specific support that allowed the latter to revamp numerous lessons for use in both synchronous and asynchronous meetings. They taught their mentors the basics of innovative software and tech tools such as Flipgrid, Genially, ClassDojo, TED, The Primary Box, Educaplay, MapTool, Kahoot!, Mentimeter, and eXeLearning, among others. Student teachers also helped their mentors incorporate project-based learning, flipped classrooms, and gamification into their lessons, creating a more engaging and appealing classroom environment that increased the motivation and interest of students, who were equally tired of the pandemic. As an added perk, thanks to their familiarity with the above tools, student teachers confined at home continued to be able to support their mentors remotely and even lead lessons in some cases, as seen in the example graphic above, created with eXeLearning by one such student who was commissioned to teach an art class on impressionism.

Support with logistics: Student teachers had to add logistical help to their academic duties, given mandated restrictions and safety protocols inside and outside classrooms and schools to prevent the spread of the virus among students, staff, and parents. Some of these daily tasks included ensuring students maintained the required social distance while entering and leaving school grounds, playing in the yard, and during bathroom breaks; checking students’ temperature, distributing hydroalcoholic gel, and disinfecting lunch areas at required times and on an as-needed basis; monitoring students during individual and small-group work; managing small and large group configurations; working with students needing additional help in homogeneous ability groups; providing specific individual reading, writing, and academic instruction; reporting assigned students’ progress at the end of the school day; or observing students’ socialization and interaction patterns during whole-class instruction in order to identify students needing help as well as those able to help others during follow-up assignments.

The practicum is beneficial for all parties involved. Feedback from mentor teachers helps the Teacher Training and Education Colleges at the University of Extremadura improve the student teaching experience. Mentor teachers enjoy the benefits of student teachers’ additional help managing their classrooms and introducing them to innovative tech tools to create more engaging lessons for their students. Student teachers gain practical experience and become more attuned to the realities of the classroom. In the time of COVID-19, student teachers constitute a valuable resource for an exhausted teaching force working under strenuous circumstances. Mentor teachers should be encouraged to openly communicate with them, request their help when needed, and take advantage of the opportunity to learn about new resources and methods that can make their lives easier.

References
Duffy, B. and Allington, D. (2020). “The Accepting, the Suffering and the Resisting: The different reactions to life under lockdown.” King’s College London: The Policy Institute. https://www.kcl.ac.uk/policy-institute/assets/Coronavirus-in-the-UK-cluster-analysis.pdf
European Youth Forum. (n.d.). European Quality Chart on Internships and Apprenticeships. https://www.youthforum.org/sites/default/files/publication-pdfs/European%20Quality%20Charter.pdf
Fundación Maimona. (2014). Estado de las TIC en Extremadura. Badajoz, Spain: Fundación Maimona, CREEX, Fundación CRESEM.
Guía del Practicum (2021). Prácticas externas: Curso 2020–2021. https://www.unex.es/conoce-la-uex/centros/profesorado/informacion-academica/practicas-externas/practicas-externas-20-21/practicas-externas.-curso-2020_2021
Infoempleo. (2017). Evolución del empleo por edad. Mercado Laboral. https://www.infoempleo.com/guias-informes/empleo-educacion/mercado-laboral/mercado-laboral-empleo.html#reparto-comunidad
Michie, S., West, R., and Harvey, N. (2020). “The Concept of ‘Fatigue’ in Tackling COVID-19.” BMJ Opinion. https://blogs.bmj.com/bmj/2020/10/26/the-concept-of-fatigue-in-tackling-covid-19/
Moral, G. (2015). “Uno de cada tres profesores de la región supera los 50 años de edad.” El Periódico Extremadura. https://www.elperiodicoextremadura.com/noticias/extremadura/uno-tres-profesores-region-supera-50-anos-edad_883609.html
Núñez, C. (2021). “Las prejubilaciones de docentes se doblan en Cáceres a causa de la COVID.” Hoy. https://www.hoy.es/caceres/prejubilaciones-docentes-doblan-20210122074948-ntvo.html
Real Decreto 592/2014. (2014). Real Decreto 592/2014, de 11 de julio, por el que se regulan las prácticas académicas externas de los estudiantes universitarios. Madrid, Spain: BOE.
TFA Editorial Team. (2020). “Tackling COVID-19 Fatigue as a Teacher: How educators can build resilience amid the pandemic.” Teach For America. https://www.teachforamerica.org/stories/tackling-covid-19-fatigue-as-a-teacher

Francisco Ramos, BA, MA, MSc, PhD, is a professor at the School of Education, Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, CA, where he teaches courses on bilingual education, bilingualism and biliteracy, and methods of teaching in L1 and L2 in bilingual settings.


Gemma Delicado, BA, MA, PhD (University of Chicago, 2007), is currently the director of international affairs and a professor in the English Department at the Teacher Training College, University of Extremadura (Spain), where she teaches courses on bilingual education, English, and Spanish language and literature for U.S. study abroad students.
Laura Alonso-Díaz, BA, MA, PhD, is the director of internships and employment and a professor in the Education Department at the Teacher Training College, University of Extremadura (Spain). Her research interests revolve around teacher training, virtual educational environments, training for employment, internships, and bilingual education.

Beyond Crises: The Reawakening of Classrooms

It’s summer 2021 and as educators, we might be thinking beyond crises and concentrating on the extent to which the transformation of our practices of the recent past will have a lasting impact on teaching and learning. As our classrooms reawaken, having a schoolwide plan or a theory of action (a hypothesis that projects what will happen when educators agree to implement a set of evidence-centered strategies) will be helpful in tackling the web of educational inequities that still exists. After all, it is our vision to have our multilingual learners and other minoritized students thrive this upcoming school year. So where do we begin, and how do we achieve our collective goal?

In reimagining educational life beyond crises, this article attempts to treat some issues we face at the classroom level and offer ideas for renewal. The most pressing of these concerns revolves around co-constructing classrooms with multilingual learners to be more linguistically and culturally sustainable and, in doing so, connecting more closely to our families and communities. Divided into three parts, this article

1) looks retrospectively at where we have been,

2) shares insights into what we have gained, and lastly

3) explores how we can leverage these gains to increase the vitality and equity in our classrooms. It’s hard to imagine what this upcoming school year will bring, so let’s make a pact to maintain a strengths-based focus and an optimistic outlook.

Where We Have Been
No one has to remind us of what we have endured physically and psychologically over the last year and a half—a most overwhelming, perplexing, and challenging of times here and around the globe. Simultaneous crises during this period have been felt hard in the U.S., in particular the COVID-19 pandemic, civil unrest, failed immigration policy, and natural disasters. This upheaval to life as we have known it has exacerbated the inequities already present and continues to do so. Now as an educational community, we have the opportunity to help right some of these societal wrongs so that we can heal and flourish together. Yet questions remain for us to examine, such as:

What will be the aftermath of the trauma, stress, and anxiety of the crises on our students, families, and colleagues? In particular, how have these crises affected multilingual learners’ language, conceptual, and social–emotional development?
What will be the residual effects of ongoing racial injustices on our schools and local communities? What can we do to mitigate discrimination so that our students can build positive self-images and relationships?

How will we provide for unaccompanied minors and other recent arrivals who have escaped from atrocities in their homelands? How might we better coordinate educational and social services for these students?

How will we ensure digital literacy for all students and embed it into curriculum, instruction, and assessment? How do multiliteracies become an accepted reality of classrooms, schools, and the digital world in which we live?

As we ponder how to confront these ongoing dilemmas, we begin to shape a new way of schooling. At the same time, we draw from the students’ and families’ strengths to optimize opportunities and access for multilingual learners to grow cognitively, linguistically, and social–emotionally. Let’s look into our classrooms to see how we might tackle some of these issues and which strategies might be most effective.

What We Have Gained
With months of experience in remote, face-to-face, and/or hybrid modes of learning, teachers and administrators have proven that they can pivot on a moment’s notice to a new learning environment. In order to have a most productive upcoming year, let’s explore some of the advances we have made and how we might ingrain some of these more constructive aspects into school life. Even though the pandemic has highlighted pre-existing inequities facing our multilingual learners, in some ways it has shone a bright light on our minoritized communities. In doing so, COVID and the other crises have underscored the need to redouble our efforts to ensure that learning opportunities convert into learning gains for our multilingual learners and to continue our vital work in communities. 

Several positive residual effects of remote learning are emerging. Digital dependence has helped lessen pre-existing technology discrepancies in some districts. Educators have explored social–emotional supports with heightened attention to students’ and families’ mental health. Family members have transformed into stronger collaborators in their children’s learning. The pandemic has made it clear that learning occurs inside and outside of classroom walls. Leveraging such changes has begun to build educator awareness of how to address the inequities at hand, with hope for encouraging results in the long run.
The following six areas highlight some of the strides that we have made over the last year and a half as an educational community as a whole and for individual schools and classrooms.

Heightened attention to communication
Communication—the exchange of information between educational stakeholders, including students and students, teachers and students, teachers and families, students and families, and schools and families—has markedly increased. Remote and hybrid learning have been a stimulus for more individual contact among these people vested in education. Teachers have redoubled their efforts to communicate with families of multilingual learners in the languages with which family members are most comfortable to check on the academic progress and well-being of their students. These improved communication channels have resulted in relationship building and growing trust between educators and families of multilingual learners.

Improved access to technology
Equipping multilingual learners with technology devices may have been a far-reaching educational goal, but the pandemic accelerated district and school priorities in funding, distributing, and maintaining working tablets and computers. Coupled with this effort have been expanding families’ access to bandwidth, improving reliability of internet service, and even increasing the availability of hotspots for students. The importance of digital literacy stemming from the interaction of literacy and technology has come to the forefront. As a result, in some districts, students and families have become more adept at using and integrating information obtained from multiple technology-related sources (including videos, computer programs, and e-books) and in constructing digitally driven products (as in multimedia projects, interviews, and iMovies).

Stronger family–school–community ties
The crises have brought us together as co-dependent and interconnected human beings. The outreach that has occurred to ensure that students and families receive necessary social and health services has created a closer bond. The ingenuity of schools, classrooms, and communities in stimulating learning in multiple languages and in nontraditional ways has spurred thought and action. Online parent academies have popped up, for example, and family members have come to see school as a welcome resource. Having the classroom extend to families (e.g., learning-by-doing daily activities, sharing objects and cultural artifacts, exchanging recipes) has stimulated student engagement and the connection between home and school.

Increased collaboration
Principals and other administrators have become aware of the challenges of teachers during times of crises. Teachers, in turn, have become more sensitive and responsive to the life circumstances of their multilingual learners and their families. Families have become more apt to reach out to teachers and schools, seek resources, and share their histories. Multilingual learners have been building new interactive skill sets with their peers. Collaboration among stakeholders (one of the “big ideas” of the WIDA English Language Development Standards Framework, 2020 Edition) helps promote a common vision and commitment of all educators to educational equity. In essence, increased collaboration underscores the social nature of learning and contributes to the humanization of education.

Expansion of curriculum
We have come to recognize important shifts in curriculum that stem from family, teacher, and student voices in support of linguistically and culturally sustainable classrooms and schools. Family members have contributed their expertise and “funds of knowledge,” all of which have made curriculum more authentic, community-based, and experientially relevant for students. Teachers have become empowered in shaping multilingual learners’ learning experiences around the students’ interests and likenesses. In turn, students have been encouraged to become agents of their own learning. Student voice and choice as part of assessment—embedded curriculum- from helping to craft learning targets to choosing evidence of learning—has come to incorporate multilingual perspectives (Gottlieb, 2021).

Enhanced understanding of linguistic and cultural assets
Finally, we have been making strides as educators in acting on the strengths of multilingualism and multiculturalism and utilizing these assets as a springboard to help shape positive identities of our multilingual learners. In accepting and promoting multilingual learners’ strategic use of multiple languages inside and outside of school, we can more realistically represent their lives, ways of being, and interaction with others. In better understanding the intersectionality of the multitude of mosaic pieces that constitute our multicultural society, we are better equipped to combat hate, bias, and discrimination. Shaping the identities of families, teachers, and students in educational contexts, as shown in the figure, has become an outgrowth of linguistically and culturally sustainable schools.

Shaping Educational Identity
Adapted from Zacarian, Calderón, and Gottlieb, 2021, p. 202
How We Can Leverage Our Gains
Having made strides in fortifying relationships among communities, schools, and classrooms, we now turn to what teachers can do every day to ensure the steady academic progress of multilingual learners, offer safe spaces for their social and emotional development, and empower students to become autonomous learners.

Adopt effective evidence-based strategies inclusive of multilingual learners
One might ask which evidence-based instructional strategies highlight what multilingual learners can do and how these students can meet grade-level expectations through effective scaffolded learning experiences. There is no one right answer to this question, as teachers work in many different settings with variability in geography (urban, suburban, or rural settings), demography (high, medium, or low concentrations of minoritized students), and instructional models/programs (dual language immersion, bilingual, and English language development). Here are some ideas for filling an instructional toolbox for multilingual learners.
Enact project-based learning that requires students to probe deeply using the languages of their choice, whether the final product is in English or not.


Integrate interpretive (listening, reading, and viewing) and expressive (speaking, writing, and representing) modes of communication and apply various interactive techniques (such as restorative circles, interactive round tables, Socratic seminars, and courageous conversations).

Use software that stimulates student engagement in learning (such as Flipgrid, Padlet, and Seesaw, among others) and inspires students to use their own and collective creativity with peers in coding to designing software.

Encourage multilingual learners’ access to learning in multimodal ways, namely graphically (e.g., graphic organizers and stories), visually (e.g., murals, videos, multimedia presentations), kinesthetically (e.g., re-enactments, dance), and auditorily (e.g., podcasts, audio books) in addition to more traditional print-dependent modes.

Offer opportunities for students to share their personal experiences, cultures, and languages (e.g., through journals, memoirs, autobiographic videos, and murals) as a springboard to further personalize their learning.

Foster engagement of multilingual learners in making decisions
Crises tend to draw everyone closer together through shared experience. We realize now that school as we have known it is forever changed. Let’s seize the moment and take time to listen to our students and be responsive to their feelings, needs, and aspirations. Let multilingual learners help shape their own destinies and identities as teachers guide students using these strategies.
Nurture students’ confidence and independence by offering multilingual learners more opportunities to interact with their peers in a variety of situations on a variety of topics.

Empathize and be compassionate while giving greater responsibility to students to own their data and show evidence of learning.
Ensure that multilingual learners have opportunities to achieve grade-level expectations as they collaborate in whole-class, small-group, and paired activities where they have options in accessing content (e.g., through visual, graphic, oral, or written representation).

Promote interaction among multilingual learners in one or more languages, including academic conversations on topics/themes of personal interest.

Dedicate time for student self-reflection and self-assessment on what they learn, how they learn, and how they react to their learning.

Invite students to take the lead in providing evidence of learning, such as in student-led conferences or teacher–student dialog.
Build on students’ prior knowledge and experiences, their linguistic and cultural assets, and the expertise of families to connect the known to the unknown as a preview to introducing new concepts.
Extend learning outside the classroom, such as by inviting students to participate in outdoor activities, internships, fieldwork, after-school programs, and clubs (e.g., coding, entrepreneurships).

This past year and a half has been extraordinary for educators (and all of us) in every sense of the word. We commend the incredible efforts of teachers and educational leaders who have shown remarkable flexibility in adapting to new teaching methods while being dedicated to the well-being of students and their families. With a new school year upon us, we must strive to ensure that our communities, schools, and classrooms remain interconnected and the relationships we have established strengthen over time. As we forge ahead in our staunch advocacy efforts, let’s make a pledge to be catalysts for change in overcoming the linguistic and cultural inequities that still abound.

References
Gottlieb, M. (2021). Classroom Assessment in Multiple Languages: A Handbook for Teachers. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
WIDA (2020). WIDA English Language Development Standards Framework, 2020 Edition: Kindergarten–Grade 12. Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System.
Zacarian, D., Calderón, M., and Gottlieb, M. (2021). Beyond Crises: Overcoming Linguistic and Cultural Inequities in Communities, Schools, and Classrooms. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

Margo Gottlieb, PhD, WIDA’s co-founder and lead developer, has authored or co-authored over 40 books, manuals, and monographs devoted to the education of multilingual learners. Her efficacy and advocacy efforts domestically and worldwide center on bringing equity to standards, assessment, and curriculum. She can be contacted at [email protected].

Innovative English Immersion

The English language program market in the U.S. has been challenged for the last several years by lower enrollments—and now, the COVID-19 pandemic has certainly taken its toll on the industry. Programs are experiencing the most dramatic decreases in English language program enrollments in their histories. In a recent survey of members, over 75% reported session enrollments of 50 or fewer students.

However, many of these declines began several years prior to the pandemic due to the strong U.S. dollar, competition from other English-speaking-country markets, less beginning-level English language study, and a decline in scholarship opportunities for students that included academic English language study.

From an association point of view, there have been over 50 EnglishUSA-reported member program closures, from early on in the pandemic, the end of summer 2020, and December 2020. Program closures have included all types of programs (those governed by higher education institutions and private language schools). Some of the chain providers have consolidated operations, suspending operations at some physical locations while pooling teachers from different schools to teach students online.

However, English language courses have consistently been offered throughout the pandemic, with the majority of programs moving quickly to teach language skills and content remotely. This industry has always been resilient, and EnglishUSA member programs innovated and offered more flexible options early on in response to the pandemic. Now, best practices and innovations that emerged during the pandemic are being incorporated into programs to serve students in person (full time or hybrid). Programs are looking forward to new enrollments in summer and fall 2021, based on increased applications and extensive COVID-19 classroom and local protocols in place.

Given the size of the U.S. and flexibility and authority granted to individual states regarding COVID-19 guidelines, in-person study options (whether full-time in-person study or hybrid) vary from state to state, city to city, and program to program. Prospective students and parents are asking whether language programs are open and ready to enroll students while also concerned about whether borders are open to international students. While borders are open to students from most countries, not all embassies have resumed regular operations. The best option for students and parents is to check each embassy website, all of which are regularly updated by the U.S. Department of State (https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/visa-information-resources/wait-times.html), on wait time for student visa appointments. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has also recently issued a request for public input regarding potential barriers to visa applications for international students (among other core operations). EnglishUSA announced a “take action” campaign to encourage its members to submit suggestions to advocate for embassy openings.

The Student and Exchange Visitor Program’s (SEVP) initial and continued handling of the pandemic has been helpful. On April 26, 2021, SEVP announced that it will extend and continue to abide by guidance originally issued in March 2020 for the 2021–22 academic year and will not make any changes to the March 2020 guidance. New students may be issued visas to study in the U.S. even if their program of study is a hybrid program with only some in-person learning required.

EnglishUSA’s highest priorities for its members are to provide support for recruitment and enrollment management by continuing to promote opportunities for members to share best practices and for strategic partners and associates to share their expertise on the changing market and student need. The association also continues its support for advocacy with SEVP and other government agencies to encourage state and national leadership to adopt policies that encourage and support international students and visitors. The Biden–Harris administration was very supportive of the international education industry during its campaign trail, and we are looking ahead to continued positive rhetoric surrounding international education, which will help change current negative perceptions. The new administration can and should work with schools and leaders in the field (e.g., EnglishUSA) to address these issues in a way that does not harm international education or the U.S.’s ability to attract the best and brightest to study in the U.S.—a renewed “you are welcome here” campaign. There is still a huge appetite to pursue an education in the U.S., and there will be pent-up demand in our market, so we need the administration to support and assist embassies and consulates to work efficiently to process visa applications and remove obstacles in international students’ paths to English language, professional, personal, and academic study.

The changes language programs made due to COVID (recruiting students virtually, online and hybrid instruction, modifying assessment practices, offering a variety of programs, etc.) will likely stay with the field beyond the period of the pandemic. Global competition is likely to continue to increase, with variables such as ease of getting a visa, opportunities to work, and program costs key to attracting students, as well as the overall strong reputation of the industry that accreditation and association membership help to promote. More online English preparation is being built into pathway models, i.e., starting the program online in-country, then coming to the U.S. for in-person preparation. Also, student orientations will increasingly move online and be delivered predeparture.

The resilience of English language teaching in the U.S. did not and does not wait for circumstances or policies to revert to the way they were. We don’t “bounce back”; we bounce forward. We know that no aspects of education will ever be the same again. The challenges we have faced will lead to continued creativity and diversification in the field in ways that are yet to be conceived, and as an association, we’re looking forward to playing a role in supporting our members and the industry as a whole.

Cheryl Delk-Le Good is executive director of EnglishUSA and has served in leadership positions for multiple international education associations in her 30-year career. Cheryl served as director and faculty of the Intensive English Program at Georgia State University and taught at Western Michigan University and Michigan State University.

EnglishUSA is the largest and most diverse professional association of 250+ intensive and pathway postsecondary English language programs and associates (service providers such as agents, testing companies, publishers, etc.) across the U.S. EnglishUSA comprises member programs governed by universities, colleges, and community colleges as well as private language schools in small, medium, and large cities across the U.S. Among these members, we have more than 1,000 individuals who engage with EnglishUSA’s resources, events, and online community. EnglishUSA promotes the well-being and success of its members and supports the industry as a whole in providing quality programming and services to students while also pursuing advocacy efforts at the national level.

All EnglishUSA member programs are accredited by either the Accrediting Council for Continuing Education and Training or the Commission on English Language Program Administration, and/or they fall under their governing institution’s regional accreditation. The accrediting bodies require adherence to standards in a variety of areas, with the well-being of the student the primary focus.

Papua New Guinea Sees Decline in Linguistic Diversity

Papua New Guinea—frequently heralded as the most linguistically diverse place in the entire world—is in the middle of a language crisis. According to a new report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, the youngest generations in the nation are using Indigenous languages far less than ever before, instead opting for English and Tok Pisin, an English-based creole language. The country, located in northern Oceania, is home to nearly 1,000 different languages, many of which are not well documented and spoken by relatively small populations.

“Globalization puts small languages at a disadvantage, but our understanding of the drivers and rate of language loss remains incomplete,” the paper reads. “Papua New Guinea is home to more than 10% of the world’s languages and rich and varied biocultural knowledge, but the future of this diversity remains unclear.”

Not only is Papua New Guinea home to around 850 Indigenous languages but those languages also descend from a diverse group of 33 different language families. The country officially recognizes four languages—English, Tok Pisin, Hiri Motu, and Papua New Guinea Sign Language. Tok Pisin serves as the lingua franca of the country, while students are typically instructed in English. Because of the predominance of the two languages, the researchers note that about a third of the Indigenous languages spoken in Papua New Guinea are endangered.

According to the researchers, their study is one of the first national linguistic surveys conducted that analyzes the status of the smaller Indigenous languages spoken in the country. Secondary school students were surveyed for the study, to assess how frequently members of younger generations use their heritage languages and how well they know them (if at all). The researchers collected data from a little over 6,000 students across the country, covering speakers of 392 languages. Once each participant had completed a survey, the researchers devised a model to predict future trends for each language based on its historical status among older generations and its usage among younger residents. Of the students sampled, 58% spoke an Indigenous language fluently, compared to 91% of their parents’ generation; the researchers then developed the model, which predicted that only 26% of the next generation will speak these languages fluently, indicating a significant decline in these languages’ use that would likely lead to the loss of significant cultural information.

“The traditional multilingualism in Indigenous languages in the present oldest generation has given way to bilingualism with the English-based creole Tok Pisin in an intermediate generation and monolingualism in Tok Pisin, with perhaps English from schooling, in a third generation.”

Language Is Limitless

We know the power of language. It can open doors for our students to the world, helping them to connect with new people, experience cultures different from their own, and develop greater insight, empathy, and understanding. In an increasingly connected world, it can also provide countless opportunities for successful futures. The Language Is Limitless Community was created last year to bring together world language educators who are committed to fostering a love of language and culture in their students. With more than 4,000 members, the community has rapidly become a place where educators can find resources, support, and inspiration from their peers all over the country.

Supporting World Language Teachers
World language teachers often find themselves in unique situations. They may be the only language teacher at their school or part of a small department, so they often have to seek out professional learning opportunities themselves. Given this, along with the current challenging teaching climate, it is more important than ever to lean on one another. World language teachers need and deserve ongoing support in order to be successful and have a positive impact on student learning. We created the Language Is Limitless Community to give them a space where they can feel supported, encouraged, and most importantly not alone in the important work they do every day.

Community members bond over their shared love of language and culture, regardless of which language they teach. They share ideas, resources, and encouragement in the Language Is Limitless Facebook group and also receive a monthly newsletter with classroom activities, tips, and other support. They can also participate in special events. The Language Is Limitless Community has been shaped and led by educators from the start. At the 2019 ACTFL Conference, educators were invited to vote on what the new group’s name should be. Language Is Limitless became the clear favorite, and a vibrant community celebrating the teaching and learning of languages was born. The name Language Is Limitless comes from the quote by philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein: “The limits of my language are the limits of my world.” Giving our students access to new languages opens up opportunities for them that they would never have otherwise.

Community Mission and Vision
Language Is Limitless Community members share the following core beliefs:
• Learning a language is critical to a student’s future success in an increasingly interconnected global society.
• Learning a language brings significant benefits to students, including faster cognitive development, better test scores, and increased empathy.
• As educators, we need to expand our students’ worldviews and shed a light on other cultures and our own.
• Effective language learning is about communication and interculturality, not just learning vocabulary and grammar.

Our goal is to create a space where teachers can lean on and learn from each other. Ultimately, we want to empower them through continuous support in helping their students fall in love with languages.

The Future Is Limitless
We are continuing to plan new opportunities for teachers to connect with each other, including virtual and in-person meetups at conferences and other world language events. Ready-to-use classroom activities are offered every month to support teachers throughout the school year, and we will have an exciting announcement about an online series in the fall. www.carnegielearning.com/languageislimitless

Jennifer Kilmore is a veteran world language teacher with a background in in-person, hybrid, and virtual instruction. She holds a Master of Arts degree in second languages, second-language acquisition, and pedagogy from the University of Arkansas. Jennifer is very involved in professional language organizations and is a member of the ACTFL’s Leadership Initiative for Language Learning. She is passionate about the lasting positive influences that language learning has on students.

Spanish as a ‘Language of Interracial Mixing and Understanding’

At last month’s inauguration of Spain’s newest Cervantes Institute extension in El Paso, Texas, Luis García Montero, the institute’s director, said the goal was to promote Spanish as a “language of interracial mixing and understanding (lengua de mestizaje y entendimiento)” and that the new presence of the institute in the Texas city “has a fundamental symbolic value because it is a place of frontier, of coexistence.”

This is an extension of the Albuquerque institute in neighboring New Mexico, which is located on the campus of the University of the Southwest, where it will offer Spanish classes and activities that promote pride in Hispanic culture.

During the inauguration, García Montero said that the U.S. was “a fundamental point of reference for the pan-Hispanic community,” made up of more than 500 million people who speak Spanish, the world’s second mother tongue (after Chinese) and the second for international communication (behind English). The goal, he explained, was to disseminate and defend the presence and future of Hispanic culture in the U.S.—the country with the second highest number of native Spanish speakers, only behind Mexico and ahead of Colombia and Spain.

García Montero noted that this was the second Cervantes center on the long border that separates the U.S. and Mexico (the first being in San Diego) and that its opening coincided with the 30th anniversary of the creation of the institute in 1991, a decision that was “the fruit of democracy.”

Culture, a Vaccine against Supremacism
“The border landscape of El Paso is a call to cultural understanding, to the commitment to human rights from the most creative of cultures,” claimed García Montero. The El Paso institute will focus on culture, with programs dedicated to interracial mixing and respect, understanding, and shared history, because “culture is the best vaccine against supremacism and racism.” Regarding the teaching of Spanish, he stressed that classes will be given to suit various professions, including doctors and nurses, since the University of the Southwest is well recognized for its health disciplines. “We carry the name of El Paso in our hearts as something of ours,” concluded García Montero, not without remembering that the new extension joins other prominent Cervantes presences in the country: the centers of New York, Chicago, and Albuquerque, as well as the Observatory of Hispanic Languages located at Harvard University (Cambridge).

Debating the Digital Divide

Yaritza was suspended in seventh grade for punching a boy in the nose. He had called her a dull-witted donkey, not quite in those words.

Luckily, her seventh-grade teacher—who was also the debate coach—recognized her spark of Latinx magic and showed her how ideas can be mightier than fists. She learned to challenge the veracity of online sources, to question the logic of her adversaries, and to conquer her fear of public speaking. “Now I get loud and win medals for it,” she says.

Competitive rules demand that she and her teammates wrestle both sides of every issue: A Green New Deal or no deal? Criminal reform, or same old? In the view of one of their Bronx competitors, “I’d absolutely recommend debate to everyone for its many everlasting benefits, especially its exposure to things in the world I would never have learned about otherwise.”

Refrains like this thrill debate organizations like the National Urban Debate League and other diversity, equity, and inclusion–focused nonprofits that share a mission to “provide access to the transformative power of academic debate” and lead youth to become ”engaged and courageous citizens.” They target the most underserved students in over 20 cities nationwide, cities like Detroit, Chicago, New York, Oakland, and Atlanta.

But then COVID struck, their most formidable opponent yet.

“Can debate exist online?” was the first question staff asked themselves. But it was the second, “For whom?”, that weighed on them most. Then, in some miraculous way that still continues to surprise all, online debating became a lifeline, a sort of refuge in the lonely world of remote learning. Sure, participant numbers are nowhere near pre-COVID levels, but from the mountain of digital despair, a stone of hope surges forward.

Debating the Emotional Cost of the Digital Divide

As far as digital inequities, urban kids are surely hit harder than anyone had at first realized. Reports from April 2020 show that one in five children in Chicago under the age of 18—about 100,000 kids—lacks access to broadband, and these kids are primarily Black or Latinx. Doing schoolwork—or debate—“in a parking lot to capture Wi-Fi,” as a July New York Times editorial put it, “is not a solution.”

New York City mirrors these national trends: 44% of NYC residents in poverty lacked high-speed access in 2019, with nearly one-third of Hispanic and Black New Yorkers lacking access, compared to about 20% of White residents. Even for those with connectivity, 80,000 reported not having a device with which to access the internet, according to the Citizens’ Committee for Children of New York.

But even as hotspots and iPads are distributed, the real work begins. Technology has a way of making us all feel inadequate. Even tech-reared teens are now all tangled up in new links and platforms. When their tech freezes up mid-speech in debate rounds, “they just shut down,” one Bronx high school coach said, “their fragile confidence shot.” So urban debate leagues rolled up their sleeves to advocate and support. Then another surprise bonus emerged: tech skills spiked along with critical literacy.

And outreach got creative, too. Leagues held debate game nights and debate book clubs. Debate relationships mattered. Something compelled kids to stay connected to their debate community. “The most happy I’ve seen them be throughout all of quarantine time,” observed one parent, “is when they’re planning together as partners for upcoming tournaments. They’re so excited.”

Nor could leagues overlook the stressful demands that day-long competitions imposed on families. Yaritza shares a narrow three-bedroom apartment with her parents, her cousin, her twin sisters, and her elderly abuelita. “I like us all together, but the glue traps keep getting stuck to my feet ‘cause there’s nowhere to step.” Working together as a kind of extended family, coaches and league staff sought to mitigate the stress.

Ending Screen and Mission Fatigue

There’s never been a better time to empower more students through debate. Some online activities, like Fortnite, are more immune to screen fatigue than others. Debate, a kind of gaming, turns out to be one of them.

For many, however, debate’s alleged exclusive culture still intimidates. Busting that elitist myth is precisely the aim of urban debate leagues. Around the time Trujillo kicked Yaritza’s abuelita off her land, George Soros began noticing the stark under-representation of lawmakers for Americans of color. When he then realized that law schools also reflect this disparity, he drew a link chain back to the lack of debate clubs in public schools. Thus, the UDL was born. Now more than ever, they’re revved for their mission.

Yet league affiliations aren’t required to reap the profound benefits of debate. Teachers in the South Bronx expanded debate-in-the-classroom programs during COVID’s hybrid learning challenges. They even added a Spanish division to their pre-existing district competitions for elementary and middle schools. “My students stay after practice on their own for hours just so they can rewrite their cases,” one teacher reports.

Other savvy educators recognized debate’s potential to supercharge remote learning. Weaponized to help online classes “catch fire,” debate enticed students toward more rigorous electives. “I didn’t know what to expect, but I love it,” said one Bronx high schooler. “I’ve never thought so much or thought like this before.”

Some of Yaritza’s classmates think they’re crazy. Why ask for extra homework? But to Yaritza, her partner Hakeem, and the rest of the squad, “We just think it’s fun.”

Links available at www.languagemagazine.com/links-debating-the-digital-divide.

Loretta Brady enjoyed a long career as an NYC public middle and high school teacher and as educational coordinator for Rwandan refugees in Malawi under the UNHCR. She now consults for various NYC school districts, training others in debate education. She designs curriculum materials for the New York City Urban Debate League.

Financing Feeling

Committee for Children works with policymakers from around the country and supports laws, policies, and funding that promote social–emotional learning (SEL), address bullying, and prevent child sexual abuse. This funding helps educators better support students, their families, and the entire community. This year there is additional relief funding for the COVID-19 pandemic, along with the standard fiscal year appropriations, available to you to implement or support SEL for students.

► American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARP Act), H.R. 1319
The most recent pandemic relief bill provides the largest round of COVID-19 relief funding for education through the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Fund. The relief package includes $350 billion in aid to state and local governments.
Amount: $122 billion
SEL Opportunities: States and state education agencies (SEAs) must use reserved funds to recover learning loss by spending on activities and interventions responding to students’ academic, social, and emotional needs. The same is true for the reserved funds of local education agencies, which are mostly school districts. Nonreserved funds can be spent on the same activities and interventions allowed under the previous ESSER funding rounds.
State Allocation Stipulations: May reserve up to 10% (but only up to 0.5% for administrative costs); 5% is reserved for interventions that address learning loss; 1% is reserved for summer enrichment programs; 1% is reserved for comprehensive after-school programs.
Award Deadlines: The U.S. Department of Education began disbursing allocations to SEAs in March 2021. SEAs must award subgrants to LEAs within 60 days of receiving the state’s allocation. Funds not allocated to LEAs may be awarded within one year.
LEA Allocation: Based on Title I formula. At least 20% of an LEA’s allocation is for implementing evidence-based interventions that address learning loss.
Deadline to Commit and Spend Funds: Sept. 30, 2024
(includes the twelve-month extension period for carryover funds applicable via the Tydings Amendment).

► Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act
(CRRSA), as included in H.R. 133
The CRRSA Act passed in conjunction with federal budget appropriations at the end of 2020. This bill was the second round of COVID-19 relief funding that allocated funds to mitigate the pandemic’s effect on education. In addition to funds allocated through the ESSER Fund, the bill also included funds allocated through the Governor’s Emergency Education Relief (GEER) Fund.
Amount: $54.3 billion (ESSER II) / $4.1 billion (GEER II)
SEL Opportunities: Funds may be used for activities authorized under ESEA, IDEA, AEFLA, and Perkins. Funds may be used to address the unique needs of student subgroups as well as to provide mental health services and supports (ESSER II). Governors may use funds for subgrants or contracts to education-related entities that the governor “deems essential” for providing social and emotional support (GEER II).
State Allocation Stipulations: May reserve up to 10% (but only up to 0.5% for administrative costs) (ESSER II); not applicable (GEER II).
Award Deadlines: State must award funds within one year of receiving allocation, no later than January 2022 (ESSER II and GEER II).
LEA Allocation: Based on Title I formula (ESSER II). Governors may provide subgrants to LEAs most significantly impacted by COVID to support their provision of educational services to students (GEER II).
Deadline to Commit and Spend Funds: Sept. 30, 2023 (ESSER II and GEER II).

► Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, (CARES) H.R. 748
The CARES Act was the first round of federal COVID-19 relief funding that included funds for education. The bill established the ESSER Fund as well as the GEER Fund.
Amount: $13.5 billion (ESSER) / $3 billion (GEER)
SEL Opportunities: Funds may be used for activities authorized under ESEA, IDEA, AEFLA, and Perkins. Additionally, funds may be used to address the unique needs of student subgroups as well as to provide mental health services and supports (ESSER).
Governors may use funds for subgrants or contracts to education-related entities that the governor deems essential for providing social and emotional support (GEER).
State Allocation Stipulations: May reserve up to 10% (but only up to 0.5% for administrative costs) (ESSER); not applicable (GEER).
Award Deadlines: State must award funds within one year of receiving its allocation, no later than June 2021 (ESSER and GEER).
LEA Allocation: Based on Title I formula (ESSER). Governors may provide subgrants to LEAs most significantly impacted by COVID to support their provision of educational services to students (GEER II).
Deadline to Commit and Spend Funds: Sept. 30, 2022 (ESSER and GEER).

► Fiscal Year 2021 Appropriations, as included in H.R. 133
Title I Grants to LEAs: Total Appropriation Amount (TAA) $16.5B; +$227M Change Over Previous FY Appropriation (Change); Federal Department (FD): Education
IDEA Part B Grants to states: TAA $12.9B; +$173M Change; FD: Education
Title II-A Supporting Effective Instruction State Grants: TAA $2.1B; +$11.3M Change; FD: Education
Title IV Student Support and Academic Enrichment State Grants: TAA $1.2B; +$10M Change; FD: Education
21st Century Community Learning Grants: TAA $1.3B; +$10M Change; FD: Education
Education Innovation and Research (The Evaluation Group): TAA $67M; +$2M Change; FD: Education
Full-Service Community Schools: TAA $30M; +$5M Change; FD: Education
School-Based Mental Health Services Grant Program: TAA $106M; +$2M Change; FD: Education
Project AWARE: TAA $107B; +$5M Change; FD: Health and Human Services (HHS)
National Child Traumatic Stress Initiative: TAA $72M; +$3M Change; FD: HHS
Child Care and Development Block Grant: TAA $5.9B; +$85M Change; FD: HHS
Head Start: TAA $10.7B; +$135M Change; FD: HHS

This information was reproduced with the permission of Committee for Children from www.cfchildren.org/blog/2021/03/federal-funding-for-sel-now-available-march-2021.

UT Austin Statisticians Win Prestigious Award for Language Learning Research

UT Austin statisticians Giorgio Paulon and Abhra Sarkar have been awarded the prestigious Mitchell Prize for their paper on tone learning in adults.

The Mitchell Prize, jointly sponsored by the American Statistical Association, the International Society for Bayesian Analysis, and the Mitchell Prize Founders’ Committee, is awarded annually to the author(s) of an outstanding paper that utilizes Bayesian analysis to solve an important applied problem.

Paulon and Sarkar’s study centered around the biological changes that take place in the brain when non-native English-speaking adults learn another language’s tonal differences.

Because of its extensive use of tonal variations, Paulon and Sarlar selected Mandarin Chinese as the target language for their study.

For example, there are four ways to pronounce “ma” in Mandarin Chinese and each way has a completely different meaning; pronouncing it one way means “mother” and another way means “horse.”

At the outset of the experiment, 20 non-native English-speaking subjects were taught how to differentiate four tonal variations in Mandarin Chinese.

In the days that followed, subjects were tasked with listening to native Mandarin Chinese speakers and reporting on the tones they heard.  

The study yielded two significant findings: 1) tones 1 (high level) and 3 (low dipping) were the easiest for subjects to learn to tell apart, and 2) the greater a subject’s aptitude for language learning, the quicker they process audio information when learning tonal differences.

Paulon and Sarkar believe the implications of their findings could be far-reaching. “…this could help eventually develop precision learning strategies for different people depending on how their individual brains work,” said Sarkar.

Additionally, Sarkar believes the statistical model his team used could assist clinicians in understanding why an individual has a speech or hearing disorder, and help neuroscientists studying other kinds of decision making.

Paulon and Sarkar’s paper appeared in the Journal of the American Statistical Association in September 2020.

How Bilingual?

World language departments around the globe are continually faced with the task of advising and placing freshmen and transfer students into the appropriate courses. This decision is often based primarily upon the number of classes the students have previously taken in the language. However, placement on this basis does not take into account several important factors which determine a student’s actual ability in the language. These factors include the effectiveness of the student’s past teacher(s), the curriculum covered, and extracurricular or other out-of-class exposure to the language.

The increasingly popular Seal of Biliteracy and its associated tests do offer an alternative solution, but traditionally, universities and colleges have relied on an interview-style test to assess language ability. While there are several commercial test products that use interview-style tasks, these tests can be expensive and can take a while to be scored. As a result, many organizations have moved language testing processes in-house and use their existing language resources—if they have any—to conduct language screening interviews.

Throughout my career, I have worked with language teachers, administrators, and other professionals to develop their skills in this type of assessment. If you plan to use an in-house solution for language assessment like an interview-style test, here are some points to consider.

Focus Questions on Language Function
I love getting to know people, and an interview assessment is a great way to do that. However, it is important to remain focused on the purpose of this particular interview, which is to elicit evidence of language ability. Questions should be specific to that objective. Here are a list of key functions that you should include in a well-rounded language ability interview:

  1. A flex plan approach
    Have a plan, but plan for flexibility, too. I will usually create a grid with several questions that target a particular function so that I can adapt during the interview as I see what tasks or content areas are the best fit for the person being interviewed.
  2. Pre-instructions
    They say if you start right, it is harder to go wrong. Before the actual interview begins, it is critical to give explicit instructions about the goal of the interview. Something along the lines of:
    “Of course, I’m looking forward to getting to know you! However, I am mostly interested in getting to know your abilities as an English (Spanish/Chinese, etc.) language speaker. With that in mind, as you answer questions, answer them fully and with sufficient detail that it shows what you can do in English. If you think that a question will not give me good information about your abilities, maybe because it is not something you know a lot about or have experience with, let me know. Just say, ‘Could we talk about something else?’ I hope it is okay with you but it is essential that I record our conversation. That will allow me to review it afterward. While we are talking, I will be focusing more on my part. When I listen afterward, I will be evaluating your performance. Any questions, or should we jump right in?”
  3. Warm up
    It is good to ease the person being interviewed—and, frankly, yourself as the interviewer—into the task. A warm up should be easy. It is usually safe to start at an intermediate level. One of the most helpful rules for knowing you are at the intermediate level is at the heart of the word intermediate—ME. Intermediate speakers can talk about themselves. Try this:
    “Let’s let you get comfortable talking. Tell me about yourself. What are your interests beyond using English? Tell me about your language-learning journey.”
  4. Past tense
    If you are measuring English, past tense narration is a good indicator of language ability. Here is an example:
    “Tell me about a time when you moved to a new place. Include detail from before, during, and right after the move. I am interested in some of the specific things you did to set up life in this new place.”
    When you listen to their response, you will be listening to confirm that the order of the events is clear, well-marked, and accurate in its form.
  5. Description
    An important language function that the student will need to manage is giving an appropriate amount of detail. There are three magic words that I use several times in an interview to get at this function of description: “Tell me more.” This phrase encourages the student to draw out additional descriptive details. Some people are talkers; some people are not. “Tell me more” is a natural way to coax out a person’s language ability so that you are measuring it and not their personality.
  6. Redirection
    It can also be helpful—at least one time in the interview—to interrupt a description with a phrase like, “Actually, I was hoping to hear more about _”. If you asked them to talk about a famous landmark in their hometown, you may interrupt their description of its physical characteristics and say, “Actually I was hoping to hear more about its history.” Not only does this elicit more breadth from their description but seeing how they handle the shift and interruption can be very insightful.
  7. Process
    Identifying whether an individual can communicate a familiar process to someone who is unfamiliar with it is another critical language application to assess for. One way to do this is by asking them to first identify a place that they go to once a week or so. Then, ask them to give you directions for how you would get to that place from their home or a common landmark like a subway station or an airport. Tell them that you will take notes and then, after they finish, recall what details you noted. Instruct them to correct or clarify anything that you missed.
  8. Numbers
    Effectively communicating strings of numbers and letters is a strong indicator of language ability that can be helpful to elicit in an interview. There are many possible strings that you could have them produce, but it is helpful to include an unfamiliar or unpracticed string. Most wrappers or products like books, or even dollar bills, have a unique string (often near the barcode) on them.
    You can provide them with the object if you are in person. When over the phone, you can ask them to grab a book or wrapper or dollar bill and read out loud the string of letters or numbers that identify it. Write the string down as they communicate it. After they have read it, read it back to them, but change one of the characters. Identifying whether they can confirm and correct the errored string effectively is helpful.

Record the Interviews and Rate the Performance after the Fact
Even when questions are preplanned, conducting an interview in a way that is consistent and fair requires a lot of concentration on your behalf as an interviewer. It is difficult—if not impossible—to split concentration between executing the interview and simultaneously making precise and reliable evaluations about the language performance of a student. Taking a break between the stress of giving the interview and playing it back for scoring will ensure your placement is more reliable. It will also provide you the opportunity to more objectively review your own execution of the interview and improve your skill going forward.

Know Your Limits and Pace Yourself
Although we have identified a few things that will make your efforts more sustainable, a single interviewer can only do so many interviews before their fatigue will start to impact the placement of the student being interviewed. In order to avoid this, take breaks and spread the interviews out over an appropriate amount of time. An interviewer who does not do this will start to suffer from intra-rater reliability issues. This means an interview that they do or a placement they assign early in their effort will be notably different from an interview completed or placement assigned later in the cycle.

Calibrate Multiple Interviewers
Most situations will require multiple interviewers, as you are typically placing hundreds of students each semester. While this increases the capacity for how many students can be assessed at one time, it also increases risks to reliability. In addition to extensive training before interviews begin, ongoing calibration is necessary. Having a preplanned structure to the interview will help consistency, but before anyone scores an interview, they should listen to one or two previously scored samples and assign them a score. If the score they assign does not match the previously determined score, they should practice with a few more recordings to ensure that they are consistent with established standards.

If This Sounds Like a Lot of Work, Time, and Money, It Is…
An interview-style approach has a reasonably low start-up cost, but it is unrelenting in its costs to maintain—particularly when reliability matters. Not only are there direct expenses in hiring, training, and maintaining the right administrators to execute these interviews, but there are also indirect expenses in using a testing method that is simply less reliable than other forms of testing.
A test is reliable when, under different circumstances with different test-takers, it would return consistent results. Like a digital weight scale that produces the same outcome each time it measures a one-kilogram weight, a language test must produce the same score each time a student measures ability. An interview approach to language testing, even at its most refined, simply introduces too much potential variance for its reliability not to be at risk.

Placing a student in the incorrect class doesn’t just cost them time and tuition; administrators and teachers lose time and money, too. The time spent in the wrong class and the lengthy process of interviewing and placing again add up quickly, resulting in productivity loss for all involved.

While these tips for interview-style testing are certainly useful, by using this less-reliable assessment method, you are conceding that you will make wrong decisions more frequently. Even well-trained and well-supported interviewers and raters introduce error in both components. Fortunately, an interview-based approach is not the only solution to the problem of testing students for language ability. AI-powered language testing solutions have improved greatly in their accessibility and accuracy.

AI-powered language testing solutions use technology to elicit language performance. This presents significant advantages in efficiency and scalability. An interview approach can really only assess students one at a time per interviewer. Most computer-based testing will be able to test all students who need to be tested at the same time and—very importantly—test them all under very similar conditions.

Such tests achieve high levels of accuracy by reducing threats to reliability in both the elicitation and evaluation components of their assessment. Through the use of innovative methods to gather and analyze data about a student’s speaking ability, they are able to predict ability with improved levels of accuracy over interview-style assessments—but in 15 minutes or less, much more reliably, and much more inexpensively.

Some of these tests can be used completely remotely. If we have learned anything from 2020, it is that a solution is only as good as it is flexible.

Coordinating an interview approach to language screening adds further complexity at a time when such complexity is increasingly costly. Artificial intelligence helps to simplify and improve the process so no more time and money are wasted wondering which students are properly placed.

Judson Hart has spent 16 years working in English language assessment, teaching, and administration. As director of curriculum at Emmersion, he advances company strategy through developing and furthering innovations in language assessment. Before joining Emmersion, he was the coordinator of assessment and technology at Brigham Young University’s English Language Center.

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