Los alumnos tienen interacciones que permiten entrar en Zona de Desarrollo

There are nine different formats in the NTE that measure reading comprehension, vocabulary and grammar. (1) Click picture: the student is presented with a short text and four pictures and answers by clicking on the picture he/she think matches the text. This task assesses the

reading comprehension of finding information in a text and vocabulary. (2) Click text: the student is presented with an instruction, a question and four short texts, and answers by clicking on the text he/she thinks matches the question. This task assesses reading

comprehension of finding information in a text. (3) Click and drag: the student is presented with an instruction, a large picture and four small pictures. The student answers by following the instruction, and thereby dragging one of the small pictures into the large picture. This task assesses vocabulary, as well as reading comprehension of interpreting and finding

information. (4) Gap-filling: the student is presented with a short text with one or more gaps, each gap has four alternatives. The student answers by clicking on one of the alternatives. This task assesses grammar. (5) Multiple choice short/story: The student is presented with either a short text and a question with four alternatives, or a longer text with several questions, each with four alternatives. The student answers by clicking on one of the alternatives. This task assesses reading comprehension of finding information, interpreting content or finding the main point. (6) Click word: the student is presented with a short text and questions such as, “Click on the word that means almost the same as…”. The student answers by clicking on a word in the text. This task assesses vocabulary. (7) Who could say?: the student is

presented with a text that describes several people. There are more questions to the same text. The student answers questions of the type: “Who could say…?” the student answers by clicking on a name in the text. This task assesses reading comprehension of interpreting content. (8) Write word: the student is presented with a sentence with one or more words missing. The student answers by writing the missing word, to make the sentence complete. This task assesses vocabulary. (9) Move paragraph: the student is presented with a text where the paragraphs are placed in random order. The student answers by moving the paragraphs in the text to make the correct order. This task assesses reading comprehension of finding the main point (Udir, 2012a). Examples of these tasks are given in Appendix 1.

When the students have completed the NTE, they are given a score and divided into five levels of mastery based on these scores. To each of the levels in the NTE, there is a

41 have achieved zero or very few points on the test. This means that some students will get a description that is more positive than what the test results reveal” (Udir, 2012b, p.12, my translation). Additionally, it is important to mention that the students within a level have achieved different scores and that some might only be one point away from a different level. Another implication of these scores, is that they might be misguided, especially related to the descriptions of the general student on each level. As mentioned, the NTE tests the students in reading, vocabulary and grammar, and as is illustrated in Table 2 (Matrix of reading types), reading makes for 50% of the tasks, vocabulary makes for 25% of the tasks, and grammar makes for 25% of the tasks in the NTE. In other words, a student who for example achieves level 3 might in theory only have mastered grammar and vocabulary, and not any of the tasks on reading, and as a result, the general descriptions of this student would be wrong.

Therefore, it is important to evaluate each student’s test results. The general descriptions are divided in reading comprehension, vocabulary and grammar, Along with the descriptions there is a column called “This means in practice” where there is a more concrete explanation of the descriptions, for example in level 3:

Level 3

Reading comprehension:

Understand main points and some details, even in longer texts, when the language is rather simple

Understand the content of a short text, even when the language is rather difficult.

Vocabulary:

Master a vocabulary that covers day-to-day situations

Understand several words related to emotions and the state of mind

Understand the meaning of some unknown words and phrases based on their context

Grammar:

Use some basic rules and patterns for grammar and different sentence types

This means in practice:

Follow the content in books and stories that native language users on the student’s age would like to read, if she/he can get help, for example by using a dictionary

Understand details in texts on known subjects, sport reports, short articles in magazines or interviews with celebrities

Understand personal letters or longer e-mails that describe something that has happened, wishes, emotions or plans

Find sites on the Internet on different subjects and understand the most important parts of the content

Understand and use simple instructions, for example in games, manuals for technical equipment and recipes

Understand the most important elements in simple and concrete factual texts when the structure is clear and the subject is somewhat known to the student Table 3: Levels of Mastery: Level 3 (Udir, 2012b:13-14, my translation)

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The Directorate states that it is important to note that “In the description of a level, the skills already described in a lower level are not repeated. The levels are built up with progression, and a student on level 5 can thus be assumed to have the skills on levels 1-5” (Udir, 2012b, p.12, my translation).