How to assess your learners using the GSE Assessment Frameworks

Billie Jago
Billie Jago
A teachet stood in front of a class in front of a board, smiling at his students.
所要时间: 4 minutes

With language learning, assessing both the quality and the quantity of language use is crucial for accurate proficiency evaluation. While evaluating quantity (for example the number of words written or the duration of spoken production) can provide insights into a learner's fluency and engagement in a task, it doesn’t show a full picture of a learner’s language competence. For this, they would also need to be evaluated on the quality of what they produce (such as the appropriateness, accuracy and complexity of language use). The quality also considers factors such as grammatical accuracy, lexical choice, coherence and the ability to convey meaning effectively.

In order to measure the quality of different language skills, you can use the Global Scale of English (GSE) assessment frameworks.

Developed in collaboration with assessment experts, the GSE Assessment Frameworks are intended to be used alongside the GSE Learning Objectives to help you assess the proficiency of your learners.

There are two GSE Assessment Frameworks: one for adults and one for young learners.

What are the GSE Assessment Frameworks?

  • The GSE Assessment Frameworks are intended to be used alongside the GSE Learning Objectives to help teachers assess their learners’ proficiency of all four skills (speaking, listening, reading and writing).
  • The GSE Learning Objectives focus on the things a learner can do, while the GSE Assessment Frameworks focus on how well a learner can do these things.
  • It can help provide you with examples of what proficiencies your learners should be demonstrating.??
  • It can help teachers pinpoint students' specific areas of strength and weakness more accurately, facilitating targeted instruction and personalized learning plans.
  • It can also help to motivate your learners, as their progress is evidenced and they can see a clear path for improvement.

An example of the GSE Assessment Frameworks

This example is from the Adult Assessment Framework for speaking.

As you can see, there are sub-skills within speaking (and?for the other three main overarching skills – writing, listening and reading). Within speaking, these are?production?and?fluency, spoken interaction, language range and?accuracy.

The GSE range (and corresponding CEFR level) is shown at the top of each column, and there are descriptors that students should ideally demonstrate at that level.

However, it is important to note that students may sit across different ranges, depending on the sub-skill. For example, your student may show evidence of GSE 43-50 production and fluency and spoken interaction, but they may need to improve their language range and accuracy, and therefore sit in a range of GSE 36-42 for these sub-skills.

The GSE assessment frameworks in practice?– let’s try

So, how can you use these frameworks as a teacher in your lesson? Let’s look at an example.

Imagine you are teaching a class of adult learners at GSE 43-50 (B1). This week, your class has been working towards writing an essay about living in the city vs the countryside. Your class has just written their final essay and you want to assess what they have produced.

Look at the writing sub-skills in the GSE Assessment Framework for adults. Imagine these are the criteria you are using to assess your students’ writing.

You read one of your student's essays, and in their essay they demonstrate that they can:

  • Express their opinion on the advantages and disadvantages of living in the city vs the countryside
  • Make relevant points which are mostly on-topic
  • Use topic-related language
  • Connect their ideas logically and in a way that flows well
  • Write in clear paragraphs

However, you notice that:

  • They tend to repeat common words, such as city, town, countryside, nice, busy
  • They don’t use punctuation effectively, for example missing commas, long sentences, missing capitalization
  • They have some issues with grammatical structures

Compare the above notes to the GSE Assessment Frameworks. What level is your learner demonstrating in each sub-skill? How could you evidence this using the criteria?

Now, compare your answers to the ideas below.

The points marked in the GSE 43-50 column are evidence that the student is at the expected writing level for their class, based on what you observed in their essay. The points marked in the GSE 36-42 column could be shown to the student to tell them what they need to focus on to improve, based on their essay.

Customizing the GSE assessment frameworks

The GSE Assessment Frameworks are flexible and customizable, and you can use the descriptors for your specific purpose. You can choose the appropriate GSE Assessment Frameworks for your context, and build your own formative assessment based on these.

In the example above, you were only assessing an essay, so you could ignore any contexts that were not applicable to that scenario. For example, writes personal and semi-formal letters and emails relating to everyday matters, or incorporates some relevant details from external sources.

Another benefit of the frameworks is that you can personalize assessments and create tailored learning roadmaps for individual students. Of course, not all learners are the same, so the descriptors allow students to see which sub-skill they need to work on in order to bring their writing (or speaking, listening or reading) up to their expected level. It also helps you as the teacher to understand what sub-skills to focus on in lessons to improve these main skills.

Finally, don’t be afraid to introduce your students to these descriptors or translate them into the learner's first language for lower levels. It is a great way for them to pinpoint and reflect on their strengths and areas for improvement, rather than simply getting a score and not understanding how to get to the next level of confidence and ability.

By incorporating the GSE Assessment Frameworks into your course for formative assessment, you can build students’ confidence and help them better reflect on their learning.

Learn more about the GSE

More blogs from 蜜桃app

  • 生徒たちは机に座って一緒に教科書を見ており、教師がそれを指差しています

    実社会 英語: GSE Job Profiles が学習と仕事の橋渡しをする方法

    投稿者 Sara Davila
    所要时间: 5分间

    英語能力を向上させると、収益の可能性が最大50%増加し、AIからキャリアを守ることができることをご存知ですか?蜜桃app の最近の調査では、英語は単なるスキルではなく、今日のグローバル化した职场におけるキャリアを决定づける利点であることが浮き彫りになっています。 何百万人もの成人学习者にとって、教室から職場への移動には、一般的な会話能力以上のものが必要です。それは、ターゲットを絞った即戦力となるスキルをできるだけ早く習得することです。英語言語教育者にとって、「即戦力」英语とは何か、「即戦力」のスキルをどのように特定するかを理解することは、学习者が将来の同僚と効果的にコミュニケーションを取り、協力する準備を整える上で大きな利点となります。

    そこで、 Global Scale of English (GSE) ジョブプロファイル の出番です。教育者やプログラム開発者にとっては、実際の仕事のスキルと、学习者がそれを実行するために必要な 英語 との間の架け橋となります。看護助手、ホスピタリティワーカー、ITプロフェッショナル向けのプログラムを作成している場合でも、このツールは、学习者が自分の役割で成功するために必要な正確な 英語 スキルを確実に構築できるようにします。

    骋厂贰ジョブプロファイルを作成する方法と、今日の専门的な现実に沿ったプログラムを构筑するための実用的な使用法を探ってみましょう。

  • 窓際に座って本を読んでいる男

    新しい単语の意味を理解するのに役立つ方法

    投稿者
    所要时间: 4分间

    新しい言语を学ぶことはエキサイティングな旅ですが、特になじみのない単语に遭遇すると、困难になることもあります。新しい语汇に怯えないでください。适切な戦略を立てれば、新しい単语の意味を理解し、言语スキルを向上させることができます。ここでは、新しい単语の意味を理解し、新しい単语を自信を持って使用し、なじみのない単语に自信を持って取り组むための効果的な方法をいくつか绍介します。

    実用的なヒントに入る前に、 英語 言語の起源について少し理解しておくと役立ちます。 英語 はゲルマン語族の言語ですが、特に1066年のノルマン征服とルネッサンス時代を通じて、ラテン語の影響を強く受けています。多くの 英語 単語には、ラテン語の語根、接頭辞、接尾辞があります。この歴史的背景は、なじみのない語彙を解読するための貴重なツールになる可能性があります。

  • 電話で笑顔のビジネスウーマンが、ラップトップを膝に乗せてオフィスに座っていました

    デジタル版 言語 Tutor:AIを活用した会話パートナーによる語学学習の強化

    投稿者
    所要时间: 3.5分

    ますます多くの学习ツールやアプリケーションがリリースされる中、适切なソリューションを选択することは圧倒されるかもしれません。しかし、デジタル版 言語 Tutor for Mondly by 蜜桃appは、公司クライアントが関连するビジネスコンテキストでリスニングとスピーキングの能力を向上させることを目的とした革新的なソリューションとして际立っています。

    デジタル版 言語 Tutorは、少なくともB1レベルの英語(Global Scale of Englishで43-50)を話す専門家を対象としています。AIを活用したConversation Partnersを採用して企業シナリオをシミュレートし、ユーザーに没入型でインタラクティブな学習体験を提供します。

    この记事では、これらのカンバセーションパートナーの背后にある戦略的なデザインプロセスについて概説し、多様な表现、説得力のある本物の性格特性の开発、レベルに适した言语スキルと公司の必须ソフトスキルを统合して包括的な言语学习ソリューションを作成することの重要性を强调します。