BILC Professional Seminar 2019 Setting Guidelines for Topic

BILC Professional Seminar 2019 Setting Guidelines for Topic Areas Within Proficiency Levels i. a. w. STANAG 6001 Dr Dugald Sturges Head of English Language Instruction Federal Office of Languages, Hürth Copenhagen, 07 October 2019

What are we going to talk about… When setting proficiency targets for teaching, one of the major “whats” is what Topic Areas are to be covered: • • “What are we going to talk about? ” “What are we going to write about? ” “What are we going to read about? ” “What are we going to listen about? ” 2

Are you experienced competent? • Hey, we’ve been doing this for years, everybody know what topics need to be dealt with at each level, right? • Well, not always… • Teachers, curriculum developers and stakeholders still need clarity regarding what language competencies need to be developed in military language courses. 3

Are we living in filter bubbles? • Teachers: Topics and Points of Grammar as handholds/ What topic are you doing this week? / That’s Level 2 material /Competence! • Stakeholders: Sending level 3 graduates to a level 2 course to learn level 2 job skills / Relevance! / No Shakespeare! / Competence! 4

Competency • What do we as teachers understand as “competence”? How do we develop this level of competency? • What do the stakeholders understand as “competence”? And what do they expect someone with this level of competency to be able to do with the language? 5

Military definition of Competence • Demonstrated ability to successfully perform duty with discipline and to standard. 6

Language Teacher‘s Definition of Competence • The unconscious knowledge of grammar that allows a speaker to use and understand a language. • The speaker‘s level of competence enables them to develop language skills • This is the proficiency we can measure 7

Language Teachers‘ Definition of Competence • In Competency-Based Language Teaching (CBLT), the focus is on the “outcomes or outputs of learning”. Richards & Rodgers (2001) • The major basis of CBLT is the “functional and interactional perspective on the nature of language • Aim is building communicative competence 8

Competence and Competence • The STANAG descriptors describe what needs to be tested – • But the teacher has to develop the linguistic competencies and skills these measurable levels require • And at the same time focus on language skills that are relevant to actual job requirements (national / international / multinational) – developing professional competencies 9

At the BILC / NATO level The BILC Overview of Language Proficiency Levels attempts to bridge this gap by giving examples of what someone with a particular proficiency level can do on the job in a military context 10

At the national level • BSpr. A fundamentally reviewed what it is we as teachers are doing • Not changing the measurable proficiency levels – these are set in STANAG 6001 • Instead, clarifying what language skills need to be taught and which competencies need to be developed in order to assure that soldiers/airmen/sailors/civil servants can fulfill the tasks of their jobs AND develop language proficiency 11

Guidelines for Language Instruction Goals: • Describing of the essential characteristics of language instruction and language proficiency testing • Focusing language instruction more closely to the target group relevance determined by the stakeholders • Providing guidelines for teaching staff • Providing points of reference for stakeholders

Case in Point: New Topic Areas • Starting Point: – The ultimate goal of language acquisition is professionally relevant language competency (i. a. w. stakeholder requirements). – The central concept is developing competency for speech acts – doing things with words. – The new topic areas and fields are points of orientation for a more professionally relevant communication framework

The main idea behind reorganizing the Topic Areas The six topic areas • Are more obviously professionally oriented, but are open for all stakeholders. • Apply to all languages, proficiency levels and skills, however are differently weighted. • Are not “chronological”.

Basic Assumptions Regarding Topic Areas The topic areas serve as a framework for communication • The “old“ topics are assigned to the 6 new topic areas. • They are oriented to the target group. • They are not limited to specific proficiency levels. • They can be applied to all proficiency levels if properly adjusted, however with different weighting. 15

Comparison of old and new Topic Areas Level 1 TA 1: Personal Data (New TA: 1 Personal) TA 2: Training, Job (New TA: 2 Training and Education, 4 Professional Tasks) TA 3: Accommodation (New TA: 1 Personal, 3 Workplace) TA 4: Daily Routine (New TA: 1 Routine, 4 Professional Skills) TA 5: Shopping (New TA: 1 Routine) TA 6: Leisure Time Activities (New TA: 1 Personal and Routine) TA 7: Public and Private Transport (New TA: 1 Routine) TA 8: Vacation, Travel (New TA: 1 Personal) TA 9: Weather and Climate (New TA: 1 Routine, 3 Workplace, also 6 Geopolitical Topics) TA 10: Describing Places, Giving Directions (New TA: 1 Routine, 3 Workplace) 16

Comparison of old and new Topic Areas Level 2 TA 1: Training and Education, Job (New TA: 1 Education and Training, 4 Professional Tasks) TA 2: Accommodation (New TA: 1 Personal, 3 Workplace) TA 3: Leisure time activities (New TA: 1 Personal und Routine) TA 4: Transport (New TA: 1 Routine) TA 5: Vacation, travel, tourism (New TA: 1 Personal) TA 6: Description of places and installations (New TA: 1 Routine, 2 Workplace) TA 7: Sports (New TA: 1 Personal und Routine) TA 8: Health and environment (New TA: 1 Personal u. Routine, Workplace, also TAs 5 & 6) TA 9: Regional Studies (New TA: 1 Routine, 6 Social, Intercultural and Geopolitical) TA 10: General military issues (New TA: 2 Training and Education, 3 Workplace, 4 Professional Tasks, 5 Wider Professional Environment) 3 17

Comparison of old and new Topic Areas Former TA Levels 3 and 4: TA 1: Education and Society TA 2: Public Administration and Law TA 3: Politics and Economics TA 4: Culture and Communication TA 5: Science and Technology New TA: TA 5: Wider Professional Environment TA 6: Social, Intercultural and Geopolitical Topics 18