As a follow up to this event (details below) a quick idea connected to the workshop led by Tony Green: The English Profile project (www.englishprofile.org/) welcomes involvement from groups around the world and several people present mentioned they would like to participate. In order to create synergy, spread the workload and increase research possibilities it could be possible to coordinate efforts by forming a group of organizations based in Japan to contact and work with the English Profile project. It is only a germ of an idea at this stage but should this sound like something you could be interested in please reply and we can work from there.
Background:
The English Profile project (EP) is a collaborative programme to enhance the learning, teaching and assessment of English worldwide. The aim of English Profile is to create a ‘profile’ or set of Reference Level Descriptions for English linked to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). These will provide detailed information about the language that learners can be expected to demonstrate at each level, offering a clear benchmark for progress that will inform curricula development as well as the development of courses and test material to support learners, teachers and other professionals involved in the teaching of English as a foreign language
The Breakthrough specification (for the A1 level in English) is now available for download from the EP website (free) - the Waystage, Vantage and Threshold volumes are available as e-books for a small charge. There is also a demo of the EP wordlists for A1 to B2. Two books on EP are due for publication next year. Tony Green will be writing one on functional progression in the CEFR levels and John Hawkins of Cambridge University will be writing the other on grammatical progression.
Tony Green has reported back to the EP steering group about the workshop and the interest in EP in Japan. He suggests that any SIG member interested in contributing data to EP either in the form of pedagogic materials or samples of learner performances should get in contact with him in the first instance and he will put us in touch with the relevant research group. His email is available from by contacting the SIG; again a coordinated effort may be more beneficial.
Regarding the benefits of participation, it does depend to some extent on the nature of the participation and the benefits that the partner wants from it. For example in Tony Green’s institution (University of Bedfordshire) they are collecting spoken language data for the project and are working on an agreement whereby all the learner performances are transcribed and error coded and the University use the resulting transcripts in our (non EP) research while the EP benefits because the performances are entered into the EP corpus. Researchers might also want access to other parts of the corpus for purposes of comparison with their own data - e.g. examples of Japanese learners' writing at the B1 level on Cambridge tests.
The EP core partners have been awarded a grant by the EU to develop the network for EP via seminars, workshops etc. and this might be able to fund events at partner organisations similar to the seminar we did in September. It would need to discussed, but there might be funds to support for a SIG like ours holding regular events.
An EP (peer reviewed) journal will be launched shortly with Mike McCarthy as editor and there will be opportunities for quality research related to the Profile to be published there. In short there are a number of possibilities which could be up for discussion.
The CEFR and English Profile Workshop with Tony Green Details
The JALT Framework and Language Portfolio SIG, Cambridge University Press and Keio University Research Center for Foreign Language Education will jointly convene a workshop on the uses of the CEFR and English Profile, welcoming Dr. Tony Green of the University of Bedfordshire Centre for Research in English Language Learning and Assessment (CRELLA) as guest speaker and leader.
The event began with an introduction to the English Profile project followed by a workshop where delegates viewed samples of speaking test performances, consider how they link to the CEFR, compared each other’s judgments, and discussed some of the questions that the process raises. Delegates were recommended to refer to the Manual for relating Language Examinations to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages ahead of the workshop session.
Upon participation in the workshop, delegates took away a better knowledge of the CEFR and English Profile, an understanding of what is involved in standard setting and some of the challenges this involves for users and for the CEFR (and similar frameworks). Venue: Keio University Hiyoshi Campus
CEFRと英語プロファイルに関するワークショップ開催のお知らせ
来る9月11日（金）に、JALT Framework and Language Portfolio分科会、ケンブリッジ大学出版、慶應義塾大学外国語教育研究センター共催で、英国ベッドフォードシャー大学英語教育・評価センターのトニー・グリーン博士を迎え、ワークショップを実施いたします。
当日は、CEFRに関連する代表的な研究プロジェクトであるEnglish Profileについてグリーン博士にご紹介いただいた後に、様々なスピーキング・テストからのサンプルをCEFRと結びつける作業を実際に参加者が試み、能力レベルの解釈と評価に伴う諸問題について検討します。
評価システムやスタンダードの構築に興味のある方々をはじめ、CEFRが現場でどう学習・教育・評価と関連づけられ、English Profileが学習ツールとしてどう使われうるかについてご関心のある方は、是非ご参加ください。尚、参加予定者は参考資料として「言語テストをCEFRと関連付けるためのマニュアル」Manual for relating Language Examinations to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languagesを事前にご参照ください。
日時：2009年9月11日（金）14:30-17:30 （14:00開場）
場所：慶應義塾大学日吉キャンパス
来往舎 中会議室
スケジュール：
14:30-15:20 プレゼンテーション＆ディスカッション
（テーマ：CEFRと英語プロファイルの開発）
15:30-17:30ワークショップ
使用言語：英語