'Oral language skills deserve more attention'
Eight primary school students who are about to enter secondary education often do not have the desired target level for oral language skills. No matter how commonplace speaking, listening and conversing may be, in many primary schools these three explicit skills are hardly anchored in the curriculum.
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This picture emerges from a representative poll by the Education Inspectorate, in which 2324 grade 8 students at 121 primary schools took part. In the research, carried out in the 2016/2017 school year, looked at, among other things, the so-called reference levels for speaking, listening and conducting conversations.
When drawing up these reference levels in 2008, the Meijerink committee formulated the ambition that 85 percent of the pupils attain basic basic level 1F and 65 percent achieve target level 2F at the end of primary school. The Inspectorate finds that the basic level 1F is more than achieved. Too few students leave primary school with target level 2F: 40, 62 and 49 percent respectively for listening, speaking and having conversations.
Beau van Erven Dorens
Listening skills have deteriorated slightly compared to 2007, according to the Inspectorate. 71 percent of the questions were answered correctly, compared to 2017 percent in 64. It is striking that the difference in scores is entirely attributed to one of the two test fragments used (which was about TV presenter Beau van Erven Dorens). The report does not provide a clear explanation for this. Speaking skills have not changed significantly over time.
More than XNUMX percent of the schools surveyed have not set targets for oral skills
The embedding of oral skills in the curriculum deserves more attention. More than forty percent of the schools in the survey have not set any goals. One in five schools cite the reference levels as the basis for their learning objectives. Another factor is that oral language skills are much more difficult to objectify and assess than other language skills such as spelling. It goes without saying that the 'language richness' of the home environment also influences pupils.
Not purposeful
'Speaking, listening and having conversations are all day long at school: children talk to each other, listen to the teacher or ask a question. However, these are by no means always targeted activities to develop oral language skills, 'notes Inspector General Monique Vogelzang in the preface to the investigation report.
One of the possible causes of this seems to be the relative unfamiliarity of the learning objectives for oral proficiency. It is often not clear to schools what pupils should be able to do at the end of grade 8, how you work towards this as a school and how you can properly assess the skills of pupils, especially in terms of speaking and having conversations. '
