A Framework for Young EFL Learners’ Diagnostic Assessment: ‘Can Do Statements’ and Task Types

Abstract

The aim of this chapter is to present a framework for assessing young learners of foreign languages for diagnostic purposes. The first section outlines the most important trends in language assessment and describes the educational context where the project was implemented. Then, the chapter discusses how children between the ages of 6 and 12 develop in a foreign language and outlines the most important principles of assessing young language learners. The actual framework was designed for the four skills; it aimed to cover the first 6 years of primary education in Hungarian public schools. The document used the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR, 2001) as a point of departure and includes age-specific ‘can do statements’ and task types corresponding to them. Readers are encouraged to critically reflect on how the findings could be adopted in their own contexts.