Transcript Document

An Introduction to the Canadian
Language Benchmarks
Anne Senior, Specialist Consultant
Centre for Canadian Language Benchmarks
Agenda
What are CLB?
 Why were they developed?
 How have they evolved?
 How are they used ?

What are the CLB?

The Canadian Language Benchmarks (CLB) are a
set of national standards for adult immigrants
and prospective immigrants for living and
working in Canada.

The French benchmarks are called les Niveaux
de compétence linguistique canadiens (NCLC).

CLB/NCLC are used across Canada as the basis
for language assessment, the teaching of
English or French as a Second Language,
resource development as well as increasingly
for high-stakes applications.
Why were they developed?

The CLB were developed by CIC in the mid-1990s to
meet the needs of stakeholders working with adult
immigrants in Canada:
To provide a common framework for second language
teachers/administrators across Canada on which to
develop classroom curricula and assessment tools.
For use across community, work and school contexts.
For use in provincial and national language training
programs.

NCLC developed later.
Communicative competence
CLB describe language in terms of communicative competence:

Language users are able to express themselves in spoken and written
texts, to interact with other speakers and writers, and to negotiate with
others in a range of specified situations and settings.

Understanding that learning a language involves developing both
communicative performance and communicative knowledge.

Taking into account socio-linguistic competence, pragmatic competence,
and grammatical competence, etc.
Essential to the notion of communicative competence are:

the important role played by the context of discourse;

the concept that language takes places in a setting and occurs for a
purpose; and

language speakers should be evaluated on their ability to use language to
accomplish a set of tasks, under specifically defined performance and
situational conditions.
CLB structure
Progression is based on 3 factors:
Progressively more demanding communication
tasks.


Progressively more demanding contexts.
Progressively higher expectations of
effectiveness and quality of
communicative performance.

Describe competency in four skill areas:
Performance complexity
The following table illustrates how similar competencies require increasing complexity of performance across the three stages
of proficiency.
Competency: Reading Comprehending Instructions
Stage 1/CLB 1
Understand very short, simple
instructions for common, familiar
everyday situations.
Stage 2/CLB 6
Understand moderately complex
instructions and instructional
texts for multistep procedures
related to everyday situations,
where the sequence must be
inferred.
Read and follow instructions and
warnings on a label for a common
chemical product (such as
cleaning products, paint thinner)
used at home or at work.
Stage 3/CLB 12
Understand complex
instructional texts and evaluate
and revise them for clarity.
Sample task
Read and follow a 1-line
instruction in a simple common
phrase for an everyday activity.
(Take one pill. Pay server.)
Review detailed, extensive,
complex, written instructions on
complex tasks (such as how to
balance a budget, conduct a staff
briefing session, construct a
spreadsheet, or conduct and
report an experimental study) to
ensure accuracy and usability.
Competency: Writing –
Reproducing information
Copy numbers, letters, words,
short phrases or sentences from
simple lists or very short
passages, for personal use or to
complete short tasks.
Reduce short, factual oral
discourse (such as live or
recorded phone messages, prerecorded public information lines,
podcasts and short
presentations) to notes or
messages.
Reduce and synthesize very
complex and extensive
information from multiple
sources into a variety of formats
(such as point-form notes,
minutes, outlines, summaries,
reports, abstracts or charts).
Sample task
Copy information from an
identification document onto a
form.
Take notes from a short
information session about a
college program to share with a
friend.
Write an abstract, including a
chart, of an extensive statistical
report.
Maturation
Increased rigor
As a result of a National Consultation in 2012, CLB and
NCLC were revised and renewed to reflect their increasing
use in a variety of different contexts including high-stakes
ones.
The new versions are the result of a well planned revision
process which included the development of a common
theoretical framework based on a communicative
competency model.
The final stage of the revision/renewal process was a
comprehensive validation process.
Theoretical framework behind
CLB/NCLC
Reflects models of language ability promoted
by Bachman (1990), Bachman & Palmer (1996, 2010)
Organizational
Knowledge
Grammatical Knowledge
Pragmatic
Knowledge
and Celce-Murcia et al. (1995).
LANGUAGE KNOWLEDGE
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Functional Knowledge
Textual Knowledge
Socio-linguistic Knowledge
STRATEGIC
COMPETENCE
Validation
1.
Draft of a common theoretical framework based on accurate
revision of existing CLB and NCLC theoretical frameworks
Validation of by independent experts of:
2.
a)
b)
3.
5.
the CLB/NCLC content against the framework
Concurrent validity study against:
a)
CEFR
b)
ACTFL Guidelines
c)
4.
the theoretical framework
Échelle québécoise
Validation of CLB/NCLC content against authentic production
samples and tasks
Final revisions of the CLB/NCLC
Findings
The CLB/NCLC are reliable and valid:
Are criterion-referenced and measure language
progress of adult learners in all settings.
Are empirically validated, transparent and userfriendly.
Being context free, can be used to develop or
assess learning whatever the context or program.
Uses of CLB/NCLC
Assessment
Suite of assessment tools in English and French: some
for classroom use – others by assessors:
CLBA, CLBPT, CLBLA,CLB-LPT, WLA, ELTPA, BTC,
Exit Tasks, SAM
 High stakes tests
Milestones, BTR, CELBAN,
ECLAB
 Remote assessment
 PBLA

PBLA
•
•
•
Portfolio Based Language Assessment (PBLA) is a
standardized approach to teaching and assessment
where teachers and students collaborate
– on setting language learning goals,
– on compiling evidence of acquired language skills in
a variety of contexts over time, and
– on analyzing and reflecting on progress.
Introduced April 2014
National roll-out over three years
Other tools and resources
Guide to implementation
 Support kit
 Curriculum Guidelines
 Lesson plans
 Can Do statements

Professional development/training
For assessors and practitioners in person and on-line
 Revised CLB and Support Kit Training
 PBLA
 Integrating Assessment into the ESL Classroom
 Summative Assessment Manual (SAM) for CLB 1-4
 CLB 5-10 Exit Task Training
 Can Do Statements
 Placement tests
 Tutela.ca
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Literacy
CLB: ESL for ALL
Possible future directions:
 Support kit
 Orientation and Training (in-person &/or online)
 Articulation of CLBLA, CLBLPT results to new standard
 Development of briefer literacy assessment
 French version proposed
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Language standards and
employment
CCLB
 Works with employers,
sectors, counsellors


Uses experts to correlate
language standards with
Essential Skills or to
benchmark occupations
Develops tools for training,
assessing, and analyzing
language levels for
workplace/ pre-employment
training
Result
 Higher stakes application of
the CLB/ NCLC

Increased knowledge of the
language demands of
benchmarked occupations

Accountable tools that fairly
assess language according to
the needs of the occupation

Support for employment and
training decisions
Occupational Language Analysis (OLA)

An OLA* is a description of language competencies linked to success in one
occupation.

Referenced to the CLB, it outlines in a standardized format, speaking, listening,
reading and writing competencies and related sample tasks for a given
occupation.

OLAs are based on 3 national sources:
◦ Canadian Language Benchmarks
◦ Essential Skills Profiles
◦ National Occupational Standards
www.itsessential.ca
* Requires an Essential Skill Profile and
a National Occupational Standard (NOS) from the sector
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Benchmarking
Benchmarking of language demands establishes
language requirements that clearly show the language
skills needed to work in an occupation or profession
(can be for entry or full-working).
 Data collection is key - benchmarking is the only true
primary source of data collection.
 Results in assigning benchmarks for the tasks.
 Benchmarkers analyze data and present report.
 How these benchmarks are used depends on the
organization.
 Analysis of data informs tool development (tests,
OLAs*, curricula).

Academic contexts

Benchmark Levels Required for Entry into First-Year
University English course:*
◦
Speaking Benchmark 8
◦
ListeningBenchmark 8
◦
Reading Benchmark 9/10
◦
Writing Benchmark 8/9
◦ CIITE benchmarking of programs in Ontario community
colleges;Vancouver Community College , “Modelling the use of a
CLB framework for a post-secondary context.”
* © Copyright 2012 British Columbia Council on
Admissions and Transfer.
http://www.bccat.ca/pubs/ESL.pdf
Any questions
[email protected]
www.language.ca
www.tutela.ca
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