Equity and Equivalence in Language Examinations

Equity and Equivalence in Language Examinations

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Equity and Equivalence in Language Examinations

Increasingly there is a concern that all students, young and old, should have an equal opportunity to enjoy an education that is most suitable to them to reach their aims in life. Equity is now at the centre of many education reforms: people should not be excluded from education, employment or health care because of traits that cannot be changed. In this paper we focus on equity and the use of the native language in examinations. In countries where there is more than one national language there is often a requirement that nationalexaminations are offered in all of these languages. For many subjects, such as Mathematics and the Sciences, this may be a minor issue. However, in the case of the First Language or Mother Tongue examinations this is a serious and complicated issue. Students in any of these national languages must have an equal opportunity to gain an equivalent score for the same ability. For this, examinations need to be made equivalent.A related issue arises where examinations in foreign languages in a country will need to be equivalent.Many countries require student proficiency in at least one foreign language. Syllabi state that the same standards are required for any of these languages. But are examinations in these languages of equal difficulty and if not, how can this be achieved? This paper reports on ways how Cito, the Dutch Institute for Educational Measurement has helped ,European countries in transition to achieve equity in examinations.

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