The power of assessment: What (dis)empowers students in their EFL assessment in a Finnish upper secondary school?

Assessment wields a great deal of power over students. Yet, there is little research on how students, either in general or as individuals, experience assessment. Therefore, this study aimed to explore what disempowers or empowers students in EFL assessment. A total of 146 students from one Finnish upper secondary school answered a questionnaire on assessment and feedback in their EFL studies. The study utilises mixed methods: primarily, the questionnaire data was analysed quantitatively (principal component analysis, step-wise regression analysis), secondarily, qualitative data and analysis were also used. The analyses showed that students reacted to assessment in highly individual ways. Wh…

Beyond error correction in EFL writing in a Finnish upper secondary classroom : a practical approach

In Finland, teachers have considerable autonomy over their assessment practices. Recent studies suggest that FL/L2 teachers, particularly at the upper secondary school, primarily focus on summative assessment rather than on formative assessment and feedback, which is in contrast with the latest Finnish National Core Curricula. Furthermore, while appreciating teacher feedback, learners do not perceive it as an integral part of assessment. In this paper, we propose formative classroom practices to support the learning process and go beyond error correction in FL/L2 writing. These practices are grounded on our earlier research, and they focus mainly on two themes: fostering learner choice in f…

(Dis)empowering assessment? : assessment as experienced by students in their upper secondary school EFL studies

Assessment has a great deal of power over students. However, there is little research on how students experience assessment and its power in the school context. The purpose of this mixed-methods study is therefore to examine how students in one Finnish upper secondary school experienced assessment and (dis)empowerment in their EFL studies. The present study, which situates itself within the realm of teacher research, also aims to experiment with alternative assessment methods in order to investigate whether they could foster empowerment in upper secondary EFL studies. The study comprises five articles and a monograph, and is divided into two parts, each with its own research aims. Part 1 an…

”Mitä pitäisi kehittää ja miten?” : lukiolaisten kokemuksia arvioinnista ja sen menetelmistä englannin opinnoissa

Opiskelija-arvioinnilla on merkittävä asema kaikkialla koulumaailmassa, niin myös suomalaisessa lukiossa. Vaikutusvaltaisesta roolistaan huolimatta arviointia ja sen käytännön toteutusta lukiossa tai lukion kieltenopetuksessa on tutkittu niukasti. Tämän tutkimuksen tavoitteena oli tutkia kyselylomakkeen avulla, kuinka lukiolaiset (146 lukiolaista yhdestä koulusta) itse kokivat arvioinnin osana englannin opintojaan, millaisia arviointimenetelmiä he olivat kohdanneet ja mitä niistä he pitivät hyödyllisinä. Tämän tutkimuksen perusteella opiskelijat arvostivat arviointia, jonka he kokivat osuvan varsin oikeaan ja olleen melko monipuolista. Arviointi ei kuitenkaan ohjannut heitä eteenpäin kovink…

In Teachers We Trust – the Finnish Way to Teach and Learn

Finland has received very good results in international student achievement tests such as PISA and ICCS in the 21st century. Consequently, education authorities and researchers from all over the world have attempted to find reasons for Finland’s success. In this article, we are looking at Finnish education from the inside, from the perspective of Finnish teachers and schools. Our hypothesis is that Finnish teachers, who have a high-quality academic education and who work as trusted professionals, have played a key role in making such results possible. Thus, we will concentrate on Finnish teachers, their role in education as well as teacher education and training in this article. peerReviewed

Can a cheat sheet in an EFL test engage and empower students?

Although occasionally used in language classrooms, cheat-sheet tests have not been explored in foreign or second language education research. This study experimented with cheat-sheet tests in the teaching of EFL in a Finnish upper secondary school. The participants, 101 students, could make a cheat sheet for the grammar part of their English test. A total of 92 students prepared the cheat sheet, nine did not. Students’ cheat sheets, test results and comments constituted the data for this study, analysed both qualitatively and quantitatively. The existence of the cheat sheet and its quality (thorough, good or limited) correlated with the grammar test results: students with a thorough cheat s…

Guiding and assessing development of L2 writing process : the role of peer collaboration

This study, informed by Vygotskian notion of mediation and reporting on a partnership between a researcher (the first author) and a teacher (the second author), aims at exploring how peers’ comments can inform teacher assessment and guidance of learners’ L2 (second/foreign language) writing. The participants were 19 L2 English learners in an upper secondary school in Finland. We largely focus on the notes that one pair of learners made on each other’s essays and how they responded to peer assistance. Triangulating these data with classroom observation and a questionnaire, we traced how learners co-constructed their understanding of how their texts can be developed. The foci and how the iden…

"This is my portfolio" : portfolios in upper secondary school English studies

This qualitative case study describes a portfolio programme in the teaching of English as a foreign language in two Finnish upper secondary schools. Approximately 100 students participated in the portfolio programme, whose topic area was culture. Firstly, the purpose of this action research was to try out and develop portfolios in foreign language teaching as a pedagogical innovation. Secondly, the aim was to foster students' empowerment, i.e. their active and responsible role in learning. Thus, the primary research interests were twofold: How did the portfolio programme proceed and progress? Did the portfolio programme foster the students' empowerment? The present report is divided into th…

Kielten opiskelu uuteen kukoistukseen?

English only? : kielten opettajien käsityksiä kielivalintojen monipuolistamisen esteistä ja keinoista

Huoli Suomen ja suomalaisten hupenevasta kielivarannosta on viime vuodet ollut kielikoulutuksen kestopuheenaihe. Englannin taidon hyödyn ja välttämättömyyden ymmärtävät kaikki, mutta samalla moni ajattelee, että englanti yksin riittää. Näin ei opinnoissa eikä työelämässä kuitenkaan ole. Kielivalintojen monipuolistamiseksi on kunnissa ja kouluissa järjestetty alakoululaisille kielisuihkutuksia, -karnevaaleja, -kerhoja ja muuta toimintaa innostuksen ja motivaation herättämiseksi. Vuosia jatkunut työ tuottaa kuitenkin hyvin hitaasti hedelmää ja samalla mm. lukioissa valinnaisten kielten opiskelu on vähentynyt. Kysyimme kieltenopettajilta Webropol-kyselyllä, mitä he kokevat suurimmiksi kielival…

Abiturienttien kokemuksia vieraan kielen opiskelun työläydestä ja sen vaikutuksesta lukion kielivalintoihin

Vieraiden kielten opiskelussa on tapahtunut Suomessa suuri käänne, kun verrataan 1980-lukua ja 2020-lukua. Tällä hetkellä muita vieraita kieliä kuin englantia opiskelee yhä harvempi, ja opiskelun aloittaneista osa lopettaa opinnot kesken jo perusopetuksessa tai lukiossa. Koska muutos on tapahtunut vaiheittain pitkän ajan kuluessa, muutoksen suuruusluokkaa on ollut matkan varrella vaikea arvioida. Tilanteeseen on kuitenkin viime vuosina havahduttu ja alettu puhua yhä enemmän koulujen kielivalintojen kapenemisesta (Helsingin Sanomat 2020; Saarinen 2019; Saarinen 2021) ja Suomen kielivarannon tulevaisuudesta (Pyykkö 2017; Vaarala ym. 2021). Pähkinänkuoressa voidaan todeta, että valinnaisten ki…

Resolving tensions caused by high-stakes assessment in an L2 classroom through mediation

The Finnish classroom assessment culture is considered that of assessment for learning. The situation in upper-secondary schools is different, however. While teachers in Finland appreciate assessment supporting learning, they feel unable to merge it with assessment of learning outcomes, and favour the latter due to the Matriculation Examination (ME; e.g. Leontjev, submitted), a high-stakes exam growingly used in university admission. Learners, likewise, expect teachers to prepare them for the ME (Lakkala & Ilomäki, 2013), the results of which play a significant role in their further studies. The tension between assessment for learning and exam preparation is, therefore, often resolved i…

To feed back or to feed forward? : Students' experiences of and responses to feedback in a Finnish EFL classroom

Good feedback is a powerful element in learning. Ultimately, however, the impact feedback has on learning depends on how the learner responds to that feedback. So far, foreign or second language studies on feedback have mainly concentrated on different methods of error correction, not on students’ responses to feedback in general. This study aims to find out what students thought of the feedback they had received in their EFL studies. Furthermore, the study seeks to discover students’ different responses to that feedback. The data was gathered using a web-based questionnaire filled out by 140 students. The students, aged 17–19, were all from a single Finnish upper secondary school. The data…

”Englanti jyrää” : kieltenopettajien keinoja ja ehdotuksia kielivalintojen monipuolistamiseksi

Suomen kouluissa opiskellaan yhä vähemmän ja yhä harvempia vieraita kieliä. Valinnaisten kielten opiskelun suosio on laskenut, ja kielitaito on vaarassa jäädä pelkän englannin varaan. Erilaisia toimenpiteitä, kuten kielen opetuksen varhentaminen, on jo tehty. Ne eivät kuitenkaan ole juurikaan lisänneet muiden vieraiden kielten opiskelun suosiota, vaan valtaosa oppilaista ja opiskelijoista opiskelee edelleen vain englantia kotimaisten kielten lisäksi. Kysyimme kieltenopettajilta, millaisia keinoja eri kouluasteilla on jo ollut käytössä valintojen monipuolistamiseksi sekä millaisilla konkreettisilla keinoilla kielivalintoja vielä voitaisiin monipuolistaa. Aineisto on kerätty tammi-helmikuussa…