Wie transparent sind unsere Evaluationskriterien?

Abstract

How transparent are our evaluation criteria?

The evaluation of foreign language skills and abilities with the help of formal procedures is of little importance in Algeria, but also in many European countries. The evaluation procedures that are carried out in university foreign language lessons or German as a foreign language lessons in Algeria and many other countries often do not allow a comparison of foreign language competence that goes beyond the respective learning context. Grades are often awarded on the basis of criteria that are not very transparent and depend on the type of teacher or on the teacher's experience and training. This situation has made it difficult for the potential employer to develop a reasonably reliable assessment of the skills and abilities of the German as a foreign language applicant based on the certificates presented. The so-called pedagogical coordination committee of the "Linguistics and German as a foreign language Didactics" course has been trying for years to achieve more transparency and comparability in the assessment of language competence. In 2001, the Council of Europe developed the so-called European reference framework for learning, studying and assessing foreign languages in a European context for the first time. Both the theoretical discussion and the development of procedures for third-party and evaluation procedures are increasingly influenced by this. This article attempts to give German language teachers in the German departments of Algerian and foreign universities the opportunity to get their own impression of the latest developments in the field of evaluation procedures. Above all, this analysis outlines the area of tension within which a German as a foreign language teacher moves who has to determine the level of performance of his students and evaluate them as objectively as possible. My main concern is to pursue the question of what modern evaluation research offers in terms of findings and instruments. The type of examination and testing depends on the subject matter, the learning group, the learning objective and the purpose of the evaluation. The evaluation also provides statements about the effectiveness of the teaching and thus serves to improve teaching and learning. The greatest care is required when selecting the instruments for measuring performance, their structure and content and, above all, when it comes to the evaluation criteria to be applied and the evaluation. It can only be decided on a case-by-case basis the extent to which the measuring instruments are suitable and meet quality requirements. The measurement of oral performance can be positively or negatively influenced by a number of rational and irrational factors in its implementation and evaluation, both on the part of the examinee and the examiner.