Until now, young people had to close the school door with English at the B2 level (or in other words – at the “advanced” level), but soon their knowledge of their first foreign language will have to reach even higher – already at the B2+ level.
The National Education Agency (NŠA) emphasizes that international experts have provided recommendations on English language teaching and exam adjustment for Lithuania, which will bring benefits, and the structure of the exam itself will remain.
It is true that graduates will receive other innovations in the exam – for example, it will be necessary to comment on the submitted data.
At that time, English teachers see threats. According to them, these specific solutions have not been discussed much with the educational community, so there may be more than one or two challenges.
Why was the change necessary?
The English language matriculation exam is one of the most popular and most frequently chosen among high school graduates – this year over 16,000 candidates took it. A similar number was recorded last year as well.
However, during this year’s matriculation exam session, the twelfth graders took the English language exam for the last time according to the previous program, so it consisted of 40% respectively. B1 level and 60 percent. B2 level tasks.
Next year, the exam tasks will be prepared according to the requirements of the updated program and will have to reach the B2+ level of language proficiency.
NŠA pointed out that the structure of the exam itself will remain the same – it will consist of 4 parts: speaking, listening, reading and writing.
Part of the exam will be conducted electronically, part – in the traditional way.
“In 2022 the general education programs of all subjects were updated, including the first and second foreign language programs, focusing on the acquisition and strengthening of competencies necessary for life.
When updating the program, a higher level of language proficiency was determined, which a graduate should achieve after completing the general program of the first foreign language: B2 in the third grade of high school, and B2+ in the fourth grade of high school.
According to the previous program, the general program of the first foreign language was focused on the B1/B2 level of language proficiency,” – to the portal lrytas.lt agency representatives explained in the sent comment.
According to NŠA, in many countries of the European Union (EU), by the time young people leave school, they have reached the B2 proficiency level of their first foreign language. It is said that international experts have given recommendations to Lithuania regarding the need to organize an exam for one language proficiency level and focus specifically on a slightly higher level – not only B2, but also B2+ level.
“It has been discussed with the English language teaching community that a single language proficiency level test tests students’ linguistic competence much more objectively,” the agency said.
Since the last academic year, the matriculation exam system has changed, the state matriculation exam for English – as well as other foreign languages – was divided into two parts: the first part, which was called the intermediate test, was taken by students in the IIIrd gymnasium class, and the second will be taken in the IVth gymnasium class this school year.
The first part of the English language exam taken by eleventh graders consisted of B2 level listening and reading tasks. What has changed now is that these assignments are submitted in an electronic format.
“The results show that the students were quite successful in completing the B2 level listening and reading task: they scored 58% on average. task points. For several years, the average scores for all parts of the VBE (listening, reading, speaking, writing) ranged from 55 to 67 percent.
The second part of the exam will consist of B2+ speaking and writing parts. The structure of the speaking part does not change, that is, monologue and dialogue tasks remain.
The writing part will consist of three tasks: a semi-formal letter, an essay, and – a novelty – commenting on the data. This part will take place in the traditional way.
When performing speaking and writing tasks, according to the requirements of the B2+ language proficiency level, graduates should use a richer vocabulary, be able to discuss various topics, and provide detailed arguments and explanations.
Thus, the structure of the state exam for the first foreign language (English, French, German) will remain the same, and the tasks will correspond to the updated curriculum and the requirements for the B2/B2+ proficiency level set out in the European Framework for Learning, Teaching and Assessment of Languages, and students will take parts of the exam over two years.” , – explained NŠA.
Teachers have doubts
Jurgita Kiškienė, an English teacher at the Vilnius Žemynas pro-gymnasium and the deputy chairman of the Lithuanian Education Workers Trade Union (LŠDPS), considered that the opinions of pedagogues regarding the English language exam and the changes in the teaching of this discipline are diverse.
However, J.Kiškienė admitted, a number of teachers, with whom she had already had time to discuss it, evaluate the difficulty of the exam negatively or simply satisfactorily.
“Learning will be difficult, possibly the results of students will be worse”, – the teachers’ mood for the portal lrytas.lt described by J. Kiškienė.
First of all, according to the deputy chairman of LŠDPS and an English teacher, such a decision should have been thought through more responsibly.
“The proposed change is rushed, unprepared, ill-considered and not discussed with the education community.
According to general programs, students must have reached B2 level of language proficiency by the time they leave school – why will they be tested at B2+? Here, it’s like keeping the rights of a passenger car, but during the exam you will be allowed to drive a minibus”, compared J. Kiškienė.
Also, according to the teacher, a smooth transition to the B2+ level would require more time and more English lessons in schools.
“It is not necessary to make it difficult to start with the exam, but at least with the 9th grade syllabus. Now the number of lessons in grades 11-12 has been reduced, so it is completely illogical to make the exam tasks more difficult without having additional time resources for this,” she assessed.
J. Kiškienė also listed other arguments that English language teachers have already raised in discussions.
“Learning must be competency-oriented, not task-oriented, which will test even higher-level skills and knowledge.” There is a threat of concentrating on the exam. Also, teachers will not have methodical material and time to properly prepare for the change.
In the writing part, the number of words has increased significantly, and the time allotted for writing has decreased.
For students of lower ability, the exam may be insurmountable. The results will most likely affect students with average learning,” the teacher said.
NŠA has prepared and published on its website examples of tasks for the first foreign language (English, French, German) matriculation exam to be completed by students, as well as task evaluation tables.exams-and-achievement-checks/2024-2025-m-achievement-checks/”=””>exams-and-achievement-checks/2024-2025-m-achievement-checks/”” target=”_blank”>They are available found here.
“108 hours are allocated to consolidate the B2 level in the III gymnasium class, and 102 hours are allocated to its strengthening to B2+ in the IV gymnasium class. during the academic year. No additional English lessons are provided.
According to the updated general programs, the language proficiency level requirements rise sequentially: language proficiency level B1 is achieved in grades 7-8, language proficiency level B1/B1+ is achieved in grades 9-10 and I-II gymnasium, and language proficiency level B2/ is achieved in grades III-IV gymnasium. B2+.
Thus, even 6 years of study are allocated to reach the level of an advanced user of the language, 4 years for the consolidation of the B1 level for a solid free user, and 2 years for the advanced B2″, commented the representatives of the Education Agency.
This year, 16,929 candidates took the English state matriculation exam. 99.4% passed the exam, 419 candidates received a score of 100, ie 2.5%. of all candidates who took the exam.
Last year, 98.2% passed this exam, 3.8% received the highest grade. candidates.
The average result of the English language exam – 61.6 points – is very close to last year’s average of 61.7 points.
2024-08-26 05:28:29