English language assessment in bilingual CLIL instruction at the primary level in Finland: Search for updated and valid assessment methods

Bilingual instruction combining the teaching and learning of an additional, foreign language and subject content is better known as CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning), and it is constantly growing in popularity. The dual focus of simultaneous language and content learning is achieved by using the foreign language as the medium of instruction; the foreign language therefore is both the target and the medium of learning. The dual instructional focus presents a challenge to assessment in CLIL. Assessment is more demanding because the language aspect should be considered also; the measurement of language mastery – especially the use of academic, subject-specific language – ideally aligns with the measurement of content mastery. In recent years, assessment has slowly drawn increasing attention in the field of CLIL research which has so far mainly dealt with issues such as language acquisition, affective factors and classroom discourse. The purpose of the research described in this article is to rise to the challenge of CLIL assessment, to survey the assessment practices currently used by CLIL class teachers in Finnish basic education and to experiment with computer simulation as a new, innovative assessment tool in CLIL contexts. First, I will give a very brief overview of CLIL in Finland. Then, in order to provide background information on my research, I will outline some of the challenges that complicate the administration of assessment in the Finnish CLIL environment. Subsequently I will present a short research and literature review of the topic and introduce the methods employed by the research which aims to increase an understanding of the complexity of CLIL assessment and seeks to broaden the range of assessment methods in CLIL. Finally, some preliminary results of the on-going research will be detailed.