Cambridge English: Young Learners, formerly known as Young Learners English Tests (YLE), is a suite of English language tests that is specially designed for children in primary and lower-secondary school. The tests are provided by the Cambridge Assessment English (previously known as the University of Cambridge ESOL Examinations).
The suite includes three qualifications,Young Learners britishcouncil.hk Retrieved 25 February 2015 each targeted at a different level of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). Pre A1 Starters (YLE Starters) is targeted at pre-A1 Level, A1 Movers (YLE Movers) at CEFR Level A1, and A2 Flyers (YLE Flyers) at CEFR Level A2.
Cambridge English: Young Learners leads to Cambridge English examinations designed for school-aged learners, including A2 Key for Schools at CEFR Level A2, B1 Preliminary for Schools at CEFR Level B1 and B2 First for Schools at CEFR Level B2. A2 Flyers is roughly equivalent to A2 Key for Schools regarding difficulty, but the words and contexts covered in A2 Flyers are suitable for younger children.YLE Handbook for Teachers cambridgeenglish.org Retrieved 25 February 2015
History Cambridge English: Young Learners was first introduced in 1997, following extensive test development and piloting during the mid-1990s. There was immediate interest in the tests and by 2001, worldwide candidature had reached nearly 200,000, with large numbers of candidates in countries such as China, Spain, Argentina and Italy.
The increase in teaching English to young learners (aged approximately 7 to 12 years old) has led to growing demands for assessment. The key question for Cambridge Assessment English was whether it was possible to create an international English language test for children that was accurate, fair and had a positive impact on future language learning.
Development work began in 1993. The planning phase involved extensive research and consultation since relatively little research had been carried out into assessing second language learning in children. The research is focused on three related fields: children's socio-psychological and cognitive development; second language teaching and learning; and second language assessment. This helped inform the choice and treatment of test topics and tasks. For example, tasks involving scanning were rejected since children only demonstrated search and stop strategies from around age 11. The research also recognized that children are motivated by and perform best on tasks directly related to their experiences of teaching and learning; a wide range of course books and teaching materials were reviewed to identify the main content areas (topics, vocabulary, etc.)
Draft specifications and sample materials were developed, covering all four skills – speaking, listening, reading and writing – with a greater focus on oral skills because of the emphasis on spoken language over written language among young children. Tasks were designed to be brief and ‘active’ or game-like, e.g. colouring activities, and aimed to test the use of language in relevant contexts in a bid to close the gap between children's experiences of learning and testing.
The tests were trialed in 1995–96 with over 3,000 children in Europe, South America and South East Asia. The trial feedback was used to construct the live tests. The trials also identified issues of practicality. For example, schools enter children when ready, that could be at any time in the year. Instead of a fixed exam timetable, a flexible system was adopted so that tests could be taken in familiar surroundings in a child's school and administered to fit within regional/local conditions (e.g. school term periods).
In 2003, 10 years after the initial development work, the tests were reviewed again. This involved further consultation with test centres, teachers and examiners. The consultation indicated high levels of satisfaction with the tests in general but identified several tasks where changes might be made to improve the tests. These new tasks were trialed in centres across the world (Argentina, China, Japan, Libya, Portugal, Spain, Thailand and the UK). A total of 4,000 trial tests were taken. Following analysis of the results, the Young Learners tests were revised and went live in January 2007. Teacher feedback indicated: “an appreciation of the clearer test focus for each task and the new words in the vocabulary lists. In addition, the new task types have led to clearer guidelines for markers and this enhances marker standardization”.
Twenty years after the initial development work, the tests have been updated again. Since January 2014, the paper-based tests have new graphics designed to motivate and engage young learners. In addition, computer-based tests are being launched on a country-by-country basis.
Format
All three tests in the suite are designed to test the four core language skills (reading, writing, speaking and listening).
Each of the tests has three papers: a Listening paper, a Reading and Writing paper, and a Speaking paper. Each paper is worth a third of the total marks.
Results are reported using shields as an indication of how well the candidate has done in each skill. A maximum of five shields are available per paper, and a maximum of 15 shields are available in total.
The tests are available in pen-and-paper format. Since January 2014, there have been updated paper-based tests with new graphics designed to motivate young learners.
Cambridge Assessment English has also launched computer-based tests in some countries. This provides learners with a wider availability of test dates and faster results. Both formats of the exams have the same task types, topics, number of questions, timings and marks. And both formats lead to the same certificate. Where the computer-based test differs is the speaking paper – in the computer-based Speaking test, children respond to audio and visual prompts rather than to an examiner. Children answer a few warm-up questions to get them used to interacting with an animated character.
Pre A1 Starters
Paper 1. Listening (20 minutes)
The Listening paper has four parts and 20 questions in total. Each part begins with one or two examples. The children will hear each recording twice.
Part 1 has a big picture and pictures of seven small objects. Children listen to five short conversations between a man and a woman. Children listen to the information in the conversations and draw a line from each of the objects to the place where it should be on the big picture. Part 1 tests listening to words and prepositions.
Part 2 has a set of questions and a short conversation between a child and an adult. Children listen to the information in the conversation to answer each of the questions. The answer will be a name or a number. Part 2 tests listening for numbers and spelling.
Part 3 has five short conversations between different pairs of people. There are a question and three pictures for each conversation. Children listen to each conversation and choose the right picture (A, B, or C). Part 3 tests listening for specific information.
Part 4 has a big picture with seven examples of the same object (e.g. seven balls, seven books). Children listen to a conversation between an adult and a child and colour in each object using the colour mentioned in the conversation. Part 4 tests listening for words, colours, and prepositions.
Paper 2. Reading and Writing (20 minutes)
The Reading and Writing paper has five parts and 25 questions in total. Each part begins with one or two examples. Children must spell their answers correctly in all parts of the test.
Part 1 has five pictures of objects. There is a sentence underneath each picture, e.g. ‘This is a ball.’ If the sentence is true, children should put a tick next to the picture. If the sentence is false, children should put a cross next to the picture. Part 1 tests reading short sentences and recognizing words.
Part 2 has a big picture and some sentences about the picture. If the sentence is true, children should write ‘yes’. If the sentence is false, children should write ‘no’. Part 2 tests reading short sentences and writing one-word answers.
Part 3 has five pictures of objects. Children have to find the right word for the object. After each picture, there are some dashes (- - - -) that show how many letters are in the word. There are also some jumbled letters (e.g. B O K O). Children have to put the jumbled letters in the right order to make the word (e.g. BOOK). Part 3 tests simple words' spelling.
Part 4 has a text with some missing words (gaps). Below the text, there is a box with some pictures and some words. Children have to choose the right word from the box and copy it into the right gap. Part 4 tests reading a text and writing missing words (nouns).
Part 5 has three pictures that tell a story. Each picture has one or two questions. Children answer each question based on what they can see in the pictures. They only have to write one word for each answer. Part 5 tests reading questions and writing one-word answers.
Paper 3. Speaking (3 to 5 minutes)
The Speaking test has five parts. In the computer-based test, the learner responds to audio and visual prompts and will answer a few warm-up questions to get them used to interact with an animated character. In the paper-based test, the learner takes the test with an examiner. (Someone they know will introduce them to the examiner and explain what is going to happen in their language.)
In Part 1 the examiner greets the child, asks them their name, and asks them to point to things in a big picture. Part 1 tests understanding and following spoken instructions.
In Part 2 the examiner shows the child small pictures of some objects. The examiner names three objects and asks the child to point to them. The examiner then asks the child to put each object card somewhere on the big picture used in Part 1 (e.g. ‘Put the ball under the tree’). Part 2 tests understanding and following spoken instructions.
In Part 3 the examiner asks the child some questions about the big picture used in Part 1 (e.g. ‘What is this?’ ‘What colour is the …?’). Part 3 tests understanding and answering spoken questions.
In Part 4 the examiner asks the child some questions about the small pictures of objects used in Part 2 (e.g. ‘What is this?’). Part 4 tests understanding and answering spoken questions.
In Part 5 the examiner asks the child some questions about themselves (e.g. their age, family, friends). Part 5 tests understanding and responding to personal questions. Accessed 25 February 2015
A1 Movers
Paper 1. Listening (25 minutes)
The Listening paper has five parts and 25 questions in total. Each part begins with one or two examples. The children will hear each recording twice.
Part 1 has a big picture. The picture shows people doing different things. Above and below the picture are some names. Children listen carefully to a conversation between an adult and a child. They draw a line from each name to the correct person in the big picture. Part 1 tests listening for names and descriptions.
Part 2 has a short conversation between two people. There is a form or notebook page with some missing words (gaps). Children listen to the information in the recording and fill in each gap. The answer might be a word or a number. Part 2 tests listening for names, spellings and other information.
Part 3 has a conversation between an adult and a child. In the conversation, the child talks about what they did on different days of the week. Children listen to the information in the recording and draw a line from the day of the week to the picture which shows what the child did on that day. Part 3 tests listening for specific information (past tense).