Kan du tage pigen op af kufferten? En analyse af sproglig evaluering i daginstitutioner.

The purpose of this study is to examine practices and relationships between children and ECEC teachers in ECEC centres' day-to-day contact with different types of language evaluations. Among other things, the study focuses on how language and the child are viewed in the evaluation material used and in the associated practices.

Overall, the study shows that the evaluation materials' views of language, assessment and knowledge seem to be based on the assumption that children go through the same socialisation and the same stages of language development in the same order in Danish. This means that when assessing multilingual children, only their Danish language skills are evaluated and valued. Moreover, the study shows that ECEC teachers' evaluation is strongly tied to the evaluation materials, and that the teachers feel that they are restricted to producing a certain type of knowledge that primarily checks the child's knowledge and understanding of speech sounds, words and sentences. This practice excludes the child's contribution to, or development of, a conversation or other interaction.

The study is based on field work in two ECEC centres in Copenhagen. The two centres work with each their evaluation material; i.e. Tosprogede børn (bilingual children) and Sprogvurderingsmateriale til 3-årige (language assessment material for 3-year-olds). The study includes observation of nine language evaluations and interviews with leaders or ECEC teachers during the observations. The study uses a number of policy documents for this purpose. Data was collected in 2008 and 2009.

Holm, L. (2015). Kan du tage pigen op af kufferten? En analyse af sproglig evaluering i daginstitutioner. EDUCARE – vetenskapliga skrifter 2, 103-127.