Foreign Language Testing and Assessment in Greece: An overview and appraisal

Abstract

The aim of this paper is twofold. First, I will briefly review practices in testing and assessment in Greece; I will refer to current practices, their prospects and long term influence inside and outside school contexts. In particular, I will make brief reference to foreign language (FL) demands outside the school context, namely, the job market and appraise the consequences of the choices made so far for FL education in the primary and secondary school context. Second, I will advocate a way forward by advancing the principle ‘learn a foreign language(s) for lifelong use’ rather than ‘get-trained to get a certificate as early in life as possible’.

Keywords

• language testing and assessment
• performance
• Greece
• Foreign Language Learning
• school context