In 2017-2018, a national language survey was conducted in the Netherlands among young learners (aged 11-12) in the final year of primary school, aimed at determining the students' English competence levels in reading, listening, speaking and vocabulary. Results can be compared to results from the previous (2012) survey. For the first time, test results were related to CEFR levels. Analyses are based on language test results, questionnaires filled in by pupils (about attitude towards English, language self-confidence and extramural exposure to and use of English), and school data registered in respectively the school's and a national database.
In 2017-2018, a national language survey was conducted in the Netherlands among young learners (aged 11-12) in the final year of primary school, aimed at determining the students; English competence levels in reading, listening, speaking and vocabulary. Results can be compared to those collected in a previous (2012) survey. For the first time, test results were related to CEFR levels. Analyses are based on language test results, a questionnaire filled in by pupils (about attitude towards English, language self-confidence and extramural exposure to and use of English), and school data registered in respectively the school's and a national database. School population in the Netherlands and abroad increasingly consists of children with an immigrant and multilingual background, often with low SES. For these children, English is often a third language. Studies investigating the relation between attained levels in English and language and socio-economic background are needed. The first findings from multilevel multiple regression analyses show that individual learners' differences explain for a greater extent differences in English competence than differences related to school curriculum and hours of instruction. The strongest predictive factor is the recommendation on the most appropriate secondary school track that students receive at the end of primary education. Learners selected for the most academic type of secondary education, attain a higher level in English in all measured skills and lexical knowledge (effect size varying from 0,37 to 1,01). Learners with low educated parents had for example lower scores on vocabulary knowledge than learners with high educated parents (effect size -0,27). Among school related differences, urbanization also turned out to predict to a certain extent differences in learners performances. An early start, related to increased hours of instruction, is on the other side a weaker predictor.
