Course Nr.: #3 How to make your language classroom practice more and truly communicative
Dates/Venues 
2025 Utrecht: October 19 – 24
2026
Utrecht
Feb. 22 – 27
April 26 – May 1
October 11 – 16
Target Groups:
Teachers of Modern Languages in secondary and adult education
Course introduction
This course aims to support teachers in transitioning to truly communicative language education by focusing on designing authentic and integrated communicative assessment tasks that mirror real-life situations and foster spontaneous language use.
Participants will be introduced to the Characteristics of Communicative Assessment Framework and learn how to systematically implement classroom-based formative activities to create a safer learning environment, reducing reliance on traditional tests and providing continuous feedback without formal grading.
Teachers will be shown how to design related teaching and learning materials and develop clear, qualitative rubrics aligned with CEFR criteria. Challenges like time and material constraints will be addressesed by guiding teachers in selecting effective materials production tools and creating effective communicative resources, utilizing textbooks selectively, and fostering a shift in their conception of language learning from knowledge acquisition to skill development.
Suggestions and materials will be made available on how to share insights with colleagues and promote a communicative assessment approach within delegate’s language departments to ensure structural alignment of learning objectives and testing.
Learning objectives
By the end of this course participants will have:
- Deepened understanding of designing authentic, integrated communicative assessment tasks mirroring real-life use and fostering spontaneous output, moving beyond isolated knowledge. Enhanced skills to implement these tasks based on principles of meaningful, unpredictable, creative, and integrated communication.
- Deepened understanding of systematic formative activities for continuous, ungraded practice in a safe learning environment, covering “feed-up,” “feedback,” and “feed-forward”.
Enhanced skills to apply these daily, enabling practice without formal assessment. - Deepened understanding of qualitative, CEFR-aligned rubrics with clear success criteria for communicative goals.
Enhanced skills to develop and utilize these rubrics, aligning them with communicative abilities. - Deepened understanding of practical and organizational challenges in communicative assessment (expertise, time, materials, class size).
Enhanced skills to strategically adapt resources and manage logistics to overcome these hurdles. - Deepened understanding of fostering a safe, motivating learning environment via communicative assessment and formative activities.
Enhanced skills to encourage confident, spontaneous language use, enabling learning from mistakes and making lessons realistic.
Methodology and Assessment:
The course adopts a highly interactive and application-oriented methodology combining plenary, tutor-led introductions & viewing videos of exemplary classroom procedures with follow-up activities when participants do practical work individually, in pairs and small groups.
Delegates engage in hands-on analysis of sample tasks and existing materials while applying the concepts, principles and tools presented such as the quality criteria for communicative tests. Learning is supported through workshop-style design sessions for the production and customisation of teaching and learning materials, collaborative groupwork and peer feedback.
To provide flexible access to course related tasks and resources a virtual learning environment (VLE) will be used. After the course concludes, participants will be able to access the VLE to promote follow-up communication and collaborative learning.
Assessment
At the end of the week delegates will present/demo/micro teach, discuss and assess the teaching & learning materials that they created during the hands-on sessions.
Preparation
A pre-course, online questionnaire could be provided to assess pre-knowledge and further align course content and procedures to specific needs and interests expressed by registering school coordinators. Delegates are advised to bring their subject book(s) and/or related digital materials to the course to be used when creating customised materials and activities.
Day-to-day Course Topics
Day 1
• Meet & Greet / Introductions
• Questionnaire review / finetuning expectations
• Cultural Event
Day 2: Understanding Communicative Language Education & Assessment
- Foundations of Communicative Assessment
- Introduction to (Communicative Assessment). We will explore its definition and contrast it with traditional testing cultures. The course will highlight how the prevalent test culture), often involving frequent numerical grading, does not contribute to student motivation and learning.
- Presentation of and discussion on the Research findings that led to these materials, which aim to design and implement a communicative testing program positively influencing didactic actions.
- Design Principles for Communicative Tasks
- Deep dive into the Design criteria for communicative tests. Participants will learn the five key characteristics: meaningful communication, authentic situations, unpredictability, creative language output, and integrated language skills.
- Practical application: Participants will use the Checklist Quality communicative test to analyze existing tests, identifying strengths and weaknesses in terms of communicative principles.
Day 3: Mastering Formative Action – The Continuous Learning Cycle
- The “What” and “How” of Formative Action
- Exploring What is formative action?, defining it as a continuous process of gathering information about the learning process and results.
- Understand the formative cycle’s three phases: “FEED-UP” (setting goals), “FEEDBACK” (providing guidance), and “FEED-FORWARD” (planning next steps).
- Practical Application of Formative Activities
- Analysing Communicative Formative activities. Participants will engage with and adapt examples of activities for each phase.
- Discussion on “TIPS” for effective formative action, emphasizing less summative testing and a consistent formative approach in every lesson. This includes using student examples/errors as a starting point for explanation.
Day 4: Designing Effective Rubrics & Fostering a Supportive Environment
- Developing Qualitative Rubrics for Communication
- Focus on the purpose and design of “Rubrics” in communicative assessment. Participants will learn to develop qualitative, CEFR-aligned rubrics with clear, positively formulated success criteria for both students and teachers.
- Analysis of example rubrics for communicative language competence, such as the “Oral interaction A2”, which measures the ability to communicate in realistic situations and can be used across modern foreign languages.
- Building a Safe and Motivating Learning Space
- Examining how communicative assessment and systematic formative activities contribute to creating a safe and motivating learning environment. The course will discuss how reducing reliance on summative grades can encourage students to confidently use the target language, reducing fear of mistakes.
- Participants will brainstorm strategies to encourage free and spontaneous language production, making lessons more meaningful and realistic.
Day 5: Overcoming Implementation Challenges & Adapting Resources
- Addressing Implementation Hurdles
- Discussion of practical and organizational challenges in implementing communicative assessment, such as potential lack of expertise, time constraints, insufficient suitable materials, and large class sizes.
- Initial brainstorming and outlining of individual lesson plans, integrating learned concepts of communicative tasks, formative activities, and rubrics, while considering practical classroom realities.
- Resource Adaptation and Lesson Plan Brainstorming
- Strategies for strategically adapting and selecting suitable teaching materials and textbooks to align with communicative approaches
- Dedicated workshop time for participants to design their sample lesson plan, incorporating the principles covered such as authentic communicative tasks, systematic scaffolding provision and the use of qualitative, CEFR-aligned rubrics.
Day 6: Lesson Plan Design & Peer Collaboration
- Finishing the Sample Lesson Plan
- Finalising and preparing for the presentation / micro teaching procedure of delegates’ sample lesson plans while Instructors will provide guidance and support, drawing on the comprehensive examples of communicative (test) assignments
- Presentation, Feedback, and Local Implementation
- Micro teaching and presentations of Sample lesson plans followed by Peer feedback sessions using established criteria to provide constructive input.
- Final discussion on strategies for ongoing professional development and the collaborative development of communicative assessment programs within language departments, aligning with the project’s aim to positively influence didactic actions.
- Course wrap-up, evaluation and certification
Click here for the General TELLConsult Course Terms (registration procedures, costs, cancellation, etc…)