Language programme Bernardinuscollege Heerlen

Several surveys show that scores in language (including spelling and reading comprehension) have declined since the corona pandemic.Additionally, various international studies show that the reading proficiency of students in the Netherlands is lower than in previous years. Within this research, collaboration is taking place with Bernardinus College in Heerlen (a secondary school), where signals have already been detected that students’ language skills need improvement.

The goal is to gain an understanding of the language level of the pupils at Bernardinus College through various methods (JIJ tests taken by the school itself every year, use of data from the Education Monitor Limburg). By analyzing these various data sets, we aim to obtain the most comprehensive picture possible of the areas where students do or do not demonstrate gaps and whether certain groups of students stand out in this analysis, or specific language domains. These data can also be used to identify possible causes of this problem. Simultaneously, with further deepening the diagnosis, efforts are made to design and test an approach for improving writing education at the school in areas where the diagnosis is already sharper. To accomplish this, a team is being assembled with researchers from the Language Lab and teachers at the Bernardinus College to collaborate on discovering how writing education could be enhanced.