Aptitude in the Classroom: an empirical study of the pedagogical functionality of the LLAMA test battery in an upper secondary school

Abstract

This thesis explores the suitability of using aptitude testing and the LLAMA aptitude tests in a Norwegian upper secondary school class, and the potential pedagogical advantages such testing can have. Aptitude testing entails measuring language learners’ specific talent for learning foreign languages and this is an individual difference that exhibits considerable variation between learners (Dörnyei & Skehan, 2003). An empirical study was conducted on 22 participants of an upper secondary school class to see how the LLAMA, an aptitude test battery developed by Paul Meara (2005) would function. The testing was followed by a student questionnaire and two separate teacher interviews, created to investigate the experience and attitudes the teacher and the pupils showed towards aptitude testing and the LLAMA, as well as the potential pedagogical advantages this testing might have. The results showed that both the teacher and the pupils viewed the LLAMA as a suitable aptitude battery and that the age group was appropriate. The teacher was also positive towards the notion of aptitude testing. Several pedagogical advantages were found and could, with some effort from the teacher, help inform and individually adapt the teaching to each pupil, based on their aptitude profiles. From the findings of this project, I conclude that aptitude testing and using the LLAMA could help Norwegian teachers individually adapt their teaching and that this is something we should strive to use. I also suggest that there are several pedagogical advantages if the results from the testing are used accordingly and if a functional framework for how to use these results are developed.

Keywords: LLAMA, Aptitude, Second Language Learning, Testing, Pedagogy