In the light of recent trends in educational assessment, language testing and the pedagogical discussion about new teacher roles, this article focuses on the skills and abilities required of a language teacher wishing to respond to these developments, with specific reference to the primary (elementary) foreign language classroom. A new concept is introduced ‘diagnostic competence’ defined as the ability to interpret foreign language growth in individual children. In order to arrive at this conceptualization, data from both systematic classroom observation (The Netherlands) and ethnographic studies (Germany) are used to identify and illustrate teachers’ diagnostic activities and processes. On the basis of this evidence, a preliminary description of levels and features of a teacher engaged in such activities is presented.

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The National Assessment Programme in Education (PPON) measures the level of performance on school subjects at the end of Dutch primary (elementary) education. Two assessments, in 1991 and 1996, of English as a foreign language have been conducted. This article reports on the outcomes of both assessments with regard to listening, reading and word knowledge. There is a slight decrease in pupils’ performances when the outcomes of the 1996 assessment are compared to the 1991 assessment. Large differences in performance exist between pupils from higher and lower social levels. Boys outperform girls. Time emerges as a rather stable and significant variable in foreign language teaching and learning. The assessments have provided important insights into the possibilities and limitations of foreign language teaching and learning.

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