How do we know that students have sufficient English language - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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Jul 04, 2023 463 likes •574 views

How do we know that students have sufficient English language proficiency to participate effectively in their academic studies? Katie Dunworth, Curtin University AALL Symposium, Perth 2011 Unpacking the question Universities are responsible for

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How do we know that students have sufficient English language proficiency to participate effectively in their academic studies?

Katie Dunworth, Curtin University AALL Symposium, Perth 2011

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Unpacking the question

‘Universities are responsible for ensuring that their students are sufficiently competent in the English language to participate effectively in their university studies’ (GPP 1) ‘Universities ensure that the English language entry pathways they approve for the admission of students enable these students to participate effectively in their studies’ (GPP 4)

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Unpacking the question

By year – general proficiency in Year 1, academic literacy if assessed in Year 3 or at postgraduate level By content – e.g. quantitative or verbally based units By discipline – student mobility

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Unpacking the question

What do we mean by:

Sufficient level of English language proficiency?
Effective participation in studies?

‘the ability of students to use the English language to make and communicate meaning in spoken and written contexts while completing their university studies’.

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What do we assess?

General functional proficiency Discipline‐specific academic literacy

Emphasis on EAL students Emphasis on a specific disciplinary cohort Skills‐based approach Task‐based approach Vocabulary, syntax, morphology, phonology, semantics, pragmatics Style, register, rhetorical organisation, text type differentiation, argumentation Generic content Discipline‐specific content DELNA Screening test, UniEnglish MASUS

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How do we assess?

Test
Self‐assessment
Student assignments for content units

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Who do we assess?

All students or selected groups based on type?
All students or those below a certain already measured

level?

First year students or later years?

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How do we assess?

Education as a product Education as a process

Language as generic capacity Language inseparable from discipline Language as transferable skills Language as a constituent of knowledge Language assessment as a separate task Language assessment as a constituent of content assessment Efficient delivery and maximum productivity of staff resources Labour intensive Separate, standardised instrument Focus variable according to individual student Students directed towards language development services Results of assessment impact on subsequent content Griffith English language strategy, DELA, iDEAl, UniEnglish Master of Accounting at Macquarie with the Centre for Macquarie English, Engineering Communication unit at UTS with ELSSA

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Modes of assessment

Level of obligation Format Mode

Compulsory for EAL students Multiple choice Institution‐wide, generic Compulsory below a certain measured level Writing task Unit or discipline based, generic Compulsory for all Skills‐based assessment Embedded in marked assignments Optional Embedded task

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Key questions

What do we assess?
Who do we assess?
How do we assess?
How do we use the information we obtain?