Innovation in the assessment of English for academic purposes

Etherington, S

Abstract

This project aims to develop an improved tool for the testing of academic writing skills of international students for use within the School of Languages English for academic Purposes programmes and beyond. At present, a lack of harmonisation of testing procedures on non-credit-bearing programmes within the School means that test results are difficult to compare and evaluate. Additionally, work within the EAP (English for Academic Purposes) and Writing Assessment communities has suggested that there is a need for a better fit between assessment procedures currently employed in many HEIs and the academic writing process (Hamp-Lyons 1991; Cushing Wiegle 2002). The project seeks to address these issues through the development and validation of more processed-based approaches to writing assessment (Cho 2003) to be used within the pre-sessional English for Academic Purposes programme. The experience gained in test development and evaluation will lead to the creation of a useful model for assessment development for other non-credit-bearing programmes within the School. Further benefits of the project are expected to include enhancement of student learning through greater understanding of their progress; a fuller diagnosis for teachers of student writing abilities; and clearer information to academic subject departments about their new students’ writing skills.

Citation

Etherington, S. Innovation in the assessment of English for academic purposes

• Report Type: Project Report
• Deposit Date: Jun 3, 2009
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 3, 2009
• Additional Information: Event Type : Conference; Funders : Teaching and Learning Quality Improvement Scheme