Module overview
This module develops awareness of how language testing and assessment have developed in educational and wider social contexts. It focusses on both purposes and processes of language testing and assessment, and critically examines applications in policy areas such as education, employability, migration, and citizenship. It examines the issues involved in making judgements about language proficiency for these purposes. It also explores the theoretical foundations for making judgements in different settings, and the skills required by both testers and test-takers. In this module, you will have opportunities to consider aspects of the role of English as a global language, issues of social justice and equality of opportunity, and the development of digital technologies in language testing and assessment.
Aims and Objectives
Learning Outcomes
Transferable and Generic Skills
Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:
- work effectively in a team
- prepare and deliver oral presentations
- plan and organise your own learning schedule
Knowledge and Understanding
Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:
- the purposes and traditions of language testing and assessment
- the ways tests are constructed and administered
- the construct of communicative competence in language testing and assessment
- emerging issues in language testing and assessment
- validity and reliability aspects of language testing and assessment
- the roles of assessment in education, work contexts, and migration and citizenship policies
Subject Specific Intellectual and Research Skills
Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:
- develop a critique of language testing policies and models
- use established and innovative strategies to evaluate tests and test frameworks
- identify social impacts of language testing processes
- evaluate the quality of a given test or testing framework
Syllabus
The module begins with practical engagement with a range of samples of language performance (spoken and written English), assessment of the performance for specific education, migration and citizenship contexts, and critical analysis of and reflection on the basis for assessments. In the light of this practical experience, the history of language testing and assessment, with particular reference to the case of English over recent decades, will be explored. This account will serve as a platform for critically examining a range of theoretical policy and practice issues, which typically covers:
- The nature of communicative competence constructs which underpin language tests;
- The relevance of communicative competence and language proficiency to different social policy fields;
- The validity of the range of uses of language tests;
- The features of language tests and their representativeness of capacities for effective communication;
- The processes of making and standardising judgements on performances;
- The attributes of language testers and assessors.
Learning and Teaching
Teaching and learning methods
A weekly lecture will provide an overview and a guide to the research and literature on for each topic. The weekly seminar will include a mix of practical tasks on tests and policy documents which reference tests (normally in the early weeks of the module) and student presentations (normally in the later weeks of the module).
Type | Hours |
---|---|
Preparation for scheduled sessions | 60 |
Revision | 20 |
Lecture | 12 |
Completion of assessment task | 26 |
Seminar | 12 |
Wider reading or practice | 20 |
Total study time | 150 |
Resources & Reading list
General Resources
Utilizing Technology in Language Assessment. Chapelle C.A. & Voss E. (2017) Utilizing Technology in Language Assessment. In: Shohamy E., Or I., May S. (eds) Language Testing and Assessment. Encyclopedia of Language and Education (3rd ed.). Springer, Cham.
Textbooks
McNamara, T and Roever, C (2007) (2007). Language Testing: The Social Dimension. Blackwell.
Weir, C. & O’Sullivan, B. (2017). Assessing English on the Global Stage, The British Council and English Language Testing, 1941-2016. Sheffield: Equinox.
Shohamy, E. (2001). The power of tests: A critical perspective of the uses of language tests.. Harlow: Longman.
Extra, G., M. Spotti, P. Van Avermaet (2009). Language Testing, Migration and Citizenship - Cross-National Perspectives on Integration Regimes. London: Continuum.
Assessment
Summative
This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.
Method | Percentage contribution |
---|---|
Final project | 100% |
Referral
This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.
Method | Percentage contribution |
---|---|
Final project | 100% |
Repeat
An internal repeat is where you take all of your modules again, including any you passed. An external repeat is where you only re-take the modules you failed.
Method | Percentage contribution |
---|---|
Final project | 100% |
Repeat Information
Repeat type: Internal & External