Transcript Developing a system of assessment and self

“Developing a system of
assessment and self-assessment
of communicative competences”
Dr. Zita Mažuolienė
Vilnius university
7 November 2007
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The background
• poor testing tradition
• subjective marking
• attempts to apply tests for entrance
examinations
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The background
• educational reform
• Year 12 project for external school-leaving
examinations in English (started in 1994)
• establishment of the Examination Centre
(1997)
• centralized marking (2002)
• differences in assessment development at
different sectors of education
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The need
• the need for differentiated assessment at
universities
poor quality of tests
insufficient professionalism in test design
• the need for assessment of
communicative competences and
certification
• the need for self-assessment (Europass)
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The aims of the project
• having a network of teachers able to assess
language competences both at university and for
the public in general
• helping university teachers get better
awareness of assessing different skills,
understand the principles of constructing
language tests according to the latest test
requirements set in Europe, and making it part of
the system of assessment in Lithuania.
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Main objectives:
• training university teachers in understanding the
principles of language testing;
• drawing a set of documentation to help test
designers construct tests according to CEFR
levels: specifications, guides for test
constructors in testing reading, listening, writing,
speaking and use of language;
• designing tests for five languages (Lithuanian as
a second language; Russian, German, French
and English) at levels A1-C1;
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Additional objectives
• translating Common European
Framework of Reference into Lithuanian
• designing ELP for adults
• designing ELP for basic school
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Implimentation
• started in May 2006
• leading institution: Vilnius University
(Institute of Foreign Languages and the
Department of Lithuanian Studies of the
Faculty of Philology)
• partners: universities of Kaunas, Siauliai
and Klaipeda; National Examination
Centre
• 64 members (58 university teachers)
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Advantages and Constraints
Advantages:
• awareness of CEFR levels by part of the
project participants;
• experience of a number of teachers in
designing tests for assessing
communicative competence:
• participation in international projects
(Qualspell, Year 12)
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Constraints
• Poor awareness of test design of most of
the participants
• Time
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Training
2006
• June - Introductory seminar on general
principles of language testing, CEFR and
its levels of language proficiency (Joana
Pribušauskaitė, Zita Mažuolienė);
• October - introductory seminar on
principles of language testing and writing
specifications for reading and listening
(Rita Green, UK)
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Training
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2007
January - designing tests for assessing reading skills;
moderating tests for assessing receptive skills (Zina
Stanevičienė, Joana Pribušauskaitė, Zita Mažuolienė;
February – designing tests for assessing writing (Vita
Kalnberzina, Latvia);
March – relating tests to CEFR for maintaining the same
level across the languages (Ülle Türk, Estonia);
May – designing tests for listening; relating tests to
CEFR (Jürgen Quetz, Germany)
June – applying statistics for establishing test quality
(Norman Verhelst, the Netherlands)
October – assessing speaking skills (Aušrelė
Pranciulienė, Irena Katauskienė, Saulė Brazauskienė)
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Training
• 2 teachers of English trained in developing
language tests at Lancaster university in
2006;
• 2 teachers of German trained in test
design at TestDaF-Institut, Hagen in 2006;
• 4 teachers had a course in classical test
theory at LU in 2007
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Work in progress
• Designing ELPs
• Translating CEFR
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Problems
• Limited numbers of students for pretesting tests of less popular languages
• Time constraints
• The need of examination centre for test
design and research
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Thank you for your attention !
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