General English
(Elementary to Advanced)

General English assessment tasks and strategies

The following methods, procedures and sources of instruments will be used for assessment.

1. Weekly tests: The coursebook for each level has a series of tests associated with it, which generally cover grammar and vocabulary from the unit as well as reading and listening skills. The syllabus document for each level explains how teachers can access these summative tests, as well as the outcomes that they relate to. These should be set as often as they are available, usually weekly. The period on Monday mornings before new students arrive is a good time to do this, preceded by some review. As designed, these tests focus heavily on the content covered in the coursebook since the previous test, and as such can give an indication of how well each student is picking up the new language points and skills dealt with within that period, as well as for diagnosing any areas of weakness that need reinforcement. It should be noted that these have not been standardised, meaning that the marks on one test have no relationship to marks on another test in the same set. Further, they are usually not proficiency tests – they look only at the language taught and say little if anything about overall language ability.
2. Writing portfolio. This will usually consist of writing activities connected with the theme of the week. They may be on-line if students have internet access; for example, a task might be to write an email or a post on a social networking site. If setting on-line tasks, teachers should be careful to make sure that no-one in the class is disadvantaged because of a lack of internet access at home and/or inability to stay behind to work in the college. Each piece of writing will be returned to the student with constructive comments designed to assist the students’ learning. Grammar and vocabulary mistakes can also be corrected, or coded by type to help students in self-correction. These formative assessments will take place throughout the course.
3. Regular in-class assessments. These allow for speaking skills to be assessed, and many also address the listening and reading outcomes. Teachers will assess each student’s in-class performance at least once every two weeks and more frequently if, for example, students are being monitored for possible promotion to the next level. The intention is that this should fit in smoothly with normal class work and provide practice opportunities just as ordinary teaching does; while students are performing the task, the teacher formally analyses and records their performance (rather than doing this informally as they would in any other practice activity). In this way, issues such as assessment anxiety that may affect performance can be minimised. Teachers should select a suitable activity from the coursebooks or supplementary material; this would usually be based around a conversation topic or short talk, and not be an activity where new language is practiced for the first time. Such activities commonly appear at the end of coursebook units, and will be highlighted in the syllabus. Teachers will mark the results in a grid of the relevant learning outcomes (a ‘rubric’ in the north American sense). To assist with reliability of these assessments, for moderation purposes, it is recommended that the Academic Manager or another suitably experienced teacher participates from time to time and discusses individual assessment decisions with the teacher.

Monitoring student progress

Teachers will ensure that results are recorded for each assessment task on each student’s Progress Record Sheet. Timely feedback will be given on assessment tasks, class and homework tasks throughout the study period.

Progress Record Sheets are designed to provide an at-a-glance overview of the student’s needs, starting point and progress throughout the course. They are kept in the class file (a folder, one for each class). When a student changes class, the teacher of the class into which the student moves is responsible for transferring the record sheet for that student. It is the responsibility of the teacher(s) marking each assessment to keep the record sheet updated.

Attendance (or rather, lack of it) is considered likely to have a significant effect on academic progress. Without time spent undertaking learning activities, progress in English language proficiency is unlikely.

If it appears that a student is not making reasonable progress, the teacher should discuss the matter with the student and offer advice. If no improvement is evident, then the teacher will report the student to the Academic Manager, who will then discuss the next move with the class teachers; for example, extra support that can be provided to the student, or counselling about the possibility of having to stay in the same level for more than the normal duration and how to avoid this situation.

Promotion to a higher level

Promotion of students to a higher level is carried out on the basis of assessment results, in consultation initially with the Academic Manager (as the college increases in size, coordinators or senior teachers may take over from the Academic Manager here). In this course, a student is eligible to move up to a higher level if they are consistently achieving the learning outcomes for the level they’re studying.

Where a student is having problems in a relatively narrow area, but is otherwise fine on other learning outcomes, the Academic Manager may exercise discretion in allowing the student to move up to the next level provided that the student is given appropriate counselling and support. For example, a student who has difficulty with some aspects of pronunciation should not be held back if they’re performing well in all other skills. Similarly, a student with diagnosed dyslexia should not be held back due to weak performance against the reading and writing outcomes.

In the GE course, where a student is ready to move up to the next level, the Academic Manager (or person delegated by the Academic Manager who does not teach the class) informs the student in person at the end of the week preceding the move.

Mode of delivery

Each ELICOS level comprehends 250 hours over a 10-week period comprising 20 hours per week of classroom based (face to face) delivery and there is a 5-hour self-paced space for students to study during the week.

Opportunities will be taken to go out of the classroom, both physically through excursions which allow students to use English in real contexts, and virtually through the use of the internet, social media platforms etc.

Homework will be set regularly, in order to provide opportunities to consolidate and review classroom learning, and to provide practice to supplement classroom work. There will be a higher homework requirement for students heading for EAP. Real-world tasks such as asking for information from a service provider, in person or by telephone, may also be set as homework, with students expected to report back on what they found afterwards.

Methods of delivery

A number of delivery methods will be adopted to ensure the content is communicated to the learners, these include but are not limited to:

Audio/video materials, supervised work, identifying activities, matching, research, oral presentations, games, re-ordering activities, filling gaps, group work, role play, board activities, discussions, debates and analysis.

These methods may differ on intensity according to the level and the goals set for each one of them. They are beneficial to engage learners in the learning process and encourage them to contribute in a meaningful manner.