Assessment As Motivation Of Foreign Language Learning For Non-Linguistic University Students

Abstract

The article dwells on the mechanism of assessment as a means of motivation of students to study foreign languages in a non-linguistic university. The classic five-grade system of assessment used in Russia does not have any serious alternatives neither from the standpoint of theoretical nor practical pedagogy. Conventional testing and formal assessment are not ideal for students of non-linguistic higher education institutions. Improper assessment might adversely affect the students’ self-esteem, motivation and attitude towards learning the foreign language in general. The authors show that the students need such a system of assessment that would respect their individual characteristics and specific professional skills within the context of their future specialization. Informal assessment is shown to be instrumental that way: the article describes several ways of informal assessment the objective of which is to provide incentives even for the modest progress and try and augment it by assistance and praise. The authors give practical cases in which the tutors of the Institute of Facultative Education of the Samara State Technical University implemented informal assessment in their work and find the increase of interest on part of the students to the tasks in hand, increase of confidence and capacity to assist their peers.