Involving Students in the Development and Mediation of Assessment Competences. A Case Study: Romanian as a Foreign Language. Medical Language

Abstract

The cementing of mediation as an integral part of the 2020 CEFR/CV (The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages/ Companion Volume) and, consequently, of adequate assessment processes, sets the task of rethinking the Romanian language test for foreign medical students at the UMFVBT (The “Victor Babeș” University of Medicine and Pharmacy Timișoara). Mediation should be addressed with a view to integrating it into the comprehensive learning, testing and evaluation process. The paper points beyond a summative form of assessment and argues in favour of adding formative, dynamic forms of assessment during the language course on specific written mediation competences. Within this framework, we plead for partially restricting the overall authority of the teacher in matters of assessment and for involving the students in the very assessment of the mediation competences they are to acquire and develop. In order to avoid messy progress and to ensure a systematic, methodical and beneficial process, assessment requires careful preparation and monitoring. To this end, the paper suggests a hybridisation of learning and assessing, and lays out a coherent series of learning tasks adding up to a complex task suite, a multi-stage task designed to directly involve the students in as many learning and assessment stages as possible.