Standardising assessment to meet student needs in foreign language modules in a university context: Is standardisation possible?

Abstract

AbstractThe Applied Language Centre at University College Dublin offers foreign language modules to students in ten languages at CEFR levels ranging from A1 to B2. Efforts have been underway in the Centre to standardise the assessment components across languages to ensure parity between module credits and to meet student expectations as they migrate from one language module to another and one language level to the next. This process has involved close scrutiny of the reliability and validity of the existing testing techniques and attempts at improving rater reliability across languages and levels as well as the endeavour to tailor exam components to student needs. The university language modules focus on communicative ability and functional language use (students write short e-mails, respond to informational texts, etc.), so it is important that the assessment weighting and the examination material also relate to the immediate, practical needs of students (often beginners in a new language in this context). The proposed module outcomes need to be carefully tailored to the demands of university students and assessed in a fair and consistent manner across languages. The alignment between intended learning outcomes, classroom activities and assessment is crucial in this environment and requires constant evaluation and revision.