We haven’t really followed a procedure for the design of EAP assessments. I think that’s where we have fallen down in the past. Although, you know, we’ve never had problems or particular criticisms from our external examiners. I suppose there’s no formal procedure that we follow when we put a test or assessment together. We do try to sit around the table and work out what we’re planning to do and how we are going to test the students. I’d really like to get a more structured process in place so that we have a more definite approach in future.


I mean I suppose I could say, just to start with, that there is tension between assessing the language and skills that you need in EAP, versus trying to adhere to good standards of reliability. In other words, you know, to ensure reliable assessment, you’ll be more likely to get a reliable assessment, statistically speaking, if you use a test which requires objective answers like multiple-choice or one-word answers. But then, if you try to use that approach of testing, you’ll probably end up not really assessing the kinds of skills that you want to assess. So, in order to assess the sort of skills like note-taking, summarizing, that kind of thing, which is more appropriate in an EAP context because you are preparing students to go on to use those skills on their degree courses, then you’ll end up with types of assessment which are more subjective and less reliable from the marking point of view.


EAP assessment voices: Professional strengths and weaknesses in EAP assessment


I think my main weakness in terms of EAP assessment is that I tend to accept that the approach followed by common standardized tests is the right approach when, in fact, it may not always be the right way of doing things. My strength perhaps is that I’m increasingly questioning the way that we do EAP assessment, and what I’m really interested in is breaking down the barriers between test papers, for example, of the reading and the writing into two completely separate tests.


I don’t think I have fully worked out a coherent conception of what I’m aiming to do with EAP testing, how it all fits into an integrated whole. And I think that’s partly because of disagreements that I have seen in the wider field, or perhaps just with the people that I have been exposed to. There seems to me to be some disagreement, both in terms of the importance of aspects of assessment such as formative, genre types, use of discrete items and language knowledge.


Chapter 15: EAP assessment voices 183


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