Student voice 3

Nowadays, most language learning in universities does not take place within specialist degrees but in institution-wide language programmes and continuing education-type courses for adult learners. In the past, many among this heterogeneous group of 'non-specialist' students attended non-accredited 'liberal education' language courses and did so largely for enjoyment and recreation. The advent of large-scale accreditation in adult education, including universities, and the fact that course funding is usually dependent on retaining students and having them complete assessment procedures, has presented language tutors with a real challenge. As the extract above illustrates, students can be resistant to testing or assessment and often do not require any form of certification.

One of the reasons for this is that adults do not have confidence in themselves as language learners and are not keen on anything that might require them to demonstrate their ability or proficiency, especially if they are not especially strong or able students. In such circumstances, tutors have to explain the value of having an assessed component in the course and to show fully and clearly what is required of them in terms of assessment. In particular, they should:

• emphasize that students will only be assessed on what they have done on the course;
• make the number and nature of assessment tasks clear;
• explain the weighting of tasks;
• talk through the assessment criteria;
• explain that students are only assessed against these criteria, not other group members;
• explain that assessment can help motivate students by providing feedback and giving them a clearer idea of how they are progressing.

From the tutor's point of view, accreditation also brings clear benefits. For Powell (2001b: 181) it serves as a mechanism to:

• encourage teachers to be more conscious of learning objectives and outcomes;
• extend and enhance the value and status of language learning;
• improve the quality of learning by formalizing good assessment and feedback practice.

While such advice is especially relevant on non-specialist courses, the quality of all students' learning is likely to benefit from occasional reminders of the purpose of assessment.