Ongoing Assessment and New Trends at MEP

Ongoing Assessment and New Trends at MEP

By Dr. Gilberto Hernández Quirós

Dr. Allen Quesada's lecture and workshop titled Ongoing Assessment and News Trends in the English Program at MEP:  Action-Oriented Approach and Project-Based Approach, which took place at the University of Costa Rica at Pacific Branch, zeroed in on the new changes which will be applied to MEP's current assessment strategies.  The latter are geared towards more productive skills and projects in views of empowering students for more competitive linguistic performance.

The audience, primarily students majoring in ELT/TEFL, all seemed to be interested in learning about the new changes to be implemented.  These students happen to be the new generation of teachers of English in Costa Rica, who also expressed their concerns regarding the modifications, and most importantly, the amount of training that the new government, through its five state universities, willl devote to ensuring a successful shift with a homogeneous mindset and full understanding of the overall improved changes and goals to attain.

In terms of language descriptors and "can-do statements" from the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), these will be simplified as follows:  A1/2  basic users, B1/2 independent users and C1/2 proficient users.  The ultimate goal of the government is to make sure that by the time high school students graduate, they will have acquired enough language proficiency to be rated ideally as B2.  Notice that B1 still is regarded insufficient.

Nonetheless, for the above target or goal to be achieved, it is necessary for all teachers to be upgraded into a consolidated level of proficiency, namely C1 or C2, to ensure a successful upgrade passed on to students with correct diction, appropriate teaching and learning strategies, as well as updated language learning experiences such as M-learning or M-pedagogy.

Dr. Quesada likewise talked about the "Assessment in Action Wheel" which is an integral ongoing process to all aspects of the task, from the design of the task to planning for future learning.  The assessment in action also comprises assessment "as", "of" and for learning,  The entire process in the assessment  should be reflected in the assessment wheel below which provides a process to follow in assessing students' language competencies.