Promoting Sustainable Excellence in Testing and Assessment of English Tony Green

1. Promoting Sustainable Excellence in Testing and Assessment of English Tony Green University of Bedfordshire

2. Project rationale 2009: Ministry of Education introduced All Russia Unified State Examinations in Foreign Languages (EGE)for secondary school pupils. Secondary school teachers currently have no special training on testing and assessment and the exam challenges RF assessment tradition. • Trainees at Russian universities and in-service secondary teachers need training in examination testing and assessment.

3. Context:Tensions in the education system ELT aims, content and methods have changed Assessment has largely remained the same Teaching Assessment

4. 4 EU partners 11 Russian Federation Universities NATE, Cambridge University Press RF Ministry of Education

6. The issues No testing and assessment component in teacher training provision in the Russian Federation Lack of know-how among teacher trainers who have not themselves received training in this area Lack of experience among current secondary school teachers in developing assessment tools for use in classroom Lack of awareness of principles underlying design of the EGE used for matriculation/ school leaving. Lack of awareness may lead teachers towards inappropriate test preparation activities counter to intentions of the state secondary school curriculum Equipment and resource shortages Lack of coordination among universities

7. 100 years of tradition in Russian/Soviet assessment practices read and translate read and retell translate sentences from Russian into English topics, topics, topics … Emphasis on reproduction Highly subjective assessment slides on EGE by Prof. Maria Verbitskaya (NATE), Head of the Federal Committee on the Unified State Examination in foreign languages

8. 10 years of innovation: introduction of high stakes tests Results likely to have major impact on programmes and on lives of large numbers of individuals Unified State Examination - EGE (National Standard Examination) Olympiads Federal Professional Education Examination (ФЭПО)

9. National Standard Exam

10. National Standard Exam (EGE) competence/ skills-based approach displaces GT emphasizing reading & listening skills/ strategies emphasizing productive skills (writing and speaking) grammar and vocabulary in context

11. New thinking • Resistance and roadblocks • Limited pool of expertise • Lack of trust in standardized testing as an assessment tool Claims for positive washback • Communicative approach supported • Speaking no longer means topics or dialogues learned by heart • Listening comprehension established in the classroom

12. European Union partners • Project management • Quality assurance • Knowledge transfer • Dissemination • Cooperate with RF partners in developing training modules, materials and handbooks for teachers

13. Russian Federation partners • participate in the initial training programme. contribute to development of modules for trainee teachers and will run and evaluate pilot courses • establish a regional centre for professional development to disseminate language assessment and testing expertise • disseminate project outcomes to wider constituency

14. The training model

15. The process: developing and delivering the training materials

16. The legacy: regional centres of professional development

17. Assessment literacy involves… Principles… principles of sound assessment Knowledge and skills… to identify and evaluate appropriate assessments for specific purposes to assess learners effectively in order to maximise learning to analyse data to inform and improve decision making to interpret and apply assessment results in appropriate ways Wisdom… to integrate assessment and outcomes into the overall educational decision making process

18. Thank you