TO THE PROBLEM OF THE ASSESSMENT OF A FOREIGN LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

Кобелева Е.П.¹, Дуплинская Е.Б.²

¹Канд.пед.наук,

²канд.эк.наук,

Сибирский государственный университет путей сообщения

К ПРОБЛЕМЕ ОЦЕНКИ УРОВНЯ ВЛАДЕНИЯ ИНОСТРАННЫМ ЯЗЫКОМ

Аннотация

Модернизация высшего профессионального образования делает необходимым разработку дидактического инструментария, обеспечивающего оценку результатов обучения (компетенций). В работе рассматривается проблема оценивания уровня владения иностранным языком и предлагается система оценки, включающая самооценку, формальный и неформальный контроль.

Ключевые слова: уровень владения иностранным языком, самооценка, формальный контроль, неформальный контроль.

Kobeleva Е.P.¹, Duplinskaya E.B.²

¹PhD in Pedagogics, Associate Professor,

²PhD in Economics, Associate Professor,

Siberian State Transport University, Russia, Novosibirsk

TO THE PROBLEM OF THE ASSESSMENT OF A FOREIGN LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

Abstract

The modernization of Russian higher education necessitates the development of didactic tools of measuring and evaluation of educational outcomes (competences). The problem of the improvement of the assessment techniques aimed at the estimation of a foreign language acquisition is concerned. The system of the assessment of a foreign language acquisition, composed of self-assessment, formal and informal control is suggested.

Keywords: foreign language acquisition, formal control, informal control, self-assessment.

Modern trends in political, economic and social spheres inevitably lead to the modernization of Russian education system. An important step in this direction was the adoption of the Federal state standards of higher education, determining that the graduates’ educational outcomes is a complex of personal and professional competencies that enable them to satisfy their professional needs. However, educational standards do not include didactic tools to measure and evaluate the educational outcomes.

In this regard, in the theory and methodology of higher education the problem of the assessment of the quality of professional training is investigated. Another  challenge is the designation of common approaches to the formulation of  the requirements for the educational outcomes, understandable for educational institutions, students and employers and recognizable by these reference groups. The requirements of employers are crucial for the universities oriented to the training of the graduates for a specific industry, for instance, a transport one, where the employers regulate the specialists’ training in conformity with their real needs.

Thus, the active participation of the transport industry in international business, concluding contacts with foreign companies, extend the range of professionals competences, the graduates involved in international business activity must obtain. Consequently, transport universities have to adjust their curriculum to these special requirements.

The requirements include graduates’ competence both in micro-, and macroeconomic issues, having advanced proficiency in such spheres as international management, marketing, financial management and dealing, taxation, customs regulation, etc.

In order to meet the requirements, determined by the increased international economic activity of Russian transport industry, graduates of transport universities must have the appropriate foreign language training, and, as a consequence, it necessitates the improvement of the assessment techniques aimed at estimation of the training effectiveness.

The experience of teaching ESP (English for Specific (Professional) Purposes) to the bachelors of Economics (Siberian Transport University, the English Language Department) confirms the appropriateness of using the system of integrated assessment of foreign language acquisition. This system allows to adopt international standards of monitoring the students’ competence in ESP to the teaching of foreign languages in transport universities.

The system is based on the theoretical investigations of both Russian (E.  Ignatieva, E. Lykhina, O. Polyakov, etc.) and foreign (M. Harris, P. McCoy, etc.) scientists and includes self-assessment, formal and informal control.

Formal control involves the methods of students’ foreign language competence assessment, specified by academic syllabuses and includes, for instance, computer testing, which allows to measure the learners’ progress in studying English. Moreover, formal control determines the level of background knowledge of economic theory, as well as the development of students’ linguistic proficiency (ability to listen, read and comprehend authentic professional texts, to use adequately the most frequent vocabulary in the study of professionally oriented subjects, deal with business correspondence in a foreign language, etc.). Thus, formal control refers to the perception and production stages of the process of foreign language acquisition.

The third stage, interaction, requires more complicated assessment strategies,that are concerned with informal control. It includes business role plays, case-studies, project work, etc., which are regarded action-based assessment tactics, as they take into account the cognitive, emotional and volitional resources and the full range of abilities specific to and applied by the individual as a social agent. The experience proves that activating the strategy of informal control leads to the reinforcement or modification of the learners’ foreign language competences.

Self-assessment, as another element of the system of complex assessment of foreign language acquisition, is understood as an evaluation of students’ own activity and the progress made as a result of this activity. It is known that a self-esteem is one of the main regulators of the educational process, the factor determining its quality. This thesis is of particular relevance in the modern system of education, where independent work of students, their ability to take responsibility, and to identify an individual path of training play a crucial role. Generally speaking, self-assessment is aimed at raising the learners’ awareness of their present state of knowledge and self-setting of feasible and worthwhile objectives.

Thus, the presented system of the assessment of a foreign language acquisition, composed of self-assessment, formal and informal control, is interpreted as a constructive feedback in the following model ‘teaching –  development of educational programme – evaluation – improvement – teaching’. The system is a competence-oriented assessment tool which contributes to the adjustment of the process of foreign language training to the international assessment methodology; it also allows to estimate the level of language skills development, and to keep track and analyze the dynamics of professional foreign language communication skills formation, what, in general, tends to bring together the process of a foreign language training and the conditions of professional practice of future specialists.

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