Assessment 

All assessments will be held face-to-face on campus. 

Assessment at Levels 1, 2, 3, and 4

Students are continuously assessed throughout their courses. There are three areas that feed into their final course grade:

• Skills and language assessments

• Online work

• Classroom participation

In order to achieve a ‘Clear pass’ students must achieve a course total of 68% or more.

Students achieving a course total of between 64% and 68% will be awarded a ‘Conditional pass’ to the next level. At the next level, they must achieve a course total of 66% or more to keep going. If they get less than 66%, they must repeat the level which they conditionally passed into.

In-class quizzes and assessments, Levels 1 – 4 

• Quizzes and assessments are worth 75% of a student’s overall grade. By assessing students regularly throughout the module, instructors keep track of student progress and are better able to provide extra support if needed. Students can monitor their own progress as well.

• Scores from all quizzes and assessments are entered into the Blackboard gradebook so students can see all of their scores in one place.

• If a student is absent for a quiz or assessment, they receive “0” (zero) unless they supply a valid medical/ approved absence report, in which case the score will be exempted from their gradebook. There are no make-up quizzes and assessments.

• Students will be given the opportunity to see their marked quiz and assessment papers for feedback. This is done in small groups with the instructor for a number of days after the quiz/assessment. After that time, it will not be possible to see the paper again.  

• Any request for a quiz or assessment to be second-graded must be received within three days of the grade being posted on your Blackboard course grades page.

Use of English assessment

There are two Use of English quizzes per module. This assessment covers areas of grammar and vocabulary that have been covered by the course and aims to encourage students to be constantly reviewing what they are learning. There are also bi-unit grammar and vocabulary tests in Blackboard which aim to help students throughout the module to revise and recall the new areas of language covered in their course.

The Use of English quiz 1 is worth 20 points. Students are given 45 minutes to complete the assessment. Scores should be changed into a grade out of 100 before being entered into the Blackboard grade centre.

The Use of English quiz 2 is worth 40 points. Students are given 50 minutes to complete the assessment. Scores should be changed into a grade out of 100 before being entered into the Blackboard grade centre.

Reading, Writing, Listening, Speaking assessments

There are two assessments for each skill during the module. Speaking assessments are conducted in groups of three or two students with one instructor, and are recorded. There is also a speaking video project which must be submitted towards the end of the module. 

Writing and Speaking assessments are graded using standardised rubrics.

At Level 3 and Level 4 there is an additional Listening and Note-taking assessment which aims to help students become familiar with this skill before they get to Pre-Faculty level.

All skills assessments take place during class time.

Online assessment, Levels 1 – 4 

The online element prepares students for a Flipped Learning environment and is worth 15% of a student’s overall grade.  Before most classes, students watch a video on Blackboard and complete a task. 

Each week there are post-class practice activities for students to complete. For the L1–L4 Roadmap modules, these activities are done on Pearson’s MyEnglishLab (MEL). Each unit has a due date, and activities can be attempted as many times as needed until the deadline. After the due date, they are no longer available, and the average score is transferred to the Blackboard gradebook. For the L1–L4 Speakout modules, post-class practice is assigned directly by instructors. Each week, students complete four consolidation tasks, graded on a completed / not completed basis. Each task is worth 25% of the weekly grade (100% in total).

Each time two or three units of the coursebook have been completed, students complete consolidation vocab and grammar tests in Blackboard.

Students at Level 3 and Level 4 are expected to read and answer questions for twelve articles over a two-and-a-half-week period in Globed’s Achieve3000 online reading platform. These articles aim to improve students’ reading skills, and provide exposure to the kind of vocabulary they will need in their faculty courses.

Scores for tasks and tests completed in Blackboard appear automatically in a student’s Blackboard gradebook. Scores from MEL (or assigned tasks in Speakout Modules) are entered by the instructor after each two units of online work is completed. Achieve3000 grades are also entered by the instructor, every two and a half weeks. This means that students can constantly track their online performance throughout a module. 

All online activities and tests have due dates. Students must complete the activities before the due date. Due dates are clearly marked in the day-by-day breakdown of the module which instructors make available to students at the start of each module. This document is also accessible within Blackboard. If classes are cancelled for any reason (e.g. snow day), these due dates DO NOT change.

It is each student’s responsibility to keep track of these due dates.

Video projects, Levels 1 – 4 

Video projects provide a useful way for students to be able to consolidate the language they are learning in the form of a spoken video project. Topics are made available early in each module for students to choose from and need to be submitted a few days before the end of a module, so there is plenty of time to prepare, practise, and record the video. The topics provided allow for students to make personalised use of the language they have developed. The video project is worth 4% of the course total. 

Assessment at Pre-Faculty Level

All assessments will be held face-to-face on campus.

The Pre-Faculty Level is designed to introduce students to academic language skills and competencies which will help them when they begin their faculty studies. For this reason, the format of the assessments at this level are quite different from Levels 1 – 4.

Students at Pre-Faculty Level need to achieve a course total of 65% or more in order to pass the course and complete their studies in the ELPP. Students who have ‘conditionally passed’ from Level 4 must achieve a course total of 66% to pass Pre-Faculty Level.

Project work, Pre-Faculty Level

The project work is based on the United Nations Sustainable Development Partnership Goals. Students work in project teams to choose one goal and work through a series of project steps, towards a poster and presentation. The presentation is recorded.

Listening and Note-taking assessments, Pre-Faculty Level Integrated Skills assessments, Pre-Faculty Level

There are three Integrated Skills assessments. In order to familiarise students with the exam format, students are given access to unassessed practice exams early on in their Pre-Faculty course. The percentage weighting of each of the assessments increases (from 10%, to 14%, to 17%) to allow students to benefit from the increased practice and exposure as they go through the course. Each Integrated Skills assessment focuses on note-taking and writing skills. Students take notes on provided content and answer questions based on their notes. Student responses are graded using a short answer rubric and a writing rubric (See Appendix 7).

Online work, Pre-Faculty Level

• Blackboard pre-class video tests (4%). Grades automatically recorded in Bb Grade Centre

• Blackboard UNSDP video tests (4%). Grades automatically recorded in Bb Grade Centre

• Achieve3000 (4%). Students are expected to complete twelve articles over a period of two and a half weeks, with scores of 75% or more. They are free to choose which articles they do. Grades will be transferred from Ach3000 grade report to Bb Grade Centre on Ach3000 grading days.

• Blackboard Unit vocab tests (3%). Available for 24 hours. Grades automatically recorded in Bb Grade Centre.

Electives are run in Modules 2 and 4 and are open to students who have passed Pre-Faculty Level in Modules 1 and 3. 

Classroom participation, all levels

The focus of lessons is on communicative practice of the language so students’ active participation in the classroom is very important. English should be used at all times in class. Instructors give students classroom participation grades every two weeks, using standardised rubrics (See Appendix 7.5. ). Classroom participation is worth 10% of the student’s overall grade.

Online lessons are as important as face-to-face lessons. Remember to be punctual, engaged, visible, and positive during online lessons for a successful learning experience. (See Appendix 6)