Abstract
The chapter compares the assessment paradigms of summative and formative assessments of English for academic purposes literacies (EAPL) as experienced by teacher candidates in a national pedagogical institute in the Middle East region. EAPL assessments are mapped at different distances utilizing Bronfenbrenner's bioecological model to describe the assessment continuum, which ranges from microsystem to macrosystem, and is defined by the distance from the enacted curriculum. Proximal processes of EAPL formative assessments taking place in the microsystem are ecologically sound in socializing students in their academic discipline. The persistent interactions in the classroom assessment environment enhance the gradual development of academic literacies over time. Teacher candidates encounter tensions that arise between formative and summative assessment paradigms. First, in their teacher training, and second, in their teaching. Similar research findings from other educational contexts have been reported about the tensions between the two types of assessment.
TopIntroduction
The landscape of higher education has seen a remarkable diversification in its student body, which encompasses linguistic, social, and cultural variation. Thanks to inclusive education and internationalization efforts, most student bodies are increasingly multilingual, which significantly affects the emphasis that universities place on the development of the academic literacy of students, regardless of their linguistic or cultural background. The term academic literacy broadly refers to the range of academic abilities, mostly higher order thinking and learning, which students acquire when starting out in a new academic discipline. Over the past two decades, researchers (Lea & Street, 1998, 2006; Wingate, 2015, 2018) have suggested a shift in academic literacy from discrete, transferable skills to literacy as a textual, social, and contextual practice. A prevalent assumption, albeit questionable, is that students—whether native (L1) or non-native (L2)—enter university equipped with the requisite academic literacy to navigate their degree studies (Murray & Nallaya, 2016; Wingate, 2015, 2018). However, this perception often encapsulates a narrow view of academic literacy, most prominently in English for Academic Purposes (EAP) programs. Many of these programs focus on grammatical accuracy and rhetorical appropriateness in academic writing (Lea, 2017). In this chapter, the authors diverge from this limited perspective and embrace a pluralistic view of academic literacies, which entails the use of multimodal materials to convey meaning, ideas, and knowledge within discipline-specific academia.
Language use and skills learning in English for Academic Purposes Literacies (EAPL) are embedded in the culture of a particular discipline (Anand & Ackley, 2021; Lea & Street, 1998, 2006; Wingate, 2015). Learning to communicate within that discipline is essentially a process of socialization that reflects an emergent understanding of and ability to participate in its traditions of meaning-making. The constituent elements of EAPL proficiency are tripartite, with social, linguistic, and cognitive dimensions which extend beyond literacy in the four-language skills. EAPL moves from culturally applied language skills (e.g., textual analysis or compositional logic) to strategic proficiency in situational and domain specific community exchanges (Parodi, 2010; Bhatia, 2017). Thus, EAPL has a significant third dimension realized in social interactions and negotiations. Assessment of these ecologically sound social interactions, be it the performative, or collaborative is the focus of this chapter’s inquiry. Currently, most assessments of English as a second language, or Academic Literacies, EAPL, use textual/verbal performance indicators to measure internal processes that focus on a monoglossic view, i.e. language components as separate entities. Such assessments generally do not use measurement tools to assess the external processes. Fewer assessments measure skills related to social processes. Comprehensive academic literacies demand a heteroglossic view of literacies that meld linguistic, cultural, and sociolinguistic abilities in academia.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Enacted Curriculum: The teacher-provided learning activities that students experience in the classroom.
Integrated Skills Tests: An integrated skill test incorporates several skills within one test. In academic English tests, students produce texts by summarizing, synthesizing, and presenting source ideas according to the stylistic conventions of a genre.
Washback: Washback is the intended and unintended effects of a high-stakes test on classroom teaching and learning. It can positively or negatively affect classroom practices which either promote or inhibit learning.
High-Stakes Testing: Tests with high importance or significant consequences attached to their outcomes. The results of these tests carry serious implications for people being assessed, such as academic promotion, graduation, or employment decisions.
English for Academic Purposes (EAP): A specialized field in English language that helps students develop the skill and knowledge to use language in various academic contexts.
Proximal Processes: Complex reciprocal interactions in immediate environment or microsystem of students with people, objects and symbols over an extended period of time.
Summative Assessment: An assessment of learning that typically occurs at the end of a specific instructional period such as at the conclusion of a unit, semester or academic year to measure the overall knowledge, skills and understanding of students.
Formative/ Classroom-Based Assessment: Assessment activities conducted by teachers and students to monitor and improve the quality of teaching and learning in classroom.