Assessment in ESP

Pekan, 15 December 2020 – When we assess our students say, on interviews or technical presentations, whose assessment criteria are we using? This question was posed by Associate Professor Dr Abdul Halim bin Abdul Raof, our invited speaker, from Language Academy, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. He presented in a two-hour online webinar which was held on Tuesday, 15 December 2020 from 3:00 p.m. till 5:00 p.m. under CML Guest Speaker Series organised by MScTILS programme.

Master of Science in Technology-Integrated Language Studies (MScTILS) is a taught Master's programme that caters to fresh graduates and professionals, especially the TESL/Linguistics/Language Studies degree holders. The programme will equip learners with advanced knowledge and skills in the field of language studies to give learners the competitive edge in pursuing their occupational endeavours.

Every semester, under every course offered under MScTILS programme, experts in the field are invited to give a talk. This is the second webinar that has been organised by MScTILS. This time, it is under the MLT 6513 Language for Specific Purposes course. As the expert in Testing and Evaluation and English for Specific Purposes (ESP), Associate Professor Dr Abdul Halim bin Abdul Raof shared his expertise in Assessment in ESP.

There was a total of 19 participants in the closed webinar, made up of CML lecturers and CML postgraduates. He started with some revision on ESP and in the next hour, he shared his research experience in developing an ESP test which is the Test of English Communication Skills for Graduating Students (TECS) for Universiti Teknologi Malaysia’s graduating students.

He gave the audience many points to ponder, especially on our current practice and highlighted possible areas to research. Due to the enthusiastic response from the audience, the session ended at 5:30 p.m.

Prepared by: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Noor Raha Mohd Radzuan