STUDENTS’ COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE AND LANGUAGE PROGRAM EVALUATION

STUDENTS’ COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE AND LANGUAGE PROGRAM EVALUATION

Kareva, Veronika

There is no dilemma at present times that language learning means learning how to use the language and not learning to know about the language. Exactly for this purpose, in today’s global world characterized by massification and mobility in the field of education, the Council of Europe - Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR), as a universal instrument allowing individuals to have a record of the different elements of their language learning achievement, begins its treatment of language use through the context of communication. Language programs at different institutions organize their work in the way that learners use the general competencies they bring with them, but also develop them further. Nonetheless, successful completion of university language courses does not always mean that the student has mastered the language and can use it for communication. This mostly refers to the cases where the language courses are treated as part of the curricula while the other instruction is in the L1. The fact that students at such institutions are not required to take any standardized English proficiency test put the effectiveness of the complete language program under a question mark. In order to provide evidence for its quality language provision resulting in improved students’ communicative competence, the Language Center (LC) of the South East European University (SEEU) in Tetovo, Macedonia, introduced final oral examination as a part of the course grading criteria. The aim of this paper is to demonstrate if the introduction of the oral examination as a part of the final achievement exam has contributed to raising student’s awareness of the need to improve their communication skills and thus result in their better performance. Participants of the study are 114 students from eight sections, two per level, starting from beginner to upper intermediate, whose final scores will be followed in the last three exam sessions. Besides this, individual students will be chosen and their progress followed in duration of three academic terms in order to show the development of their communication skills. The results are expected to be used as an indicator for program evaluation by the University management and external evaluation

Conference or Workshop Item
PeerReviewed

2014

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