Specifics of assessment in electronic training courses on teaching a foreign language at a university

• Пак Леонид Евгеньевич

  Leonid E. Pak. Vladivostok State University. Vladivostok. Russia

• Eva P. Dolgaya

  Eva P. Dolgaya. Vladivostok State University. Vladivostok. Russia

This article is devoted to the study of the specifics of the assessment system in electronic learning courses (ELCs) in the context of teaching foreign languages at universities. The research is relevant as it reveals the features of assessment not only as a tool for control, but
also as a means of stimulating learning activity. Moreover, electronic learning courses serve as an optimal platform for testing a variety of assessment methods. The structure and technical capabilities of modern ELCs make it possible to combine traditional and innovative forms of assessment. The aim of the study is the development and testing of an assessment system that integrates formative and summative assessment within a foreign language ELC. The object of the research is the assessment system in the educational process of higher education institutions in the context of foreign language teaching. The subject of the research is the specificity of implementing an assessment system within an electronic learning course in a foreign language. An ELC was developed for studying English in the discipline “Foreign Language (Module 1)”. Special attention is given to summative and formative assessment. The proposed system of assessment increased the transparency of evaluation criteria. The testing of the course in group BDZ-24-CD2 at Vladivostok State University revealed a statistically significant improvement in academic performance, verified through calculations using Student’s t-test. The statistically significant im-
provement in the experimental group (t = 3.42, p < 0.05) substantiates the feasibility of integrating assessment systems based on ELCs into foreign language teaching at universities. The authors note a positive dynamic in the level of foreign language proficiency in the experimental group (a decrease in the proportion of students at the Elementary level from 42.9 to 14.3 %), assessed through a comparative analysis of the results of entrance and final diagnostic tests.
Keywords: electronic learning course, assessment system, formative assessment, summative assessment, experimental work, foreign language teaching