Testing time for students

Students have been learning the skills they need to design and evaluate tests for use in schools and for examination boards.

A group from the School of Education, who are studying language testing and assessment for their MA, visited Cambridge Assessment, the largest examination board in the UK. The visit provided the opportunity for students to discuss how the test development and analysis skills they learn at Leicester can be applied in large-scale test design for examination boards.

Professor Glenn Fulcher (pictured), from the School of Education who teaches the module, said: “The students also learn to use the statistical tools they need to conduct reliability studies and produce test reports.

“I and representatives from Cambridge Assessment talked about the work of an examination board and the research they conduct to support high quality test design.

“Our current students also had the opportunity to ask questions about employment opportunities in the testing and assessment industry.”

One Cambridge Assessment researcher is Nathaniel Owen (front 3rd from the right) who also studied language testing as an MA Applied Linguistics and TESOL student at Leicester, and went on to study for a PhD in language testing in the School of Education.