Implications of classroom tests to evaluate the English Language subject in the decision of students to drop out of a licenciatura in languages
Keywords:
Evaluation, dropping-out, test, cohort, aptitude, attitudeAbstract
This article reports the progress of a study made in one and a half academic semesters, between 2009-2 and 2010-1, with four research assistants who were about to complete their Licenciatura. The purpose of their participation in the Project was for them to give an account of their work in their dissertation. Two exploratory studies were carried out, one about drop-outs in the Licenciatura, and another about the influence that English tests may have in the making of the decision of students to abandon their studies. The latter was accomplished by means of a survey administered to roughly half the students enrolled (there was a total of 300) in the first to fourth academic semesters of the Licenciatura, during the semester 2010-. Though this survey was designed and applied alternatively to the original objectives of this piece of research, for reasons described below, the results, now under analysis, are useful. Through asking the students simple questions about both English classes and English tests, suitable information for the revision of methodologies currently used for the teaching and evaluation of the English language was uncovered. Besides academic data, information gathered with the survey also includes valuable economic facts.
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