TOEPAS: Test of Oral English Proficiency for Academic Staff

1. Centre for Internationalisation and Parallel Language Use TOEPAS: Test of Oral English Proficiency for Academic Staff • Pete Westbrook • Centre for Internationalisation and Parallel Language Use (CIP) • University of Copenhagen (KU), Denmark • IATEFL Conference, Glasgow • 21st March 2012 • westbrook@hum.ku.dk

2. Centre for Internationalisation and Parallel Language Use Danish Universities >¼ of all study programmes in English

3. Centre for Internationalisation and Parallel Language Use So we have: Danish lecturer “the chemical formula for this compound can thus be found by analysing...” English Medium Instruction (EMI) S T U D E N T S NS Danish NS Other NS English How do we know how the lecturers are coping?

4. Centre for Internationalisation and Parallel Language Use Outline • Centre for Internationalisation and Parallel Language Use (CIP) • Background to TOEPAS • Description of the test specifications • Formative aspects of the test • Summary

5. Centre for Internationalisation and Parallel Language Use 1. CIP • Parallel language use at KU: • “The use of parallel languages refers to a situation in which two languages are considered equal in a particular domain, and where the choice of language depends on what is deemed most appropriate and efficient in a specific situation. At the University of Copenhagen, the use of Danish and English is determined by the principles of parallel language use.”

6. Centre for Internationalisation and Parallel Language Use • CIP opened officially November 2008 • 3 main areas: • language competence development • research • resource centre • Grown to around 16 staff

7. Centre for Internationalisation and Parallel Language Use 2. Background to TOEPAS • Test procedure for elite COME programmes • Purpose to assess COME teachers’ English language skills • High-stakes, specific test for university lecturers • Assessment should also provide information about any language training needed • Unique competence development tool

8. Centre for Internationalisation and Parallel Language Use How TOEPAS was developed:

9. Centre for Internationalisation and Parallel Language Use 3. Description of test specificationsRating scales: • Global scale: 5 levels • Levels 3, 4, 5 = certified • Levels 1, 2 = not certified • Analytic scales of 5 criteria: • fluency • pronunciation • vocabulary • grammar • interaction

10. Centre for Internationalisation and Parallel Language Use Global rating scale: • 5: The lecturer has demonstrated English language proficiency for university teaching equivalent to that of a highly articulate, well-educated native speaker of English. The lecturer has been certified to teach English-medium courses. No training is required. • 4: The lecturer has demonstrated excellent English language proficiency for university teaching. The lecturer has been certified to teach English-medium courses. No training is required. • 3: The lecturer has demonstrated good English language proficiency for university teaching. The lecturer has been certified to teach English-medium courses. No training is required, but training may be beneficial in one or more of the assessed areas. • 2: The lecturer has demonstrated less than sufficient English language proficiency for university teaching. The lecturer has not been certified to teach English-medium courses. Training is required. • 1: The lecturer has demonstrated limited English language proficiency for university teaching. The lecturer has not been certified to teach English-medium courses. Significant training is required.

11. Centre for Internationalisation and Parallel Language Use Layout of certification room: Examinee 3 – ‘graduate student’ Examiner B And as you can see on the... screen Table Examinee 1 – ‘lecturer’ Video camera Examinee 2 – ‘graduate student’ Examiner A

12. Centre for Internationalisation and Parallel Language Use Test procedure • Part 1: Warm up (not assessed) • 10 minutes as a group • Part 2: Mini-lecture (assessed) • 20 minutes each • Part 3: Question/answer session (assessed) • 5-7 minutes each x3

13. Centre for Internationalisation and Parallel Language Use Assessment procedure • Examiners A & B: • take notes during test • assess and assign scores independently • discuss each examinee afterwards • 3rd examiner (C): • in cases of disagreement • all 2’s and 5’s • random selection for norming

14. Centre for Internationalisation and Parallel Language Use Results so far (March 2012): Certified Not certified

15. Centre for Internationalisation and Parallel Language Use What happens if people are not certified? • CIP: no influence – up to own department • CIP can offer training

16. Centre for Internationalisation and Parallel Language Use 4. Formative aspects of the test • Detailed written feedback report • Option for oral feedback session • Access to the video recording • Clarification of result • Transparency • Training

17. Centre for Internationalisation and Parallel Language Use Why formative aspects? • Stakeholders focus on need for language training as opposed to testing • ‘Exchange currency’ • Strengthen: • validity • transparency • Matches CIP mission to be a competence development and research centre

18. Centre for Internationalisation and Parallel Language Use 5. Summary: • TOEPAS: • Specific test for academic staff • Formative aspects • an awareness-raising tool • a needs assessment • validity and transparency • Future tasks: • Expand test for rest of KU • Test validation

19. Centre for Internationalisation and Parallel Language Use • Thankyou • Any (more) questions? • Pete Westbrook: westbrook@hum.ku.dk

20. Centre for Internationalisation and Parallel Language Use The TOEPAS rating scale and the CEFR • CEFR global scale parallels our 5 level global scale, but: • certification cut level is between B2 and C1 • elements of B2 in our level 3 • Target group more proficient CEFR • CEFR descriptors not nuanced enough