Innovation in Assessment Prize
Language Academy UTM wins prestigious Innovation in Assessment Prize in Hanoi
Hanoi, Vietnam, 14 October 2016 – The Language Academy of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia was today awarded the 2016 Innovation in Assessment Prize by the British Council. The award was given in recognition of their approach to developing an assessment instrument, the Test of English Communication Skills for graduating students (UTM-TECS), which measures university graduates’ readiness to communicate in English in the workplace. The tasks and assessment criteria of the test were derived from and developed through collaboration with industries at various stages of the test development and implementation including the validation and revision phases.
The research was headed by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Abdul Halim bin Abdul Raof and funded by Universiti Teknologi Malaysia.
The Innovation in Assessment prize is designed to complement the existing British Council ELTons awards and celebrates innovation in the area of language testing and assessment. The winner receives £1,000. The Innovation in Assessment Prize is given to an individual or organisation for innovation in any of the following areas:
- Innovative practices in test delivery
- Innovative practices in test administration
- Technical innovation in scoring or delivery
- Innovative item or task development
- Innovative application of applied linguistics or second language acquisition research to language assessment
Nominations are judged by a panel of language assessment experts.
RECIPIENT OF THE 2016 INNOVATION IN ASSESSMENT PRIZE
Language Academy, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor Bahru, Malaysia, for their approach to developing an assessment instrument, the Test of English Communication Skills for graduating students (UTM-TECS), which measures university graduates’ readiness to communicate in English in the workplace. The tasks and assessment criteria of the test were derived from and developed through collaboration with industries at various stages of the test development and implementation including the validation and revision phases.
