Publication details
Necessity Knows no Law: Action Research into Online Testing of Legal English
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2022 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Description | Some students will do anything to succeed in tests, and Law Faculty undergraduates are no exceptions. This talk will demonstrate how the challenge of meaningful testing of student of English for Legal Purposes at B2 level in online mode was addressed through Action Research carried out by Masaryk University Language Centre teachers. This was done through the circles of observing, reflecting and acting, and as a consequence innovative tasks were designed that produce texts that can be objectively and fairly evaluated regardless of whether the test-taker resorted to Googling or not. The talk will briefly outline the stages of the Action Research and the resulting outcomes. First, definition of the problem: it was clear that the Status Quo of testing before the onset of coronavirus crises could not be maintained, as there was no doubt they would fail the test of objectivity as the availability of copying and pasting was unavoidable. Second: Formulation of Research Questions. The initial one worded What tasks would require students to create original responses? was formed, followed by Will students produce enough target language? Third: the outcomes and the next circle. It will be shown how the task of intralinguistic mediation? (i.e. language transformation within one language) was developed to address the first question and what the Mock Test results indicate as far as the language sample production was concerned in answer of the second one. Equally important, feedback from a Continuing Professional Development event aimed at assessing the task and providing evaluation calibration among teachers of other English for Specific Purposes fields will be shared. Finally, it can be concluded that Action Research appear to be a useful tool that gives a structure that helps to adjust one’s thinking to be able to respond to any new teaching situation relatively quickly, creatively and efficiently. |