Hi all,
My apologies for the delay in responding to this thread (wonderful holidays intervened). I do know that C&G are currently developing new assessments at E1 - E3 and comments from centres re errors and levels have been taken into consideration. So hopefully the new titles will be more to the liking of all.
I have used C&G for ESOL assessments for over 6 years and because we have a specialised and professional team of ESOL lecturers, who ensure quality the experience has been very positive. The EV is very approachable and the flexibility of the assessments means learners achieve and we have success rates at 96%.
We had considered going down the Cambridge or Trinity route but due to set dates for assessments we decided the impact would negative for learners, staff and the department.
Lorraine
-----Original Message-----
From: ESOL-Research discussion forum and message board [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of [log in to unmask]
Sent: 15 July 2011 01:50
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Re City and Guilds ESOL
Dear All
My experience is that most exam boards offering SfL ESOL
qualifications, especially reading and writing papers, are not reliable for a
variety of reasons.
In contrast, Cambridge may be expensive and not that
flexible but at least you know that it is true assessment with papers written
and tested by professional experts in this field - you will not find errors in
their written papers.
Unfortunately, for accreditation/funding purposes it's
'easier' to use other boards, which, it could be said, sometimes bring the
whole subject of ESOL into disrepute. By that I mean that, as we know, teaching
ESOL well requires a high level of skill (as with all language teaching) as
opposed to teaching 'softer skills' or certain other subjects, which use such
exam boards. (This may be controversial but in one establishment where I
worked, most colleagues - non ESOL teachers - would offer to cover most
classes/subjects apart from ESOL because, as they admitted, they didn't have
the necessary skills/specialism.)
As regards Trinity, entering candidates
online is hard work and it's virtually impossible to get any support when you
need it. Their written papers tend to have errors, which sometimes they'll
warn you about eg early July's E3 Reading paper: tell candidates not to answer
Qxx. Did anyone have candidates taking early July's E2 writing paper? - the
first question, by all reports, seemed to be very confusing if not impossible.
When learners and tutors have worked so hard, for often as long as an academic
year, they should at the very least be confident enough to believe that the
exam which is taken, and qualification awarded, is from a professional and
reliable board.
I honestly don't know what the answer is, and will be
interested to see if someone comes up with a workable (or even ideal!)
solution.
Charlotte
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