Informing pedagogy through exploring and reforming assessment practices in English Medium Instruction (EMI) education

Principal Investigator

Dr. Lo Yuen Yi, The University of Hong Kong

 

Co-Investigator

Prof. Angel M.Y. Lin, The University of Hong Kong
Prof. David Carless, The University of Hong Kong
Dr. Dennis C. L. Fung, The University of Hong Kong

 

Objectives

Hong Kong teachers’ lesson design and classroom practices are heavily affected by the assessment, particularly the high-stakes public examination. However, the issue of “assessment” in English Medium Instruction (EMI) education has been under-explored in both Hong Kong and other contexts. The objectives of this project are:

1. To explore the current assessment practices of both public examination and schools, by analysing a collection of syllabi, assessment questions, marking rubrics and students’ scripts of Science and Geography subjects;
2. To investigate whether teachers align lesson objectives, classroom instruction and assessment practices through studying closely 12 teachers from three EMI schools;
3. Based on the findings of the first two objectives, to design and evaluate an informal test for one S.2 unit of Science and Geography respectively, in order to diagnose students’ learning of content and language at various levels.

 

Significance for Hong Kong and beyond

This study will deepen our understanding of assessment practices in EMI schools and yield important implications for designing valid assessment in EMI which can better diagnose students’ learning progress and difficulties in both content and language aspects. These will then inform more effective teaching methods and enhance the learning effectiveness of EMI education in Hong Kong and other similar programmes (e.g. the Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) programmes in Europe).