Language Assessment Course: Students and Lecturers' Voices on How it is Structured

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to describe the structure of Language Assessment Course that students of English Study Program in Jambi University expect to learn and lecturers wish to teach. As a mandatory content course, Language Assessment course aims at enabling the students (1) to evaluate the classroom language learning through formative and summative assessment; and (2) to construct linguistically-acceptable language test items. Data were gained through students’ questionnaire and Focus Group Discussion with lecturers of the course and/or language pedagogical courses. 83 students responded the questionnaire and 8 lecturers participated in the discussion. The results show that students expect to be equipped with practical theories of language assessment and to be trained on how to design scientific test items. In addition, lecturers convey that students are not only taught with theories of language evaluation but they are also guided to develop assessment of language learning. Both students and lecturers recommend that students’ workshop of constructing the assessment takes major proportion in the course in which students take theories taught into practice.