METASIG Pre-Conference Event 2023

METASIG invites you to the Pre-Conference Event on 19 October, 2023 @12:00. The event welcomes all ELT professionals who are interested in language assessment and testing.

We are proud to host Jan McArthur as our plenary speaker in the first session. Then we will have a focus group meeting with the participants discussing alternative assessment practices Please click for details. Please see the session abstracts below.

Registration fee:

●       METASIG members: ₺75

●       Non-METASIG TESOL Türkiye members:  ₺150

●       Non-TESOL Türkiye members:  ₺150
 

Registration Link: https://forms.gle/5tBwmmwpCHbrSR619

Registration deadline: 10 October 2023 midnight.

The Zoom link will be shared with the participants after the registration and payment processes have been completed.

Please see the guide on how to pay for the event as a NON-MEMBER:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UP4Hnkgej482yUTHIr7O72rTNedGFX7F/view?usp=sharing  

To become a METASIG MEMBER:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nnED-2xoq9VtB_NSHShLlmRdneqGkYkV/view?usp=sharing 

Session Abstracts

Authentic assessment has become a buzz word across higher education.   In a sense, how could it not be? Who would want inauthentic assessment?  As university teachers we have a responsibility to look beyond the buzz word and genuinely reflect on this idea of authenticity, and what it means in an assessment context. Central to this endeavour is to leave behind trite descriptions of “real world” tasks and instead focus on the student and their relationship to their assessment task and their sense of achievement.  What does it mean to be able to engage with the knowledge that underpins the task?  What is its significance for the student, as a member of society?  This approach has particular significance for TESOL educators, because engagement with language does not occur in a silo, but rather involves the student as a whole, and their social situation.  Authentic assessment, therefore, is founded on a state of mind; an educational commitment that can and should run through TESOL practices.  While policies and regulations are important, and in an ideal world would be a key part of assessment reform, they are not the limits of our actions and possibilities.  In this talk I will discuss the practical possibilities of thinking about assessment differently in a TESOL context, and challenging our students – and ourselves – to articulate and nurture socially just and responsible engagement with knowledge.

Jan McArthur is Senior Lecturer in Education and Social Justice and Head of Department in the Department of Educational Research, Lancaster University, UK.  Her research focuses on the nature and purposes of higher education, and how these relate to practices of teaching, learning and assessment.  She has a particular interest in critical theory and in her published work explores the ideas of Theodor Adorno, Max Horkheimer and Axel Honneth, applying these to higher education. She has previously published a book exploring how Adorno’s critical theory can inform our understanding of, and engagement with, knowledge in higher education for the purposes of greater social justice:  Rethinking Knowledge in Higher Education (Bloomsbury).  Her second book uses Honneth's conceptualisation of mutual recognition to rethink the nature of assessment in higher education, where one is committed to greater social justice:  Assessment for Social Justice (Bloomsbury).  She has published a wide range of journal articles on assessment, critical theory and social justice, including focusing specifically on language learning. Jan is a researcher in the ESRC and HEFCE funded ‘Centre for Global Higher Education’, and currently working on the international and longitudinal project: Graduate Experiences of Employability and Knowledge. This builds on the previous project: Understanding Knowledge, Curriculum and Student Agency.  She is also Editor of Arts and Humanities in Higher Education.

The second session will be run and facilitated by the METASIG board members. It aims to provide a platform for the participants to discuss their ideas and share their experiences on alternative assessment practices in their institutions. 

Thank you for your interest.

METASIG