Negotiating the boundary between achievement and proficiency: An evaluation of the exit standard of an academic English pathway program

Abstract

Academic English programs are popular pathways into English-medium university courses across the world. A typical program design hinges on an established university entrance standard, e.g. IELTS 6.5, and extrapolates the timing and structure of the pathway stages in relation to the test standard. The general principle is that the course assessments substitute for the test standard so that successful completion of the course is considered equivalent to achieving the minimum test standard for university entrance. This study reports on an evaluation of such course assessments at a major Australian university. The evaluation undertook to determine the appropriateness of the exit standard in relation to an independent measure of academic English ability. It also explored the suitability of the course final assessments used to produce measures in relation to that standard: by investigating the robustness of the processes and instruments and their appropriateness in relation to the course and the target academic domain. The evaluation was revealing about the difficult relationship between best practice in achievement testing in academic English pathway programs and external proficiency test standards. Using the sociological concept of ‘boundary object’ worlds (Star & Griesemer, 1989), we suggest that program evaluations that arise from a specific institutional concern for meeting adequate language standards can be informative about interactions between assessments in use.