English Language Assessment instruction – Academic Staff

The assessment takes approximately two hours in total (including a break) and consists of the following components:

  1. You will take a digital written language test (max. 45 minutes). You can expect multiple choice grammar-related questions as well as open questions in the form of sentence completion and email writing. You will need to write one short email to a student.
  2. You will give an interactive lecture on your field of expertise and are expected to use a PowerPoint presentation (10-15 minutes). The two assessors will pretend to be your students and will ask questions during and after the presentation; this with the purpose of mimicking a classroom setting. (±20 minutes in total).
  3. You will discuss two statements related to your field of expertise and four statements concerning EMI (English as a Medium of Instruction) skills. (20 minutes)

About the assessment

  • You can select yourself when you wish to take the assessment.
  • The assessments will be held online. Five minutes before your assessment is scheduled to take place, you will receive an email containing a link inviting you to a Google Meet meeting as well as the written assignment you will need to complete and return to your assessors. You have 45 minutes to finish this component of the assessment.
  • You will have a 15-minute break after the written assessment component has taken place (45 minutes). After your break, you are expected to join the Google Meet meeting for the oral component of the assessment (interactive lecture & discussion of statements).
  • New time slots for assessments are added every 4 weeks. If the demand is high and all available time slots are filled before that time, extra time slots will be added and will appear below.
  • You can register for the assessment here. Should you require any additional assistance, please do not hesitate to contact Karlijn van Gils.

Preparation

Prior to the assessment, you are required to prepare a 10-minute interactive lecture in English on a subject of your choice from your field. During the assessment, please inform the assessors of the level of students your presentation is intended for (e.g. Bachelor’s or Master’s). Your presentation can be made using PowerPoint and you will be asked to share your screen. We recommend that you familiarise yourself with Google Meet before the assessment to avoid any technical issues on the day of the assessment.

Any further preparation for the assessment is not required.

How will you be assessed?

The university has asked Babel to evaluate your English skills in an academic context. To do that, the two assessors will be looking at four major areas, based on the Lecturer Assessment Grid developed by UU:

  • Fluency and pronunciation
  • Vocabulary and grammar range and accuracy
  • Interaction
  • Additional English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI) skills. EMI includes skills and techniques for:
    – Effective instruction
    – Interacting with students
    – Creating a safe and productive learning environment

The UU Lecturer Assessment Grid is graded from 1-5, with:

  • 5 being a highly-educated native speaker with exceptional EMI skills
  • 4 being excellent in both language and EMI
  • 3 being considered fully qualified to teach courses in English
  • 2 and 1 showing specific deficiencies in at least one of the areas of the grid that might result in difficulties for students.

It is important to note that a 1 is far from illiterate; this scale looks only at the top levels of language proficiency and teaching skills. It’s also important to note that the lowest-obtained score in a section determines the overall score. This means that, if needed, training will be offered to help perfect your skills.

Think, for example, of a nearly-perfectly fluent speaker who doesn’t interact effectively with students. In this assessment, the fluency and high-level vocabulary in that candidate would not compensate, or cover up the need for EMI training, which can then be offered. So, if you score a 3 or above, you are considered qualified to teach courses in English. If you score a 1 or a 2, you will be provided with a training recommendation.

After the assessment

Within 7 days of the assessment, you will receive a report including an indication of your language level. The language level result and certificate will be shared with your HR manager (Faculty&UU). If your language level does not meet the required level (level 3 Lecturer Assessment Grid), you will receive a personal training proposal within a few weeks.