QUEST-ORIENTED ASSESSMENT AT THE ESP CLASS

Abstract

The problem of finding the most appropriate, sophisticated or innovative approach, technology and method of teaching English for specific purposes has always drawn the specialists’ attention. Nowadays a promising graduate of any educational institution is to be able to establish professional communication not only in the native language, but also in a foreign one. A graduate of a military academy is not an exception. Peacekeeping operations, joint military exercises, international exhibitions, war games require military specialists, who are able to react to standard and non-standard professional communicative situations. The author focuses on the necessity of professionally oriented approach to language teaching and the definition of the language for specific purposes. Special attention is paid to the notion of assessment and its peculiarities at the ESP class. Apart from being communicative, systematic, diagnostic, developing and educational, assessment is also to be professionally-oriented, so existing methods of it should be modified to meet the requirements of the future profession. This research paper is aimed at identifying the advantages of quest-oriented form of assessment over the traditional one and proving with the help of the experiment that quest is one of the most appropriate forms of evaluating the students’ progress at the ESP class. The methods of the research include observations on language competency development (80 students were observed throughout two years); comparative analysis of examination results. The experiment has shown that quest-oriented assessment creates the situations of professional communication in the most realistic way. Such designed situations of profession-oriented communication enable a teacher to assess the level of skill development and enhance students’ motivation. The author presents the models of tasks involving all language skills that can be adapted to other professional spheres. The outcomes of this research may be of high value to teachers who are dedicated to creating appropriate and effective assessment for ESP classes.