ANALYSIS OF THE ENGLISH LEARNING ASSESSMENT PROCESS IN AN ELT EDUCATION PROGRAM AT A COLOMBIAN PUBLIC UNIVERSITY

Traditionally, assessment of learning has been limited to the quantitative measurement of knowledge acquired by students during a given period, relegating fundamental aspects of the teaching-learning process. Hence, the importance of promoting the development of effective practices of evaluation of learning oriented towards the reflection and continuous improvement of both the teacher and the student.

The purpose of this study is to analyze and determine the evaluation criteria and mechanisms that are being used by teachers of an English Language Teacher Education Program at a Colombian public university (henceforth PLI). Also, from a qualitative-descriptive approach, this research seeks to describe the perceptions of teachers and students of the PLI regarding the evaluative processes that are being developed in each one of the English courses. As data collection instruments, interviews, questionnaires, field journals and documentary records were used which allow for the corresponding triangulation of the information. Once the information has been collected, it will be analyzed by means of a methodology of descriptive statistics and qualitative analysis with the support of a computer program for the codification and categorization of the information.

Finally, this project will firstly identify the strengths and weaknesses of the classroom assessment processes being developed in the program, and propose a plan for improvement of the evaluation action; And secondly, to serve as a starting point for future research proposals that can optimize the evaluation processes of learning in general and English language learning in particular.

In this way, and in view of the fact that in our Program there have been no studies on the English language learrning assessment process, we propose to answer the following research questions:
• What are the perceptions that teachers and students have about classroom assessment in general and the English learning process in particular?
• What criteria and evaluation mechanisms are evident in the teaching-learning process of English in the PLI?
• What strengths and weaknesses do students and teachers encounter in the process of assessing English in the PLI?
• What suggestions do teachers and students propose to optimize the L2 evaluation process in the PLI?

Answers to these research questions will be shared with the audience attending our conferences. In spite of being a local study, we do not doubt that some of the findings can be easily generalizable to other contexts not only in Colombia but in other countries of the world.