The National Benchmark Test in Academic Literacy: How might it be used to support teaching in higher education?

The National Benchmark Test in Academic Literacy is designed to assess the ability of first-year students to cope with the typical language-of-instruction, academic reading and reasoning demands they will face on entry to higher education. Drawing on quantitative data, this paper reports on the over...

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Publicado en:Language Matters: Studies in the Languages of Africa Vol. 46; no. 1; pp. 3 - 22
Autor principal: Cliff, Alan
Formato: Artículo
Publicado: Taylor & Francis Ltd Mar2015
Materias:
Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
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        atl: The National Benchmark Test in Academic Literacy: How might it be used to support teaching in higher education?
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        au: Cliff, Alan
        affil: Centre for Innovation in Learning and Teaching (CILT) University of Cape Town. email:alan.cliff@uct.ac.za
      su:
        Language exams
        Language ability testing
        Reasoning
        Higher education
        Education
        South Africa
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          South Africa
          Language exams
          Language ability testing
          Reasoning
          Higher education
          Education
      keyword:
        academic literacy
        language testing
        standardised assessment
        teaching and learning
      ab: The National Benchmark Test in Academic Literacy is designed to assess the ability of first-year students to cope with the typical language-of-instruction, academic reading and reasoning demands they will face on entry to higher education. Drawing on quantitative data, this paper reports on the overall performance levels of a large-scale (n = 6500) national sample of test-takers who took the test as applicants for the 2013 intake into higher education. Overall test-taker performance is disaggregated by performance on sub-scales of the overall construct of academic literacy. The argument is made that the National Benchmark Test provides a framework for a nuanced and practicable understanding of test-takers’ academic literacy ‘proficiencies’. The conclusion to the paper evaluates the extent to which the test enables higher education lecturers’ greater engagement with students’ academic literacy shortcomings and with research-led information aimed at the improvement of teaching and learning.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype: Article
      src: R
    language: English
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