Assessment of foreign language proficiency in higher military schools

Abstract

To monitor the effectiveness of arrangement and implementation of foreign language courses in military educational establishments, it is necessary to have integrated criteria for assessing the level of foreign language proficiency of the cadets and students. Foreign language teaching in higher education is professionally oriented and has specific purposes, which should be taken into account when assessing language proficiency. We analyze modern approaches to assessing the level of foreign language proficiency and to present arguments for the technology of assessing the level of professional foreign language communicative competence in higher military schools. There are different assessment systems in foreign languages teaching methods. They are: 5-point (4-point in reality) assessment system generally accepted in the state Russian educational establishments, 100-point assessment system for the Unified State Exam (USE), the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) with a scale of levels from A1 to C2, the English proficiency levels of military specialists according to the international treaty of NATO countries (STANAG 6001) and others. The method of comparative system analysis is applied in the article. The scales of foreign language proficiency levels significant for higher military education are matched. We develop a system of assessing the professional foreign-language communicative competence in higher military school. The system has five levels: low, elementary, basic, high and advanced. According to the modern trends in the development of the foreign language teaching methodology and testology, the assessment system includes self-evaluation and technology of language portfolio.