Spreading the word of English in universities across the country
Recently a news item highlighted a significant milestone in the history of University English in Sri Lanka — the awards ceremony held to honour those who had completed the University Test of English Language (UTEL). It is indeed gratifying to note that UTEL, a concept mooted more than 10 years ago has finally been implemented across the university system of this country.
It therefore seems relevant and timely to outline the genesis and development of this important achievement in tertiary English Language Teaching (ELT), particularly as it underscores how ELT in Sri Lanka at university level has been shaped by Sri Lankan academics from all universities working together on a project of national importance.
The British Council University ELT Project
UTEL in fact was one of two major outcomes of a project that spanned the years 2002 to 2004. This project, the University ELT Project was an initiative created by Susan Maingay, then Director of the British Council. Ms Maingay requested Manique Gunasekera of the University of Kelaniya and myself to design a project to be supported by the British Council that would meet the needs of university English in Sri Lanka. We, in turn, persuaded Ms Maingay to bring in Heads of all other ELT Units in the country so that together we could work out priorities for the project.
This project marked a refreshing departure from the usual donor dominated projects as all decisions were made jointly by the university ELT Heads and the British Council. When consulted the ELT heads had no hesitation in deciding on what was needed as for the past decade a number of issues had surfaced as problems that hampered the development of university English. Foremost among these problems was the lack of a common set of standards. At that time, in 2002, there were 13 National Universities established at various times, and varying in size and resources. By the late 1980s, English had been recognised as vital to academic success and hence every university had had to establish a Centre or Unit which would teach English to the less proficient student. Thus English was available across the academic landscape, but since each university drew its student base from different parts of the country, there was a wide discrepancy in student standards of English – at entry as well as at exit.
Furthermore the standards of English within the universities too were not uniform as different Faculties demanded different levels of proficiency. As a result, each university ELTU set its own standards and levels of proficiency. Hence when students moved into employment or for further studies at another university, confusion and doubt prevailed regarding undergraduate proficiency as there was no common yardstick by which the language competence of university students could be measured. Thus one major requirement was a set of common standards in English which all universities could subscribe to and adopt.
Linked with this set of common standards was the need for a test in English that would help gauge student competence across the system. The University ELT fraternity was well aware of the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) and of the International English Language Testing Service (IELTS) but equally well aware that these international tests had been designed for academic and general needs in the United States and the United Kingdom respectively. The Sri Lankan university system needed a similar testing service but one that was based on and took into account academic needs and standards in this country. These language requirements, a set of standards and a common test thus formed the main basis of the British Council Tertiary Level project and assistance was requested to help the ELT units deal with these issues. This assistance was provided through a partnership with a renowned centre of excellence for ELT, the Centre for Applied Linguistics and Language Studies at the University of Reading in the United Kingdom and consisted of visits by consultants in areas such as English for Specific Purposes and workshops for university ELT staff in the field of language testing and assessment.
Designing the Benchmark Framework and UTEL
The focus on English language standards for Sri Lanka in fact was driven by a chance observation by John Slaght, the Consultant for Testing and Assessment. He made reference to the European Union’s Framework for Language Competence and spoke of how the competencies in this Framework could be set out as ‘can-do’ lists. This sparked an interest in trying to create ‘can-do’ lists for Sri Lankan students of English and set in motion the move towards establishing a set of common standards.
The task of designing the standards fell upon a team consisting of ELT academics from five well-established universities. This team which I chaired included Dr. Dushyanthi Mendis, Nalini Mahesan, Shivanee Ilangakoon and Rushira Kulasingham from the University of Colombo, Dilki Wettewa, Romola Rassool and Mahishi Ranaweera from the University of Kelaniya, Chintha Ellawala from the University of Peradeniya, Parvati Nagasunderam, Chitra Galapatti and D.L.S. Ananda from the University of Sri Jayewardenepura and Dinali Devendra, Vivimarie Medawattegedera and Radhika De Silva from the Open University.
The benchmark framework for Academic English
The team divided up into sub- teams, each focused on one particular language skill and set to work on defining ‘Can- do’ statements for English language competence for Reading, Writing, Listening and Speech in the university system. Initially the team had assumed that one set of statements would be adequate for defining competence in English. As work progressed, it soon became clear that there was a need to differentiate competencies for Academic English (AE) which required skills such as listening to lectures, note-taking, summarising and academic writing from those of General English (GE) which required letter writing skills, recording minutes of meetings, social conversation and less formal and less complex competencies.
Given that the team was engaged in teaching at university level, it was decided that the team would first focus on academic needs and then design a separate set for General English needs. By 2004, when the project ended, the Framework team had finalized a comprehensive framework for teaching, learning and evaluating English language proficiency in the Sri Lankan university system. This Framework for University English, more popularly known as the University Benchmark document, is a document that sets out 9 different levels of competence commencing from Level 0 which implies very little knowledge of the language to Level 9 which sets out the range of abilities required to communicate fluently and accurately in any academic context.
The competencies are described as descriptive statements of proficiency (i.e. as ‘can-do’ statements) and set out in detail for each of the four skills — reading, writing, listening and speaking.
The complexity of this undertaking and the fact that team members were engaged in onerous duties at their own institutions prevented the team from investigating GE needs and hence at that time the Framework for General English could not be completed.
This AE Framework however was presented to the UGC’s Committee of Heads of ELTUs and ratified by them at a meeting held in July 2004, and then distributed to all ELTUs for implementation in ELT programmes. ELTUs were requested to align their courses in line with the various benchmark levels set out in the Framework, and also examine the course materials and assessment tools ( tests) that they used to ascertain how they fitted in with competencies established in the Framework. ELTUs were then required to present statements of the relationship between their courses and the objectives of the Framework. ELTUs were also requested to identify material which conformed to Framework requirements so that a bank of core materials could be created which could be shared among the ELTUs.
Unfortunately these outputs were never achieved and the AE Framework was never implemented concretely, although individual universities did try to incorporate Framework competencies into some of their ELT courses.
In 2004, an attempt was also made to establish a common test. While working on the Framework document, the Benchmark team had also created a prototype common test which assessed all four language skills. This test which was termed the University Test of English Language (UTEL) was in fact trialled out and students from universities such as Colombo and the Open University did sit for this initial UTEL.
Circumstances at the time did not favour further experimentation with this early yet viable common test of English for Sri Lankan universities.
Implementing the Benchmark Framework for the IRQUE Project
It was only four years later, in 2008, that the Framework came back into prominence across the university system. This happened as a result of a concerted drive to enhance the quality of university education in Sri Lanka. Concerned about employer rejection of university graduates, a Quality Assurance project was established by the University Grants Commission to enhance the relevance and quality of university degrees.
This effort was underpinned by support from the World Bank in the form of a project referred to as the IRQUE project. This project sought to establish a common test of English to verify the languagecompetence of Sri Lankan undergraduates as English had been identified as one of the major requirements for employment.
The newly established Post Graduate Institute of English (PGIE) was contacted to conduct this test. I was then the Director of the PGIE and it seemed to me an ideal moment to revisit the Benchmark Framework and UTEL, and use the insights we had gained from designing them for creating a new test for the university system. This new test, like UTEL before it, was based on the structure and modalities of the IELTS tests as the IELTS structure seemed to be more amenable to Sri Lankan students than the structure of TOEFL. Grading and assessment too were based on criteria influenced by those set by IELTS.
In addition, the test was also moderated on an international level. John Slaght who had facilitated the creation of the Benchmark system was now a senior member of the IELTS assessment panel and he agreed to moderate the IRQUE test. The IRQUE test therefore was a happy combination of the Sri Lankan ELT experience and research moderated locally as well as internationally.
This use of the Benchmark Framework proved to be salutary in more ways than one for not only did it help to define levels of English competence of groups of students from different faculties in the different universities according to a common yardstick but it also helped to bring the Framework to the attention of stakeholders and decision makers in the university system.
A framework for General English – 2012
The success of the IRQUE Test seemed to have prompted World Bank authorities to keep the Framework in mind when a new project was drawn for the university system in 2010.This new Project, ‘Higher Education for the Twenty First Century’ or the HETC Project too placed emphasis on English language skills and those in charge recognized that implementing the Benchmark Framework would be both useful and timely.
However since this new World Bank project laid emphasis on employable General English rather than academic skills, there was a need to design a Framework for General English on the lines of the Framework for Academic English created in 2002. In 2012 therefore a team which consisted of a number of members from the former Benchmark team set to work on revising the Framework document. This team which I chaired included Dr Dinali Devendra, Head, of the Department of Language Studies at the Open University and Dr. Vivimarie Medawattegedera, and Dr Radhika de Silva, both Senior Lecturers in English at OUSL. This Framework too retained the 9 level structure of the AE Framework and in addition to including General English competencies, the descriptions of the competencies were fine-tuned and made more detailed. The document also contains practical tasks that would help the teacher assess whether the particular competence required to complete the task was demonstrated by the learner.
This Framework was then handed over to the ELT Units which worked on creating a new UTEL test for the system. It was this test that was completed and for which awards were given recently. Thus now, whether it be Academic English or General English, the Sri Lankan university system now has reliable tools for English teaching and learning, frameworks which could help guide the design not only of English courses but also of valid and practical language tests.
Like all tools these Frameworks need maintenance – they need to be regularly revisited and revised especially in the light of changing learner needs. Nevertheless they stand as achievements the university system can be proud of. The concepts were initially supported by a donor agency, the British Council but the Benchmark Framework for Academic English, the Benchmark Framework for General English and UTEL are essentially Sri Lankan, created by Sri Lankan academics and based on knowledge of and experience in university English Language Teaching in this country.
( The writer is Emeritus Professor, Open University of Sri Lanka and Coordinator, British Council University ELT Project (2002-2004))