Abstract
This article addresses the issue of foreign language testing in the online mode and proposes a strategy to reduce the possibility of academic misconduct, specifically cheating, by designing tasks that assess the language skill of mediation in Legal English exams. Such tasks require test-takers to generate original answers, which can significantly reduce the risk of copying and pasting. Additionally, mastering the skill of mediation is a valuable asset for future lawyers. The authors introduce two original distinct intra-language mediation tasks that they developed for assessing English for Legal Purposes. One is aimed at first-year students with limited Legal English experience, while the other is intended for more advanced and experienced students. The article analyses student responses and evaluates their performance. The authors follow the action research approach, which involves a circle of observing, reflecting and acting, and raise questions concerning the originality of answers, production of a measurable sample of the target language, objectivity of assessment, and whether the practice in class impacts the success rate. The article also discusses challenges encountered during the process and how they were addressed. It can be concluded that mediation tasks are practical for online testing but could be used equally well for traditional classroom assessment.
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© 2023 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Introduction
- Introduction: the variety of realities of language learning and teaching in Higher Education throughout the world. A step forward to keep on sharing ideas
- Research Articles
- Model United Nations: a thematic analysis of Japanese EFL students’ reflections on intercultural communicative competence
- Japanese tertiary students’ perceptions of group work with explicit scaffolding
- A critical literacy class: beyond English learning and teaching in Higher Education
- Predictors of English Medium Instruction academic success in Vietnamese Higher Education
- University English-medium instruction in Türkiye – what instructors say
- Testing English for Medical Purposes: the effects of traditional and distance education on learning outcomes
- Using corpora in teaching vocabulary to advanced EFL learners in a higher education context
- Digital multimodal PechaKucha presentations in ESP: insights from students’ learning experiences
- From face-to-face tuition to online classes: ‘Re-styling’ a course of English for academic purposes
- Turning the tables on online exam cheating via language mediation tasks
- Attitudes to Spanish language variation. A study on Portuguese students of Spanish as a Foreign Language
- “Mur de paroles” – ou tentative de promotion de l’expression orale en langue française
- Activity Reports
- « Being plurilingual is a gift we make to ourselves. » : amener les étudiants à valoriser et développer leurs compétences plurilingues et pluriculturelles
- International collaborative tasks in language courses for engineers integrated in a multidimensional teaching format
- Training citizens as users of languages and digital technology. Real-world tasks to tame the digital wilds
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Introduction
- Introduction: the variety of realities of language learning and teaching in Higher Education throughout the world. A step forward to keep on sharing ideas
- Research Articles
- Model United Nations: a thematic analysis of Japanese EFL students’ reflections on intercultural communicative competence
- Japanese tertiary students’ perceptions of group work with explicit scaffolding
- A critical literacy class: beyond English learning and teaching in Higher Education
- Predictors of English Medium Instruction academic success in Vietnamese Higher Education
- University English-medium instruction in Türkiye – what instructors say
- Testing English for Medical Purposes: the effects of traditional and distance education on learning outcomes
- Using corpora in teaching vocabulary to advanced EFL learners in a higher education context
- Digital multimodal PechaKucha presentations in ESP: insights from students’ learning experiences
- From face-to-face tuition to online classes: ‘Re-styling’ a course of English for academic purposes
- Turning the tables on online exam cheating via language mediation tasks
- Attitudes to Spanish language variation. A study on Portuguese students of Spanish as a Foreign Language
- “Mur de paroles” – ou tentative de promotion de l’expression orale en langue française
- Activity Reports
- « Being plurilingual is a gift we make to ourselves. » : amener les étudiants à valoriser et développer leurs compétences plurilingues et pluriculturelles
- International collaborative tasks in language courses for engineers integrated in a multidimensional teaching format
- Training citizens as users of languages and digital technology. Real-world tasks to tame the digital wilds