Background

Back in 2022, Ofqual carried out some research on ESOL assessments from a number of Awarding Organisations. While these did not include any of Pearson’s assessments, there were nine findings that Ofqual presented to all Awarding Organisations with a look to improve our assessments.  These findings were:

Assessment Design

• The guessing factor in selected response items
• The language demands of stimulus materials, rubrics and questions, especially regarding Entry 1
• Inconsistency in topic demand between different tasks within Awarding Organisations

Assessment Instruments

• The quality of questions in reading and listening comprehension tasks
• The clarity of mark schemes and assessment criteria for writing and speaking assessments
• The clarity of task administration guidance for speaking and listening assessments, particularly for internal assessment

Assessment Delivery

• Options for centres to amend tasks

• Options for tasks to be completed in more than one sitting

• Time allowed per task

Based on these findings, Pearson has made some minor changes to our assessments. We have not looked in detail at the Assessment Delivery findings as these may have fundamentally changed the nature of the assessments Which, with a full review and reform of ESOL due shortly, we felt this was unwarranted at this time.

Changes to Pearson’s ESOL Assessments

What follows is a list of changes we have put in place based on the findings.

Reading

• Reduced word counts (where possible). 
  
• Added mark boxes (as per centre request, but the use of these is optional). 
  
• The addition of the sentence or phrase being quoted when asking a question based on a specific word. 
  
• Simplified mark scheme.
  

You can see from the images (from Entry 3) below some of the changes we have put in place.

You can see there is now a box after each question to add the mark. We also changed the question to include the full quote from the text.

Writing

• Word counts have been removed. Replaced with ‘Write at least / no less than’.
• Drafting pages have been removed and replaced with one page for notes (optional).
• Mark boxes added. Useful for reminding about essential planning. Mark boxes DO NOT have to be used (but these were requested by some centres).
• Information in the tasks: Word count reduced for more accessibility.
• Forms: The space for the address is now simply ‘Address’, rather than street name, house number, etc. Rather than First / Last name, we have ‘Full name’.
• Where relevant, it is essential to use postcodes correctly, with numbers and capital letters, to gain all marks available. e.g. PX22 5PT.
• Mark schemes are simplified with less repetition.

The image on the left below (from Entry 1) shows how forms will now be laid out and how the mark box looks. You can compare it with the image on the right from the previous assessments.

Below is an example of how we used to set up the drafting section on a Level 1 assessment.

• If you wish to, you may draft your letter here.
• Remember, you need to include at least one complex sentence in your final letter.

Compare it with the new wording and you can see it is much more user-friendly and makes it easier for the learner to understand that they do not need to write a draft.

• You can make notes here (optional).

Speaking and Listening

• Entry 1. Part A, Task 1 replaced with a simple introductory conversation between the student and assessor. (Exemplar questions remain the same for every paper.)
• Tasks simplified with less words in tasks.
• Presentations in Levels 1 and 2 are now FREE choice. Candidates can decide on their own topic.
• Tasks made more relevant and realistic.
• Instructions on front pages of Mark Schemes clarified, for example: Each Assessment Criterion met once in Parts A or B (or A,B,C) to achieve pass.
• Additional opportunities given to gain a mark for understanding the gist of a topic.
• Mark schemes made clearer with less repetition.

Below you can see the differences between Entry 1 Part A Task 1. On the left is the new task and we feel it is much more realistic and accessible for the learners.

The decision to allow Level 1 and 2 learners to have their own free choice of topics, will again make these assessments much more realistic and accessible.

Conclusion

While we believe these changes are minimal, but hopefully more than just cosmetic, we do believe that they improve the quality of the assessments and make them much more user-friendly for learners. We look forward to you using them with your learners. To support you and them on their learning journey, we have created new Sample Assessment Materials that are available on our ESOL resource pages.

Chris Briggs - Product Manager Post 16 English, Maths and Digital Skills