EFFECTIVENESS OF ONLINE TESTING IN GENERAL ENGLISH UNIVERSITY COURSE FROM TEACHER AND STUDENT PERSPECTIVES

With most switching to distance education due to the pandemic caused by COVID-19, the efficacity of assessment is a major concern. The research was aimed to analyze how Moodle learning management system (LMS) can be applied to online language testing, study the effectiveness of online testing and compare the students’ and teachers’ attitude towards online testing in General English university course. Online tests were administrated as a synchronous component of the distance learning to 857 first-year bachelor’s degree students of “Kyiv-Mohyla Academy” (Ukraine) by 20 teachers during the 2020-2021 academic year. A mixed research design was employed, which involved collecting data using an online questionnaire completed by students and teachers anonymously as Microsoft Forms; Excel spreadsheets were used for the analysis afterward. A quantitative descriptive study was conducted to evaluate the students’ and teachers’ satisfaction with online testing. The expert evaluation method was prioritized to define the expediency of the effectiveness of the online test by the specified criteria and indicators based on the judgments expressed by 7 experienced teachers who are competent in test design. In addition, Pearson’s correlation coefficient was calculated to compare the results of an online test and oral exam. The qualitative research method allowed to analyse and interpret data of the experimental learning. Based on the results of our study, we can conclude that different types of Moodle LMS questions can be successfully applied to online language testing as part of course assessment at the university level. The paper argues that online language testing can be effective and relevant to course objectives from both students’ and teachers’ perspectives with positive washback on education. The results of the study can be employed by university teachers for language course design both for distance and blended learning.

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