Integrating alternative learning and assessment in a course of English for law students

• Published in: Assessment and evaluation in higher education 2008-04, Vol.33 (2), p.155-166
• Main Authors: Burksaitiene, Nijole, Tereseviciene, Margarita
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Academic Language; Academic writing; Alternative Assessment; College students; Educational evaluation; English; English as a second language learning; English for Special Purposes; Foreign Countries; Higher education; Integrated Curriculum; Language Skills; Language teaching methods; Law; Law schools; Law Students; Learning; Learning Motivation; Learning Strategies; Lithuania; Majors (Students); Participant Satisfaction; Perceptions; Program Effectiveness; Questionnaires; Receptive language; Second language teachers; Second language writing; Student Attitudes; Student Development; Studies; Teaching Methods
• ISSN: 0260-2938; 1469-297X
• DOI: 10.1080/02602930601125699

Alternative approaches to learning and assessment have become common practice in higher education today. While these approaches have several learning, instructional and assessment advantages for students and teachers, a need exists for a better understanding of their consequential evidence. The purpose of this study was to examine students' perceptions of, and satisfaction with, the experience of learning English for Law in the environment of a comprehensive learning and assessment system integrating the project component and academic writing portfolio component into the framework of traditional learning. A sample of 58 law majors from Mykolas Romeris University in Vilnius, Lithuania participated in the study. The main findings of the study indicate that the integrated approach to learning English for Law was very well accepted by the students due to the following benefits it presented: (i) this approach is effective and useful in promoting students' productive and receptive language skills; (ii) it enhances students' satisfaction with their results; (iii) it fosters one's motivation to learn a foreign language; (iv) it promotes students' development as independent learners. It is recommended that this study be extended to the investigation of the impact of such an approach on the students' final results in ESP in comparable groups.