ASSESSING LANGUAGE LEARNING AND TEACHING POST-COVID

As language learning evolves post-Covid, we should consider which facets of distance learning we want to keep, which aspects of pre-Covid teaching we would like to restore even as distance learning continues, and what are the dimensions of the current situation and its consequences that as language teaching professionals we ought to resist. The presentation offers two brief proposals for how we should proceed as language educators. First, it proposes a set of alternative assessments for student work (a benefit of distance learning that we should hold on to). Second, it advocates for alternative mechanisms to assess, reward, and protect teachers’ work (as we resist the many ad hoc policies that threaten teacher and learner autonomy, privacy, and intellectual property). These two proposals point to issues of pedagogical vision and leadership (which we need to restore, particularly at this time of transition to CEFR and EPIC), in individual classrooms and beyond.