Snezana Mitrovic, Gatehouse Awards Italy Academic Manager, has been working in the area of assessment for 15 years, designing and running refresher courses, seminars and workshops for teachers, recognised by the Italian MoE and carrying out a variety of projects, Hippo English Language Olympiad included, for which she is one of the examination creators. Her main areas of interest are the methodology of TEFL and assessment. Her wish to reconcile the commercial and academic in assessment has lead her to take up a PhD program in assessment at the Sapienza University of Rome, where she currently teaches English language and TEFL. Her main interests have remained the methodology of TEFL and assessment of English as a foreign language, in particular performance-based testing. Phone: +393393607377
Principali problemi nella didattica dell’inglese nel corso di laurea in Scienze della formazione primaria, 2019
Teaching English at the University level is a rewarding but challenging experience since there ar... more Teaching English at the University level is a rewarding but challenging experience since there are a number of issues that impede effective teaching. This paper addresses the different impediments related to teaching and learning processes encountered while teaching to three different years of students of Primary Education Sciences at the Sapienza University of Rome. The issues are divided into three groups, the first one being the problems occurring before the students enter the classroom and are related to the Ministry of Education indications and requirements for students at the end of the upper-secondary school, as opposed to the actual level of English. In addition, the expectation at the end of year 5 of the University are examined. The second group of issues relates to the in-class problems such as number of students per class, number of hours of English per year, student absenteeism and their student rights. Finally, the last group addresses the curriculum and the impossibility of designing a tailor-made course and assessment tools that could meet all students’ needs. The paper also investigates possible workable solutions to the above-mentioned issues.
8th International Conference on Higher Education Advances (HEAd'22)
The purpose of this study is the validation of the GA Classic IESOL examination at CEFR level B2 ... more The purpose of this study is the validation of the GA Classic IESOL examination at CEFR level B2 (Reading, Listening, Writing and Speaking), as a criterion-referenced achievement test, using the multi-trait, multi-method approach. The data analysed at the moment pertain to the Listening unit and have been studied to examine the content validity, reliability of the scores and unidimensionality of the construct. The Listening unit consists of three tasks (22 items) in four different versions (D-E-F-G). Four separate statistical analyses were performed and all revealed excellent values of internal consistency. As for unidimensionality of the construct, excellent values were revealed for versions E, F and G and acceptable for version D. Similar analyses on the reading test are planned, with the aim of reaching a multitrait-multimethod analysis of the examination as a whole.Further steps of the study will be the IRT equating procedure of the four versions.
The issue that this paper addresses is the employment of performance-based testing in a universit... more The issue that this paper addresses is the employment of performance-based testing in a university context, in particular, at the Sapienza University of Rome. The matter is addressed by aiming at designing a performance-based test of the English language. In particular, the issues addressed are: 1) the feasibility of employing a theoretical model of English language knowledge, the Bachman and Palmer one (Bachman and Palmer, 2013) to assess student knowledge, 2) test validation within the university context, 3) the feasibility of employing such a test at the Sapienza University taking into account practical implications (cost-effectiveness, rater training, etc). To gather data, a questionnaire on personal data as well as two written tasks were designed accompanied by holistic and analytic rating scales based on the model and the CEFR B2 illustrative descriptors
Come espresso nelle linee guida del MIUR, gli obiettivi previsti nel curriculum di lingua stranie... more Come espresso nelle linee guida del MIUR, gli obiettivi previsti nel curriculum di lingua straniera per gli studenti del 5° anno del liceo corrispondono al livello B2 del Quadro comune europeo di riferimento per la conoscenza delle lingue (QCER). In questo livello gli studenti dovrebbero dimostrare un accettabile livello di fluency linguistica. Questo articolo si occupa della capacità degli studenti del primo anno di università di saper utilizzare la propria competenza in lingua inglese nell’espletamento di compiti autentici. Il test costruito e somministrato valuta la conoscenza linguistica degli studenti a livello B2 mediante due compiti e scale di valutazione olistiche e analitiche basate sul Framework delle competenze linguistiche di Bachman e Palmer. Insieme al test è stato somministrato il questionario. Il risultato rivela che il 23% degli studenti che hanno completato il test soddisfano i requisiti del MIUR.As stated by the Guidelines of the Italian Ministry of Education, ...
Conference Proceedings of the ALTE 8th International Conference: Language Assessment Fit for the Future (ALTE, 2023), 2023
The purpose of this study is the validation of the Listening and Reading units of the Gatehouse A... more The purpose of this study is the validation of the Listening and Reading units of the Gatehouse Awards (GA) Classic IESOL (International English for Speakers of Other Languages) examination at the CEFR Level B2, as criterion-referenced achievement tests, with the aim of reaching the multi-trait, multi-method approach of the examination. The data sets have been studied to examine the content validity, reliability of the scores and unidimensionality of the construct. Eight forms, four forms per unit, have been analysed using separate exploratory factor analyses, and they revealed excellent values of internal consistency for the listening unit. The reading test construct unidimensionality values are excellent for Versions E, F and G (henceforth VE, VF and VG), and acceptable for Version D (henceforth VD). In addition, a qualitative analysis of items has been performed and correlation analyses between the scores of the students who completed both tests and are positive and significant (0.621; <0.01). Further steps of the study will be the item response theory (IRT) equating procedure of the four versions.
Principali problemi nella didattica dell’inglese nel corso di laurea in Scienze della formazione primaria, 2019
Teaching English at the University level is a rewarding but challenging experience since there ar... more Teaching English at the University level is a rewarding but challenging experience since there are a number of issues that impede effective teaching. This paper addresses the different impediments related to teaching and learning processes encountered while teaching to three different years of students of Primary Education Sciences at the Sapienza University of Rome. The issues are divided into three groups, the first one being the problems occurring before the students enter the classroom and are related to the Ministry of Education indications and requirements for students at the end of the upper-secondary school, as opposed to the actual level of English. In addition, the expectation at the end of year 5 of the University are examined. The second group of issues relates to the in-class problems such as number of students per class, number of hours of English per year, student absenteeism and their student rights. Finally, the last group addresses the curriculum and the impossibility of designing a tailor-made course and assessment tools that could meet all students’ needs. The paper also investigates possible workable solutions to the above-mentioned issues.
8th International Conference on Higher Education Advances (HEAd'22)
The purpose of this study is the validation of the GA Classic IESOL examination at CEFR level B2 ... more The purpose of this study is the validation of the GA Classic IESOL examination at CEFR level B2 (Reading, Listening, Writing and Speaking), as a criterion-referenced achievement test, using the multi-trait, multi-method approach. The data analysed at the moment pertain to the Listening unit and have been studied to examine the content validity, reliability of the scores and unidimensionality of the construct. The Listening unit consists of three tasks (22 items) in four different versions (D-E-F-G). Four separate statistical analyses were performed and all revealed excellent values of internal consistency. As for unidimensionality of the construct, excellent values were revealed for versions E, F and G and acceptable for version D. Similar analyses on the reading test are planned, with the aim of reaching a multitrait-multimethod analysis of the examination as a whole.Further steps of the study will be the IRT equating procedure of the four versions.
The issue that this paper addresses is the employment of performance-based testing in a universit... more The issue that this paper addresses is the employment of performance-based testing in a university context, in particular, at the Sapienza University of Rome. The matter is addressed by aiming at designing a performance-based test of the English language. In particular, the issues addressed are: 1) the feasibility of employing a theoretical model of English language knowledge, the Bachman and Palmer one (Bachman and Palmer, 2013) to assess student knowledge, 2) test validation within the university context, 3) the feasibility of employing such a test at the Sapienza University taking into account practical implications (cost-effectiveness, rater training, etc). To gather data, a questionnaire on personal data as well as two written tasks were designed accompanied by holistic and analytic rating scales based on the model and the CEFR B2 illustrative descriptors
Come espresso nelle linee guida del MIUR, gli obiettivi previsti nel curriculum di lingua stranie... more Come espresso nelle linee guida del MIUR, gli obiettivi previsti nel curriculum di lingua straniera per gli studenti del 5° anno del liceo corrispondono al livello B2 del Quadro comune europeo di riferimento per la conoscenza delle lingue (QCER). In questo livello gli studenti dovrebbero dimostrare un accettabile livello di fluency linguistica. Questo articolo si occupa della capacità degli studenti del primo anno di università di saper utilizzare la propria competenza in lingua inglese nell’espletamento di compiti autentici. Il test costruito e somministrato valuta la conoscenza linguistica degli studenti a livello B2 mediante due compiti e scale di valutazione olistiche e analitiche basate sul Framework delle competenze linguistiche di Bachman e Palmer. Insieme al test è stato somministrato il questionario. Il risultato rivela che il 23% degli studenti che hanno completato il test soddisfano i requisiti del MIUR.As stated by the Guidelines of the Italian Ministry of Education, ...
Conference Proceedings of the ALTE 8th International Conference: Language Assessment Fit for the Future (ALTE, 2023), 2023
The purpose of this study is the validation of the Listening and Reading units of the Gatehouse A... more The purpose of this study is the validation of the Listening and Reading units of the Gatehouse Awards (GA) Classic IESOL (International English for Speakers of Other Languages) examination at the CEFR Level B2, as criterion-referenced achievement tests, with the aim of reaching the multi-trait, multi-method approach of the examination. The data sets have been studied to examine the content validity, reliability of the scores and unidimensionality of the construct. Eight forms, four forms per unit, have been analysed using separate exploratory factor analyses, and they revealed excellent values of internal consistency for the listening unit. The reading test construct unidimensionality values are excellent for Versions E, F and G (henceforth VE, VF and VG), and acceptable for Version D (henceforth VD). In addition, a qualitative analysis of items has been performed and correlation analyses between the scores of the students who completed both tests and are positive and significant (0.621; <0.01). Further steps of the study will be the item response theory (IRT) equating procedure of the four versions.
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