Page 42 - ELG1901 Jan-Feb 463

INTERVIEW .

Assessing
Assessing

the
the futurefuture

Pearson’s Freya Thomas Monk, SVP
English Assessment, tells Ron Ragsdale Pearson’s Freya Thomas Monk
about the changes afoot in EFL testing shares the details of PTE Academic PEARSON

Can you tell me a bit about your role and your previous Where does Pearson feel they are at with regard to use of AI in
experience? this area?
Freya: This new role was created to recognise the growth and Freya: I feel we are ahead of the game. We have been doing this for
investment in the area of English Assessment. nearly 10 years now and have been improving it continuously. We’re
I’ve been with Pearson for 14 years. The first job I had was as a strategy pretty sophisticated in our understanding of what it can do.
adviser, and I worked on the business case for PTE Academic. For example, we are often praised for a lack of bias. Our machines
I then moved around a bit, in schools, strategy and operations, and are familiar with all accents around the world, whereas a particular
then back into English language assessment two years ago. human examiner might not be able to understand some accents.
Although I now lead a distinct Assessment part of the business, We are removing the bias, so that you can get at the underlying
I don’t see it as being a standalone product. It links seamlessly with proficiency.
learning. The Pearson objective is to help students learn English, and Also, human examiners get tired, distracted or hungry. This can be a
learning and assessment form a holistic approach. real problem that automated marking avoids.
Our teams are based around the world, which gives us more How about using AI for formative assessment?
empathy for our diverse community of learners.
We’re very conscious of the problems that beset Freya: We already do! We understand how we
testing in different contexts. You can book it can use this in the new products being developed
by Pearson English. The latest is English
PTE Academic is a single product. How does whenever you want to Benchmark Young Learners - a tablet-based
it work for such a diversity of learners and take it - up to 24 hours product. It’s a different type of test for younger
contexts? learners, but under the bonnet, it’s some of the
Freya: PTE Academic is one product, but it is in advance. same technology.
tailored to different levels. It produces a score on We are also looking at developing more products
the GSE (Global Scale of English) between 10-90, which is aligned that use automated marking, such as the Versant English Test for the
to the CEFR from A1 to C2. Although it is not adaptive, the items professional training sector
are served up randomly from a very large item bank, so each test And for PTE are you seeing growth?
will be unique.
There are twenty different item types, which are designed to be Freya: Yes – in 2017 we grew 67 per cent in actual test takers and this
flexible, to match the proficiency level. We also use real video and level of growth is continuing. For competitive reasons, we can’t share
audio, mimicking what people will experience in real life. the actual numbers of tests administered.
The test is digital, but it is administered in secure test centres. A key factor, however, is the increasing recognition of PTE Academic
You have a headset to interact with the test. Each individual is tested in various countries. We were recently renewed with the Australian
individually. There are no cohorts, so you can book it whenever you government for their visa programme, for example.
want to take it - up to 24 hours in advance. We have 96 per cent acceptance in the University sector in the UK
and Canada, 100 per cent in Ireland, New Zealand and Australia.
How does the test get marked, particularly for productive speaking In the US there are so many institutions, and each one makes its
and writing? own decisions, but we’re making good progress. We are always looking
Freya: The automated system uses artificial intelligence to assess writing at new opportunities.
and speaking. This system has been designed and validated against
hundreds of thousands of human responses. Do you conduct studies exploring the effectiveness of assessment
We get scores back very fast, 87 per cent within 2 days, but lots using automated marking?
on the same day. The student gets a full-page report, with the overall Freya: Yes, we have an annual call for research - in fact we have just
score and a breakdown by skill, and then highlights for each area, such opened our 2019 call. We do this with external research groups and
as spelling, grammar, fluency, etc. So, they know what areas they need we also run correlation studies ourselves internally, and we publish
to work on. research on our website.

42 January/February 2019