Computer-Based Self-Assessment as a Customised Tool for the Strategic Implementation of an Updated Circular Teaching Model

The COVID-19 emergency has affected language learning and assessment
by imposing a physical and social distance entailing challenges in measuring
the improvement of students and courses that were transferred online. The
computer-based self-assessment test under analysis faces such challenges by
considering assessment a means to plan the online supplementary grammar and
conversation lessons of a Business English university course, which would be
based on the cohorts’ needs. This was especially important given the remarkable
number of students attending the online course (three groups of 150–200
students) and the limited number of hours available for supplementary lessons,
which therefore had to be focused on the most urgent needs. The approach
of the self-assessment test and subsequent course planning was that of error
analysis, and the results were analysed from both qualitative and quantitative
perspectives. The results refer to two academic years (2020–2021 and 2021–
2022) and improvements made to the test between the first and second years.
This allowed students whose secondary school–level preparation of English
had been hindered by the COVID-19 emergency to gain awareness of their
overall level and of particular issues they needed to focus on to better prepare
for the final exam.