Аракин 4 курс полностью

Possible follow-ups
1. Do you think the students' summer work should be related to their future profession? 
Whatever your answer, give your reasons.
2. Write up this role-play as a newspaper article.
3. Prepare a talk by a visiting student from Great Britain on students' life (unions, clubs, 
societies). 
EXAMS OR CONTINUOUS ASSESSMENT? 
Situation 
A special meeting of the staff of the English Department will be held to discuss a 
possible shift from exams to continuous assessment, i. e. a student's final mark is an 
average of the marks for all the work he/she has done during the course/ term. 
Cast list 
Prof. G., Head of the English Department
Lecturer M.
Lecturer E.
senior lecturers
Lecturer P.
Lecturer A.
junior lecturers

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Ann/Peter 
final-year students
Lucy/Andrew 
Postgraduate S.
Dorothy/Donald Parker, a visiting English lecturer 
What you must decide 
What form of assessment is more efficient and reliable: exams or continuous assessment? 
A vote must be taken.
 
Role cards 
Prof. G. Aged 51
You are Head of the English Department and conduct a special meeting to discuss 
what form of assessment is more efficient and reliable: exams or continuous assessment. 
You are of the opinion that exams are a well-tried system, but you do not object to 
abolishing exams in one of the years, possibly in the first year, and introducing 
continuous assessment as an experiment.
At the end of the discussion you sum up the arguments presented and hold a vote.
NB: The results of the vote will be taken to the Academic secretary of the university. 
Lecturer M. Aged 49
You are a senior lecturer in the English Department. You are convinced that exams 
are the best quick way of assessing a student. Their reliability has been proved again and 
again. The exam system may not be perfect, but it's the best we have; it may be painful, 
but so are many things in life. You voice your support for the exams rather categorically. 
Lecturer E. Aged 54
You are a senior lecturer in the English Department. You agree that the most 
successful students are not always the best educated, they are the best trained in the 
technique or working under duress/pressure. Possible faults of the exams are not the 
faults of the system itself but of the teacher — that is your con-

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300 
viction. However there are advantages in continuous assessment, as it is probably more 
objective, but it needs to be proved/tested. So you suggest an experiment (exams abol-
ished, continuous assessment introduced) with a group of students. 
Lecturer P. Aged 32
You are a junior lecturer in the English Department. You think that exams as a form 
of assessment must be abolished altogether. Your arguments are as follows: firstly, 
exams are a test of memory not ability. They encourage memorising, restrict reading and 
induce cramming and secondly, as anxiety-makers exams are second to none, because so 
much depends on them. 
Lecturer A. Aged 29
You are a junior lecturer in the English Department. You speak in favour of 
continuous assessment as it is more objective and a student has to work continuously but 
not rapidly under the extreme pressure of exams. It motivates a student to read widely 
and to seek more and more knowledge, eliminating cramming. Besides it's a pity that 
teachers themselves are often judged by examination results and instead of teaching their 
subjects they are reduced to training their students in exam techniques which they 
despise. 
Ann/Peter Aged 22
You are a final-year student in the English Department. You are clever and a bit lazy. 
You have a knack of concentration under pressure and are always successful at exams. 
You are against continuous assessment because it is sure to reveal the gaps in your 
knowledge. While slating your arguments you address Lecturer E., a senior lecturer, 
because he/she will be your examiner this term. 
Lucy/Andrew Aged 23
You are a final-year student in the English Department. You think exams should be 
abolished. Your arguments are, firstly, no one can show his knowledge to advantage after 
a sleepless night or when he/she is in mortal terror (some recollections of your personal 
experience would serve as good proof), secondly, examiners may be subjective at times. 

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NB: You are an industrious student, you work hard during the term but unlike Ann/Peter
you don't have a knack of working rapidly under the extreme pressure of exams. 
Postgraduate S. Aged 27
You are a postgraduate in the English Department. You are doing research on the new 
methods of assessment. You disagree that the methods
s
pf.testing a person's knowledge 
and ability remain as primitive as in the past. You argue that extensive research into 
objective testing techniques has been carried out. There are already complex checking 
systems, among them computers, used by examiners to specially devised tests. In ad-
dition exams may be supplemented by the teachers' monthly assessment. 
Dorothy/Donald Parker Aged 35
You are a visiting English teacher. You are very much interested in the Russian way 
of life. That day you are present at a meeting of the staff of the English Department 
where a possible shift from exams to continuous assessment is being discussed. You are a 
true supporter of exams as you think it is an old and widely-spread system of assessing 
students' knowledge. In your country practically all exams are written (oral exams are a 
rare exception for modern languages). You know that in some universities they've 
introduced continuous assessment but you personally are rather sceptical about it.