ENGLISH DEPARTMENT’S REGULATUIONS

OF ASSESSMENT AND EVALUATION


1. Submission of Course work


This varies across modules but for some modules only the best 10% of the students are selected for course work. All assignments have deadlines which must be met if the work is to be graded. All work must be submitted to the Department Secretary prior to the deadline and each student is required to keep his/her CWS Form as evidence of course work submission.


2. Copies of Course work

It is very important that students keep carefully an electronic file or a hard copy of all course work which they hand to staff. Although the Department takes utmost care of such work, it is inevitable that some instances of work being mislaid occur. In such cases the student will be required to produce their copy for assessment. It is unfortunate but it must remain the responsibility of individual students to ensure that they have a copy of any work submitted.


3. Late work

Unless a Claim for Extenuating Circumstances is submitted to the Department Office and accepted as valid by the Dean or his Deputy any piece of course work which is submitted after the deadline will be given a mark of zero.


4. Examinations

For a 12 to 15 credit module (the language skills modules) the examination is usually of 2 hours duration, plus the speaking exam which often takes 15 minutes as minimum for each student. For other modules such as English literature, translation theory and cross culture studies, the final examination varies from 60 to 90 minutes depending on the number of credits of each course. Examination papers usually include multiple choice, true-false, open ended question, short-answer, essay etc, The purpose of the assignment or essay questions is to assess students’ in-depth knowledge of a few areas of the syllabus while the multiple choice or short answer questions assess their knowledge across a wide range of the syllabus. Thus these question types allow students to demonstrate their skills and knowledge in a variety of ways.


Three weeks before the examination, the provisional lists of students and examination timetables are posted on the Department’s Notice Board. Students will NOT be notified individually of exam times, so it is their responsibility to watch the notice board. If students have any clashes they must notify the Department Secretary immediately in writing. Any inquiries (for example, why I can not find my name on the examination list) must be clarified with the Department Secretary during these three weeks before the exam. Once the final lists are posted outside the exam location one day before the examination there cannot be any changes. Students must make sure they are available at all times during the exam period (exams are held during the day) at weekends.


Details of the regulations on assessment and evaluation at higher education level can be found in the Decision 04/1999/QD-BGD&DT of the Minister of Education and Training on February 11, 1999 .


5. Re-sit Examinations

Students who fail at the end-of module/end-of-semester examination(s) are allowed to re-sit examination(s) in the third week of the following semester. If they fail that exam one more time they are referred in the module. In this case they must take the module again next time it runs, which will likely delay their programme.


If students apply for Special Circumstances, and it is granted, then they will be able to take a Deferred exam (or coursework) in the third week of the following semester, thus enabling them to complete their programme.


6. Marking of Course Work and Examinations

Students’ work will be graded according to the following scale:

90 - 100% High Distinction

80 - 89% Distinction

70 - 79% High Credit

60 - 69% Credit

50 – 59% Pass

0 - 49% Fail**


** For the Language Foundation Skill Modules and the Second Foreign Language Module see Section 7.8 below.


The final mark of the course work or examination will be converted to 10 point scale. A passed module may not be retaken even if students are not satisfied with their marks.


All marks are subject to amendment and confirmation by the Board of Assessment which consists of the Dean, the Deputy Deans and the Heads of Divisions. Students are advised not to ask academic staff about final marks as they are not allowed to discuss these outside the Assessment Board. After the Assessment Board has met, the results will be posted in the foyer. Students can request for a transcript of their results after the results are posted.


7. The External Examiner

To ensure that correct standards are met, in certain cases the University President will instruct the Director of Studies to invite one or more external examiner(s) to re-mark the exam papers of any module. These papers are selected at random. The external examiner(s) will be the arbiter in the award of module grades.


8. Pass Mark

The following pass-mark regime is applied for all mid-module/mid-semester tests, assignments and end-of-module/end-of-semester examinations.

a) For the Language Foundation Skills Modules (English 1, English 2, English 3, English 4 and English 5) and for the Second Foreign Language Module:

Pass mark: Total of four sub-skills: Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing must be minimum 20 marks with no more than one sub-skill lower than 4 marks.

b) For all other modules:

The pass mark is 5


9. Important Notes:


Cheating and Plagiarism

The University considers cheating and plagiarism as serious offences. Academic performance will be assessed on the basis of student’s own work.. Those who are caught cheating in exams/in-class tests or will immediately be disqualified and get a zero mark. Evidence of plagiarism, if found in your course work, will result in similar penalty.


Collaboration Work

Collaborative working is only allowed in the preparation of group work. Otherwise students must work on their own if they are preparing a piece of coursework for assessment. If preparation is shared, it can be an assessment offence for the person who loans the material as well as for the person who uses it.