Dumbing Down in EFL?

Posted on 15/09/2010 by alexcase

A few bits of ELT history that I wasn’t aware of until reading an article  on DevelopingTeachers.com

The Trinity Diploma (then the Trinity College Licentiate Diploma) came first, with the Cert level certificate coming later.

Similarly, the original RSA Cert was not the ancestor of the present Cambridge CELTA as I had thought. The CELTA started life as a Preparatory certificate, which was meant to be lower than that original Cert.

“The RSA Certificate examiners also applied abnormally high criteria. This much can be seen from the RSA’s own initial reports, which I tabulate here.

Year Pass with Distinction Pass Referred in Written Referred in Practical Fail Exam not Completed
1976 2 198 84 49 139 360
1977 3 274 196 48 182 276
1978 323 133 92 92 191 404
1979 390 127 127 82 141 425

(McBeath 1980; 22)”

Interesting article, if you have time to read the whole thing. Also thought it tied in quite nicely with the 1913 CPE post on ADayInTheLifeOfATeacher blog at the moment.

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1 Response to Dumbing Down in EFL?

  1. Adam's avatar Adam says:
    16/09/2010 at 09:59

    Thanks for the mention, Alex. You are, as the young ‘uns might say, ‘the man.’

    Like

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