Category: NEAS News

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Aspire English supports international students and prepares them for success by enhancing further their English language proficiency, focussing on the strengthening of skills in academic writing, presentation, and critical thinking. We congratulate Aspire English on the successful Quality Endorsement of its online General English (GE) and English for Academic Purposes (EAP) courses. Delivered via the Zoom application, the GE course builds learner capability from a beginner level to intermediate proficiency, enabling them to progress to the EAP program

Have your online courses endorsed by NEAS today

Located on the Armidale campus, the University of New England (UNE) Language Centre provides pathways into University courses across all levels of study. The Centre’s accredited English language courses focus on the learning needs and the experience of international students, and are taught by highly qualified and experienced English language instructors. Congratulations to UNE on the successful Quality Endorsement of its online English for Academic Purposes (EAP) Program (Levels 1 to 5). 

Have your online courses endorsed by NEAS today

OET, the English language test for healthcare professionals, has produced a comprehensive guide for overseas-trained nurses and midwives seeking to live and work in Australia. The guide is freely available for you to share with any of your students who may find it useful.

Endorsed by the Migration Institute of Australia, the 22-page publication is titled Live and Work in Australia as an overseas-trained nurse: A guide to registration, immigration and settlement. It covers the following topics in-depth and in plain English for the non-native speaker:

• Key organisations they will come across
• Nursing registration standards and qualification criteria
• Applying for registration
• Applying for migration
• Looking for work
• Getting settled.

The guide also includes links to useful information, from employment and real estate sites to migration agents and the Australian Tax Office.

You can download the guide for free from the OET Website and share it with students or even order printed copies to have available at the end of classes. Printed copies will be sent directly to your nominated address within three weeks of you placing your order.

NEAS Assist is the consultancy arm of NEAS Australia, providing tailored solutions to support the ELT community. In recent months, NEAS has been invited to deliver specialist services in assessing ELT curricula and providing detailed, evidenced-based reporting on course outcomes that align to equivalencies in international English language test scores. Through the provision of independent analyses respected by decisionmakers, NEAS plays a critical role in supporting Centres to demonstrate achievement and excellence in their work.

NEAS has been developing and working on additional sets of areas of standards for the ELT community over the past 12 months and has recently released two new Quality Standard Areas to complement the existing 12 Quality Standard Areas in our Quality Assurance Framework:

·         Area M: Transnational Delivery; and

·         Area N: Foundation Programs

NEAS’s Quality Assurance services continue to evolve and expand to serve Member Centres. In a period of challenge and flux, NEAS works closely with its Members to set aspirational quality standards for innovative practices and to help them grow their businesses.

NEAS is finalising operational details to pilot these new Quality Areas. If you are interested in participating in our pilot initiatives for Transnational Delivery and Foundation Programs, please email Operations Manager, Daniel Yuen: d.yuen@neas.org.au

Check out the NEAS QA Framework here

NEAS congratulates English Language Company (ELC) Malaysia for becoming the latest Quality Endorsed Member Centre, successfully progressing from Pending status. ELC Malaysia completed its Quality Review after a series of onsite meetings, Focus Group discussions, stakeholder surveys, and observations of online lessons, over an extended period. Centrally located in Kuala Lumpur, ELC successfully transitioned its mainstream courses to an engaging online environment. Students aspiring to enter university programs have remained at ELC in this capacity.

ELC’s students are located in Japan, China, and the Middle East, with some also being located in Malaysia. Teachers and staff at ELC closely monitor the progress of students and actively enhance learning by directing students to opportunities in which students can practise their English outside of class. Observations of recorded online lessons revealed that students were actively supported in their learning. Well done ELC Malaysia!

See your listing here.

Applications are now open for the following 2022 TOEFL® Grants and Awards:

2022 TOEFL® English-language Researcher/Practitioner Grant Program – The purpose of the grant is to enable practitioners to become involved in ETS’s efforts to promote English language learning, and to support education and professional development for English-language teachers worldwide through ETS’s assessments and services. ets.org/toefl/grants/el_researcher_practitioner_grant

2022 Jacqueline Ross TOEFL® Dissertation Award – This award recognizes doctoral dissertation research that makes a significant and original contribution to knowledge about second or foreign-language tests and testing and/or the use and development of such tests and testing. ets.org/toefl/grants/jacqueline_ross_dissertation_award/

2022 TOEFL® Essentials™ New Scholar Award – This award recognizes a recent graduate in the field of foreign- or second-language assessment, whose scholarship or other major professional activities have already made an outstanding contribution. ets.org/toefl/grants/essentials_new_scholar_award/

Congratulations to Cambridge Assessment English on achieving NEAS Quality Endorsement of its CELTA course (traditional and online) and its Linguaskill English language test, in the category of Quality Products and Services.

Arguably the most widely recognised English teaching qualification in the world, CELTA has earnt a well-deserved reputation as the gold standard in pre-service teacher training. CELTA graduates develop a solid foundation in teaching methodology, and the course’s traditional in-person delivery has also been updated to a fully virtual mode. An extensive study has shown CELTA to be the English teaching qualification most often requested by employers in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

Linguaskill, an online multilevel English language test, assesses all four macro skills, and requires only an internet-connected computer to run. Designed as a fast, convenient, and easy-to-use assessment tool, it employs adaptive technology to deliver personalised experiences to its candidates; the test’s level of difficulty self-adjusts to match the user’s true ability. Linguaskill’s currency and relevance is maintained and refreshed by a dedicated research team of world class repute; the test benefits the ELT community through its advances in automated test scoring. The test can also be administered to candidates at home through remote proctoring.

Australian ELT providers have been partnering with offshore providers for decades.  Transnational partnerships are a sustainable way for Australian providers to grow and compete internationally as well as develop greater understanding of the cultural contexts of their international partners.

Transnational arrangements between Australian and offshore providers include delivering programs through distance learning modes, teacher and/or student exchanges and offshore campuses. NEAS has recently added a new area, ‘Transnational Delivery‘ to the NEAS Quality Assurance Framework.

Offering international students a transnational experience in their home countries provides many benefits.  It’s a cost-effective way for students to build their English language competencies whilst being able to stay close to their families and support networks.  Students also become accustomed to the teaching and learning culture delivered by the pathway institution assisting them adapt to both the target language and teaching methodologies.

NEAS endorsed provider, UTS College has enjoyed a successful history of transnational partnerships with a number of off-shore providers.  According to their ELT Director of Studies, Jason West, a key benefit of these partnerships is the internationalisation of the college’s curriculum.  

“When we are refreshing our curriculum, we can seek input from our partners to ensure that the content is more relevant for cohorts of students from different cultural backgrounds, We’ve listened to our partners to build in materials that listen to and respond to the voices of our multi-cultural and multi-lingual students.”