On Monday, 22 August 2016, the Department of English hosted their 15th Departmental Seminar presented by Dr Arthur McNeill (HKUST) and Dr Keith Tong (HKUST). The presentation lasted an hour and a half with time for a Question & Answer Session.

Dr Arthur McNeill (HKUST) and Dr Keith Tong (HKUST) delivered a seminar on the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) English Language Proficiency Assessment (ELPA). They discussed the ELPA which is an English proficiency test developed by the HKUST Center for Language Education. It was designed to assess the productive and receptive English language ability of students at HKUST. The ELPA speaking test is now used as the end-of-course measurement of achievement in one of HKUST’s postgraduate English courses, LANG5000. It is used for placement, streaming and measurement of proficiency gain in the new curriculum where appropriate, and for profiling of students’ proficiency both longitudinally and across student groups to inform admission policy, and curriculum development and change.