Standardized Assessment in English as a Native and a Foreign Language (Based on Exams in Russia, Great Britain and the USA)

Standardized exams are considered as a well-established tool to enter the university, which is utilized worldwide. It cannot be denied that this form of testing has already been deeply ingrained in the world educational system. The present research pertains to the domain of standardized assessment of ENL (English as a native language) and EFL (English as a foreign language) learners. The study is intended to elucidate the issue of standardized assessment of ENL and EFL learners overall with the purpose of tracing major trends in standardized assessment in the English language. The objective of this project is to investigate in depth particular types of exams in the English language in Great Britain and the USA to further compare the Russian experience of the language assessment with that of the UK and the USA. The exams were scrutinized according to the following criteria: requirements for exam takers, content, assessment objectives and types of tasks. As a result of the study conducted, exams were compared, which indicated the general characteristics and major differences between them. Particular tasks that could be added into the Russian exams in English as a foreign language were singled out. A comparative analysis of the exams showed that the models of standardized testing in the countries under consideration differ significantly. Different approaches to testing language and communication skills were found. The research demonstrated that there is still no any unified system that applies to every standardized English exam, both in ENL and EFL. The conclusions obtained indicate the need for further research in the field of language testing and the importance of developing a unified system of language assessment for both frameworks: ENL and EFL.