The RADAr is a unique language assessment in the sense that the constructs tested in both the Dutch version of the assessment (taken by mostly native speakers of Dutch enrolled in a Dutch-language programme) and the English version of the assessment (taken by mostly Dutch and international students enrolled in an English-medium programme) are almost identical. It is also unique because the constructs are derived from CEFR, common language problems among first-year students taken from writing assignments and panel sessions with academic staff and tutors.
"Radboud University Nijmegen (RU) in the Netherlands is a bilingual university which aims to provide staff and students with academic programmes that enable them to become academics with strong communicative skills in English and / or Dutch. The RADAr (Radboud Academic Diagnostic Assessment) plays a crucial role in this regard. With the RADAr, we took on the challenge of devising a relatively short (max 90 min.), digital, automatically scored language assessment with very high reliability and validity ratings, in order to predict any language issues that might stand between a student and their academic succes. In addition to that, the assessment gives the student detailed information about their strenghts and weaknesses in the context of academic communication.The RADAr is a unique language assessment in the sense that the constructs tested in both the Dutch version of the assessment (taken by mostly native speakers of Dutch enrolled in a Dutch-language programme) and the English version of the assessment (taken by mostly Dutch and international students enrolled in an English-medium programme) are almost identical. It is also unique because the constructs are derived from CEFR, common language problems among first-year students taken from writing assignments and panel sessions with academic staff and tutors.The diagnostic assessment enables us to target weaker students, whose results on the diagnostic assessment serve as input for a remedial programme. We will discuss the results of the pretests and the first test results of all first-year students at the factulty of arts and consequently assess the differences between students who took the test in their native language and those who took it in a second language. In addition, we will discuss the differences between Dutch and international students and the effects of the remedial programme on learning outcomes."
