PGCert in Language Assessment

Gain expertise in the dynamic field of language testing and enhance your professional prospects with our PGCert in Language Assessment delivered jointly with the British Council. 

Choose PGCert in Language Assessment at the University of Reading

• Learn from world-class experts in the field. Gain knowledge from leading researchers in the Department of English Language and Applied Linguistics and benefit from the expertise of British Council researchers and practitioners.
• Delivered in partnership with the British Council. The programme is delivered in collaboration with the British Council, a globally recognised leader in developing and implementing language assessment since the 1940s.
• Intensive summer delivery. This 12-week programme comprises six weeks of immersive on-campus learning (full-time), followed by six weeks for work on assignments at your own pace.
• Advance your career. Enhance your professional credentials, expand career opportunities, and build your professional network of peers and experts in language testing and assessment.
• Gain master’s level credits. Successful completion of the programme will give you 60 master’s level credits to use towards the MA TESOL or other related postgraduate degrees.

What you’ll learn

Delivered over the summer, this short intensive programme is designed to provide graduates, teachers and other language professionals with the most relevant, up-to-date knowledge and critical skills in language assessment.

Taught by leading scholars and language assessment experts, the course equips you with advanced concepts, specialised language assessment techniques, and a wide range of transferable skills, connecting theory with practice in real-world language assessment settings.

You will develop assessment literacy skills and gain theoretical and practical insights into how tests are designed, evaluated, and implemented, enhancing your professional testing credentials and global employability.

Our specialist areas of assessment include:

• language testing principles
• assessment literacy
• classroom-based and large-scale assessment
• testing language skills
• test design and evaluation.

Expert teaching staff

This course is designed and delivered in partnership with the British Council Assessment Research Group. Our academic team are active researchers and scholars, many of whom are experienced language assessment professionals working as teachers, consultants and policy advisors.

Their research and practice directly inform the focus and content of your course, providing you with opportunities to learn through a variety of contexts and media to develop knowledge and skills in language testing and assessment.

Our experts will mentor you in how best to develop and complete your language testing project.

Your learning environment

We offer an excellent staff to student ratio across our modules, and you will receive individual project supervision. Our teaching is interactive, practical and discursive, delivered through a mixture of lectures, tutorials, project supervision meetings and group work.

You will also undertake some self-scheduled teaching and learning activities, designed by and/or involving staff, as well as guided independent study. This will give you plenty of opportunities to develop your academic skills.

Our facilities

Teaching takes place on the University’s Whiteknights campus, a dedicated world-class centre for studies and research in language assessment (we are ranked in the top 150 worldwide for English Language and Literature in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, 2024). You will study in custom-built teaching spaces and have access to a modern library and computer labs.