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If it is to be argued that self-access language learning centres (SACs) provide an efficient and effective alternative or complement to more traditionally accepted modes of language learning and teaching, it remains a serious concern that there is no research-based framework specifically developed for their evaluation. It is within the context of a study into the development of such a framework that this paper considers the issue of evaluating learning gain in a SAC. Experience and research suggest that the issue of learning gain is crucial to any discussion of SAC evaluation. There is, however, a tension between the perceived need to include learning gain as a focus in an evaluation of a SAC’s effectiveness, and a recognition of there being practical problems in so doing. After briefly examining relevant literature, this paper will discuss data derived from the aforementioned study. It will present a number of reasons for attempting to evaluate learning gain, before going on to identify potential difficulties involved and discussing possible ways of achieving this. It will finally suggest that, in order to evaluate learning gain within a self-access language learning context, there is a need to re-conceptualize what is perceived as learning gain and to look to the learner to identify evidence of such.

In an increasingly globalised world, English-medium tertiary education has become increasingly prominent and sought after. However, non-native speaker (NNS) school-leavers entering an English-medium university, whether as NNS local students or as international students, not only encounter those challenges faced by all freshmen students, but often also soon realise that there is a gap between the English language skills with which their school education had equipped them and those needed for effective English-medium tertiary study. Their lack of competence in academic writing presents perhaps the greatest challenge. This paper will examine data relating to NNS students’ experience as freshmen writers. These data are derived from a longitudinal study aiming to understand the language-related challenges faced by first and second year NNS students in an English-medium higher education institution in Hong Kong. The paper concludes by proposing two collaborative initiatives whereby English language teachers work with content subject teachers with the aim of providing language enhancement support that is relevant to the student’s programme of study and integrated into their content studies. With a global increase in the number of NNS students studying in English-medium universities (Murray 2016, Standards of English in higher education. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), the challenges and possible ways of addressing these that are discussed in this paper are potentially directly relevant to universities in whichever country they operate.

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