Teachers Guide to Cambridge English

Empower in the Cambridge Learning

Management System
CONTENTS
1 Introduction

2 The Learning Oriented Assessment (LOA) cycle

3 How to access your classes

4 Cambridge English Empower in the Cambridge LMS Quick overview

Class Home

5 Cambridge English Empower in the Cambridge LMS In depth

Content

Assessment and Practice

Online Workbook

13

Extension

13

Resources

13

Teachers Book

14

Printable Tests

14

Teachers Extra Resources

14

Class Audio and Class Video

15

Language Check

15

Class Tools

15

Learner Profile

16

Unit Progress Test scores

16

CEFR Report

17

Gradebook

18

Teacher view of Gradebook

18

Student view of Gradebook

23

Dashboard

24

Teacher view of Portfolio

24

Student view of Portfolio

25

6 Further Information

25

7 Whats special about the assessment in Cambridge English Empower?

26

Unit Progress Tests (formative)

26

Unit Speaking Tests (formative)

27

Competency Tests (summative)

27

1 INTRODUCTION
Who is this guide for?
This guide is intended for teachers of Cambridge English Empower using the online assessment and
practice in the Cambridge Learning Management System (LMS).

What is included in this guide?

This guide includes
information on the parts of the course delivered online through the Cambridge LMS
recommendations on when and how the online components can be used
the differences between teacher access and student access
links to further information about Cambridge LMS features.

What is not included in this guide?

This guide does not include information about Cambridge LMS features that are not relevant to
Cambridge English Empower.

How does this guide work?

This guide is intended to help you as a teacher start using Cambridge English Empower in the
Cambridge LMS immediately. A Quick overview of the Class Home offers an easy starting point for you
to try out some of the main elements of the course. This is followed by an In depth visual walkthrough
of all the Cambridge LMS features of the course. Further information provides links to more sources of
assistance, including the Cambridge LMS FAQs and step by step help videos.

2 THE LEARNING ORIENTED ASSESSMENT (LOA) CYCLE

Class lesson D:
Consolidation of
core language via
integrated skills,
plus a writing
focus

Class lessons A + B:
Grammar, vocabulary
and mixed skills
Class lesson C:
Everyday English

Mid-course
and Endof-course
competency
assessment

Retake the
Unit Progress Test

Take the
Unit Progress Test
Online

CEFR
Report

Gradebook
monitoring +
reporting on
test scores and
practice
activities

Follow the
Personalised
learning path
(targeted
online practice)

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As a teacher, youll naturally be interested in your learners progress. Every time they step into your
classroom, youll note if a learner is struggling with a language concept, is unable to read at a natural
rate, or can understand a new grammar point but still cant produce it in a practice activity. This is
often an intuitive and spontaneous process. By the end of a course or a cycle of learning, youll know
far more about a learners ability than an end-of-course test alone can show.
An LOA approach to teaching and learning brings together this ongoing informal evaluation with more
formal or structured assessment such as end-of-unit or end-of-course tests. Ideally supported by a
learning management system, LOA is an approach that allows you to pull together all this information
and knowledge in order to understand learners achievements and progress and to identify and
address their needs in a targeted and informed way. A range of insights into learners and their
progress feeds into total assessment of the learner. It also allows you to use all of this information not
just to produce a report on a learners level of competence but also to plan and inform future learning.
Cambridge English Empower in the Cambridge LMS provides all the necessary material and tools to
help you successfully achieve total assessment of your learners, including a complete assessment
package with automated grading, a comprehensive range of additional activities for extensive
language practice and access to all the necessary performance data in one gradebook.

3 HOW TO ACCESS YOUR CLASSES

This guide assumes that teachers are already registered and have classes set up to use
Cambridge English Empower in the Cambridge LMS. For more information on how to register on
the Cambridge LMS please go to:
www.cambridgelms.org/main/

After logging in, the My Teaching tab lists all the Cambridge English Empower classes that have been
set up for you to teach. Click on the links to access the relevant course and section.

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4 CAMBRIDGE ENGLISH EMPOWER IN THE CAMBRIDGE LMS

QUICK OVERVIEW

Class Home
Your Class Home will look something like this:
Click here to access the
Assessment material,
Online Workbook and
Extension activities.

Click here to access a range

of additional material to
help with your teaching of
Cambridge English Empower.

Click here to
access the Forum,
Message Board
and Blog tools.

Click here to access

all the scores and
data for the students
in the class.

To Do Next, Calendar and Announcements are

immediately available and allow you to keep track of
work that is due and to notify learners of upcoming tasks.

Note: Logged in as Teacher, the main tabs for the course are Class Home, Content, Resources, Class
Tools and Gradebook. Your learners, logged in as Students, have an extra Learner Profile tab:

There is more information on the Learner Profile below.

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5 CAMBRIDGE ENGLISH EMPOWER IN THE CAMBRIDGE LMS

IN DEPTH

Content
This is where to access the Assessment material (Unit Progress Tests, Unit Speaking Tests and
Competency Tests), Online Workbook and Extension activities.

Click here to access the

Online Workbook and
Extension activities.

Click on Show
all to open
the menu.

This icon shows if the

activity or test is locked
or unlocked.

Click this button to lock

or unlock the content and
the option to set time
parameters for the test or
activities to be available.

Indicates how much of the

content has been accessed
and submitted for scoring.

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Assessment and Practice

There is a Unit Progress Test and Unit Speaking Test for each unit (12 units for levels A1, A2 and B1,
and 10 units for levels B1+, B2 and C1) and two Competency Tests (mid-course and end-of-course) for
each level of the course.

Unit Progress Tests

We recommend that learners take the Unit Progress Test at the end of each C lesson as learners
encounter all the language that features in the test in lessons AC. However, if it suits your teaching
situation, the Unit Progress Test could equally well be set for learners to take after the D lesson or after
Review and Extension.
Learners have two attempts at each Unit Progress Test. The first attempt is timed. On completion
learners receive a recommendation and links to do some personalised online practice activities
(My Practice). At the end of My Practice, learners are invited to take the test again, with no time
restrictions, so they can correct those answers they got wrong the first time. Leaners can review test
answers at any time.

Unit Speaking Tests

We recommend that learners take the Unit Speaking Test when the unit has been completed so that
they have covered the pronunciation points and have had as much opportunity as possible to practise
speaking on the topics in the unit.
Learners have one attempt at the Unit Speaking Test. There are no time restrictions and these tests
give ample opportunity for learners to listen to a model, then record, listen and re-record their own
answers before submitting.

Competency Tests
There are two Competency Tests: students should take the Mid-course Competency Test halfway
through the course, either at the end of Unit 5 for levels A1, A2 and B1, or at the end of Unit 6 for level
levels B1+, B2 and C1. Students should take the End-of-course Competency Test at the end of the
course. There are four sections to each Competency Test focussing on the four skills: Reading, Writing,
Listening and Speaking. These Tests are completed online, apart from the Speaking Test, which is
conducted by the teacher (see p14, 2021).
The purpose of the Competency Test is to give as accurate a measure as possible of a learners
performance relative to the target CEFR level. There is, therefore, just one attempt and no Review
mode for the Competency Tests.
Note: To find out more about the assessment material in Cambridge English Empower please read
section 7 Whats special about the assessment in Cambridge English Empower?
Lock
When you first access your Cambridge English Empower class, all the tests are locked and appear
greyed out. This means that your learners cannot access the tests until you unlock them, giving you
more control over your classes. As Teacher you will always be able to access and preview the tests.
Settings
To unlock a test for your learners, and (if you wish) to set a period of time that it is available, click on
the settings icon. You can do this either for a complete set of tests or for an individual test.
We recommend that you unlock each test when you want to make it available for your learners. In this
way, the learners in your class will all access the test for the same period of time and will be able to
check their progress at the appropriate points in the course.

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Teacher view of Test Summary page

To access a test, go to Assessment and click on the relevant test:

This opens the Test Summary page:

Note: As Teacher, there is no limit to the number of times you access any test.

Student view of Test Summary page

Here the learner can see how

many attempts are allowed
for the test and how many
attempts they have remaining.

The (most recent)

score for the test will
appear here.

If you have set a time that

the test is available, the time
and date will appear here.

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Students have a limited number of attempts for each test:

Unit Progress Test 2 attempts

Unit Speaking Test 1 attempt
Competency Test 1 attempt for each section (Reading, Writing, Listening)

Click on Start test to open it. The test will appear in a new window and will look something like this,
depending on which test you have opened (this is the opening screen for a Unit Progress Test):

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My Practice
After taking a Unit Progress Test and submitting it for scoring, learners receive a recommendation
based on their test score, to do some personalised practice activities online. Links to My Practice are
provided for each of the five language areas in the unit:

This is the
score for this
test attempt.

This is the score

for this language
section.

Click here to start the

Unit Progress Test for
the second attempt.

A score of 100%
in this language
section means
there is no My
Practice link.

One attempt has been

made for the Unit
Progress Test. There is
one attempt remaining.

This is a link to
the personalised
online practice
activities.

Learners are
directed to do
My Practice and
then take the Unit
Progress Test again.

This shows the score

of the latest test
attempt.

Click here to
review the test
attempt and see
which answers
are incorrect.

As teacher you can

set when the test is
available.

Note: If a learner scores 100% in all five language areas in the Unit Progress Test, they receive a
recommendation to do Extension activities. Every learner receives a recommendation to do Extension
activities after they have completed their second attempt at the Unit Progress Test.
My Practice is intended for self-study and consists of a sequence of three parts: Language Check,
Practice 1 and Practice 2.

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Language Check imitates the way a teacher might present language in class, incorporating
context setting, language presentation and concept checking stages.

The language point

from the lesson is
highlighted.

The teacher avatar

presents the language
in context.

The My Practice sequence.

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Practice 1 follows Language Check and consists of a sequence of interactive activities to practise the
language point. Practice 1 activities are carefully selected to offer learners additional support before
they progress to Practice 2.
An example of a Practice 1 activity:

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Practice 2 follows Practice 1. It offers an increased level of difficulty with activities often requiring a
more productive response.
An example of a Practice 2 activity:

If a learner performs poorly on a particular language point in the Unit Progress Test, then the My
Practice link takes the learner to the Language Check at the start of the chain. The learner then
proceeds through Practice 1 and Practice 2. If a learner gets a moderate score, the My Practice link
begins at Practice 1 and a good score takes the learner to Practice 2. Learners starting at Practice 1 or
Practice 2, if they wish to do so, can move backwards in the chain to Practice 1 or Language Check.
This means that busy learners can focus on what they really need.
After having the opportunity to work on their weaker areas in their personalised My Practice, learners
are then ready to retake the Unit Progress Test, correct the answers they got wrong on their first
attempt and improve their score.
Note: The Language Check is also available from the Resources tab. This means that learners can
access this material at any time, including as a way of catching up if they miss a class.

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Online Workbook
The Online Workbook provides homework after every lesson. It includes practice activities for all the
grammar, vocabulary and functional language plus extended coverage of the pronunciation from the
Students Book. It also includes:

Reading and Writing skills focussed activities, including a free writing activity which saves to the

learners Portfolio (see pp2425). This activity can also be completed within the Portfolio itself.
A Review section focussing on common errors and the Wordpower section
Extra vox pop video (only available in the Online Workbook)

Extension
The Extension activities consist of two sequences of either three or four activities. Each sequence
of activities practises either Reading or Listening skills based around a text (or multiple short texts)
which then serves as a model for a final free Writing or Speaking activity.
Writing activities can be saved to the learners Portfolio by uploading a file. Speaking activities often
suggest working with a partner and practising a short conversation.

Resources
In Resources you will find a range of additional materials to help with your teaching of Cambridge
English Empower.

Note: Your learners, logged in as Students, do not have access to the Teachers Book, Printable Tests
or Teachers Extra Resources.
Student view of Resources:

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Teachers Book
Click on the relevant section of the Teachers Book to view or download as a PDF.

Printable Tests
Download the PDFs of the Competency Speaking Test instructions and view the training videos.

Note: You can also find PDFs of all the Competency Tests and Unit Progress Tests here. We
recommend, however, that all tests except the Competency Speaking Test are completed online,
accessed from the Content tab. Only by doing the Unit Progress Tests online will your learners be able
to do the My Practice personalised practice activities.

Teachers Extra Resources

There are Forum and Message Board activities for each unit, and suggestions for Blog activities that
can be used with any unit. Download the relevant PDF for detailed instructions on how to set up and
manage the activity.
We recommend that the Forum activities are used after the Students Book Lesson A or B (see the
relevant activity), the Message board activities after Lesson C and the Blog activities at the end of
each unit.

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Class Audio and Class Video

All the Class Audio and Class Video is available, either to play directly online, or to download.
Note: Depending on the speed and reliability of your internet connection, you may prefer to download
the audio and video in advance of your class.

Language Check
There are five Language Check presentations for each unit, covering the grammar and vocabulary from
Lessons A and B, and Everyday English functional language from Lesson C. You could choose to use
these in class, or direct your learners to use them for self-study, particularly for learners who would
benefit from an extra review of a particular language point (or learners who have missed a class).

Note: Language Check presentations also form part of the personalised online practice (see My
Practice (p9) for more information).

Class Tools
The Forum, Message board and Blog tools are available from the Class Tools drop down menu:

There are unit by unit activities available for each of these tools either to use in class or to set students
to do at home. These activities are available as printable PDFs in Resources (see p14).

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Learner Profile
The Learner Profile is available to learners logged in as Students and consists of:

a visual representation of Unit Progress Test scores enabling learners to see easily their progress
unit by unit
a CEFR Report that uses the Mid-course and End-of-course Competency Test scores to reliably
measure learners against the target CEFR level

Unit Progress Test scores

As learners work through the Cambridge English Empower course, they build up a record of their
performance in the Unit Progress Tests. The Learner Profile shows both first and second attempt
scores of the tests so they can easily see how they have improved:

Learners click here to access

and print their CEFR Report.

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CEFR Report
The CEFR Report shows the scores for those sections of the Competency Test that have been
completed. Learners need to complete all parts of the test, and the teacher must enter a score
manually for the Competency Speaking Test, in order to receive an overall mark.
The CEFR Report after the End-of-course
Competency Test replaces that of the
Mid-course Competency Test.

Leaners receive a recommendation on which

internationally recognised standard Cambridge
General English test they may wish to work
towards after the End-of-course Competency Test.
Learners can access and print out their CEFR Report from the tab in the Learner Profile at any time.
Note: The Learner Profile and CEFR Report are only available to your learners. As a teacher you can
use the Gradebook to access all the scores for Assessment, Online Workbook and Extension material,
for the whole class and for individual learners.

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Gradebook
Teacher view of Gradebook
The Gradebook allows you as Teacher to see a complete breakdown of scores by class or by individual
learner and to access any test a learner has taken in order to review their answers.
Click here to manually
input scores.

This is the learners

percentage score
for the activities
accessed.

Progress shows
the percentage
of activities
accessed.

This shows the total

time the learner has
spent on activities
that are graded in
the Cambridge LMS.

Graded Score
shows the score
that a teacher
manually enters.

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Automatically scored tests and activities

All of the tests (except for the Competency Speaking Tests) and all of the Online Workbook activities
(except for the Writing activity) are automatically marked, and scores are recorded in the Gradebook.

Tracked activities
The Extension activities and the Online Workbook writing activities are tracked in the Gradebook. This
means that when the learner accesses the Extension activities or the Online Workbook writing activity
this is indicated by a percentage mark under Progress, but as these include free practice activities, no
score is given.
Click on View by content to access scores and tracked activities:

This shows the

percentage of
activities attempted.

This shows the

number of attempts
at an activity.

The Writing activity

is not scored
because it includes
free practice.

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Extension activities are tracked and show Progress, but are not scored:

Manually added scores

The Gradebook includes functionality for teachers to manually:

add a comment to automatically scored tests (Unit Progress Tests, Unit Speaking Tests and
Competency Tests)

add a comment and override a score for Extension and Online Workbook activties
amend an overall course score to accommodate any extra work your learners may have done either
online within the LMS (for example, contributions to Blog, Forum or Message Board activities) or
offline (for example, a class speaking activity).

The Competency Speaking Test scores must be manually inputted into the Gradebook so that your
learners can receive a complete CEFR Report.
To manually input scores into the Gradebook, click on View by content:

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Then open the folders to the relevant Competency Speaking Test, click on the settings icon
select Score & Comment.

and

Follow the same process if you wish to override automatic scoring and manually input scores for
Online Workbook and Extension activities.
It is not possible to override the automatic scores for the Reading, Listening and Writing sections of
the Competency Tests, but it is possible to add a comment:

Note: Complete instructions on how to score your learners in the Mid-course and End-of-course
Competency Speaking Tests are located in the Printable Tests tab of the Resources area.

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View an individual learners answers

To review answers for a test, Online Workbook activity or Extension activity for a particular learner,
select View by content, then choose the test or activity you want to see and click on See answers via
the settings button:

Then click on the

answers button next to the Student Name.

For more detailed information about using and customising the Gradebook, please view the step-bystep help videos (see the links in Further information).

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Student view of Gradebook

Your learners can get a breakdown of their scores and amount of time they have spent on tests and
activities they have accessed from the Content area.

This shows how much

of the total content the
learner has accessed.

This is the learners

percentage score in activities
they have accessed.

Progress shows
the percentage of
activities accessed.

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Dashboard
The Dashboard becomes available after you open a test or activity from the Content area. It gives
shortcuts to the Calendar and Announcement tools, the Resources area and the Portfolio.

Click here to Hide or

Show the Dashboard.

Teacher view of Portfolio

Your learners can keep a record of their work in their Portfolio by uploading a range of file types,
including audio and video files, or by writing directly into the Writing template.
We recommend that for the Online Workbook Writing activity learners write directly into the writing
template in the Task section of the Portfolio. As Teacher, you can access any work that your learners
upload to the Portfolio.

Click here to see the

work your learners have
added to the Portfolio.

Click here to see the Online

Workbook Writing activities your
learners have added to the Task
section of the Portfolio.

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Student view of Portfolio

Leaners access the Portfolio in the same way as teachers, via the Dashboard. On the Tasks tab learners
can access the Online Workbook Writing activity and write directly into the writing template.

Learners can also add other work to their Portfolio by clicking on Create a new task and either writing
directly into the Writing template, or by uploading a range of files (text, audio or video).

6 FURTHER INFORMATION
For general information about the Cambridge LMS please visit the Frequently Asked Questions:
www.cambridgelms.org/main/p/frequentlyaskedquestions
For step-by-step videos on how to use the Cambridge LMS features please go to:
www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-oYKB0D9-E3AhcZOLloAsIWc4ycsyUu5
To register as a Teacher on the Cambridge LMS please visit:
www.cambridgelms.org/main/
For more information about Cambridge English Empower course please go to:
cambridge.org/empower
For more information about Learning Oriented Assessment from Cambridge English please visit:
http://www.cambridgeenglish.org/research-and-validation/fitness-for-purpose/loa/

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7 WHATS SPECIAL ABOUT THE ASSESSMENT IN CAMBRIDGE

ENGLISH EMPOWER?

The assessment material is validated and reliable. It has been written by expert test item writers
at Cambridge English Language Assessment and is based entirely on the Students Book content.
Over 23,000 trial tests were taken as part ofthe thorough test development and validation process,
involving learners across over 40 different countries. You can be sure that the test material provides
a reliable indication of learner progress and performance. The tests are also linked to the CEFR
(Common European Framework of Reference for Languages) levels and provide useful preparation for
the internationally recognised Cambridge English exams.
The course includes both formative and summative assessment.

Unit Progress Tests (formative)

At the end of Lesson C in the Students Book, learners are directed to do the Unit Progress Test.

The Unit Progress Tests focus on the grammar, vocabulary and Everyday English functional language
and the learners receive a score for each of the five key language points in the unit.
After taking the test learners receive recommendations for personalised practice (My Practice) based
on their test performance. After completing the personalised practice pathway, learners are directed
to the test for a second time and have the opportunity to re-do the questions they got wrong in their
first attempt.

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Unit Speaking Tests (formative)

These tests are available for each unit (we recommend that they are taken at the end of the unit).
They test the pronunciation that has been focused on in the unit and also test the learners fluency in
talking about the topic of the unit.
Developed with Carnegie Speech software specialist for assessing spoken language skills the tests
use voice-recognition software that assesses to what extent the learners pronunciation matches the
required pronunciation. The software also assesses the learners fluency:
The learner gets a mark that is broken down into one mark for each task.
There are three tasks in each test, using a range of the following task types:
Phonemes
Number of syllables
Word stress
Read aloud
Fluency
Within the time limit of the test, the learner is able to listen to themselves again and re-record their
answer as many times as they like. In this way, the tests provide both self-assessment and practice.

Competency Tests (summative)

Skills-based tests covering Reading, Writing, Listening and Speaking are taken in the middle and at the
end of each level. The Reading, Writing and Listening tests are automated and learners receive a score
immediately after they have completed the test.
The Competency Speaking Test is a face-to-face test that is administered by the teacher. The
Speaking tests and instructions on how to use them, as well as Speaking test training materials, are
available on the Resources area of the Cambridge LMS (see p14). The teacher marks the Speaking tests
and can then input their scores directly into the Gradebook (see pp2021). This score contributes,
along with the other test scores, to the learners overall score which is given in their CEFR report.
The Competency Writing Test is marked by a Writing tool that we have developed in conjunction
with a Cambridge University department. The Writing tool has been programmed using a large bank
of similar scripts and test scripts. We are therefore able to compare aspects of written performance
against all other tests in the system, allowing us to give learners a CEFR level for their writing
performance.

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