In a dazzling world which develops rapidly and introspects all fields, where it is becoming increasingly obvious that humanology must resume its place against technology, the present study seeks to scrutinise an undergraduate programme in order to find out if the what, how much, when and how of teaching is accurately evaluated. The study is aimed at shedding light on the suitability and efficiency of the assessment carried out through forms of academic writing over a three-year academic programme which trains business experts and translators. The research is geared towards finding a scientific response to the question: are the forms of academic writing customarily used for the assessment of the progress of business and translation trainee effective and appropriate for the competences that the undergraduate programme envisions to form and develop? The discussed programme is an undergraduate programme featuring the French model of Applied Modern Languages and has pursued European curricular design, methods of teaching and evaluation. It is, henceforth, estimated that the investigation will contribute to the improvement of the assessment through academic forms of writing of such departments of several European universities. Second, the study will provide useful insights into how and to what purposes can these forms of writing be used in academic training. Third, the study will provide feedback on how successful a training programme is. The topic acquires more relevance particularly because the students of the department are trained to become excellent translators and communicators, while forms of (academic) writing represent the focus of their mastery-enhancing courses, and, finally, after graduation, most of the graduates pursue a career in the field of: public relations, business, human resources, management, translations, conference interpreting, etc., which rest entirely on the use of forms of academic writing. The theoretical framework for the study has been provided by the works on academic writing of the ‘fourth generation writing’ theorists, while incorporating theories and concepts of the 80s and 90s. The theoretical approach has been anchored in both academic teaching and Vocational Education Training.

First, the study tackles the general aims of the undergraduate training programme, examines the curricular objectives and outlines the forms of evaluation used departmentally vis-à-vis the requirements of the curricular disciplines involved. The forms of academic writing under focus are: essays, research papers, dissertations, abstracts (summaries), newspaper articles, reports and reviews. Second, and very importantly, the study interprets the results of a survey conducted over a two-year period. The survey was carried out through specially designed questionnaires (each comprising 12 questions) which were applied to a population of 150 graduate students. The survey was focused on the students’ perception of their linguistic progress and the general impact that the forms of assessment had on them, trying to establish if the forms of academic writing were useful and appropriate for the study.

The study is expected to yield new perspectives on: how efficiently is the undergraduate program structured around a comprehensive and vocation-enhancing European curriculum, how much interest did the students show to forms of academic writing and to the tasks they have been used for. It is further estimated that the study will evidence statistical data and provide useful explanatory comments. The students seemed to understand that these courses provide practical assignments and tasks that can help them develop the desired writing skills for their future career as professional communicators, translators, and linguists. Finally, the experiment will shed light on how successful the training programme turns out to be. The study will make some recommendations for the improvement of assessment through forms of academic writing, which may serve as good practices for other similar departments.