The obituary notice of Patricia MCELDOWNEY

Today I was sharing my first educational experience in the UK, with my family and Dr Pat McEldowney came to my mind. I searched for her name and am saddened by finding out she passed away in 2012. She was my lecturer and supervisor when I did my Masters Degree in the University of Manchester in the late 80’s. She was a highly inspirational person who tried to solve big mysteries in the area of second language teaching/ and learning and she answered many of the questions I had in the field of TESOL, now called ESOL. Her contribution towards neutralising the area of testing from cultural elements was widely accepted in those days while her effort to do the same in the theory and practice of English language teaching did not go far enough to create influence in the field. However for me the grammatical approach she adopted was unique and could still be integrated with in the communicative approach which was highly popular in those days. I tried to adopt her model when I wrote my final dissertation which unfortunately I don’t possess now.
Her humble and kind personality was another thing which made Pat very attractive and approachable. She treated her students with most respect, commitment and understanding. I consider myself privileged to know and be taught/ mentored by such a person who had amazingly beautiful nature combined with high caliber/exceptional professional expertise.
I pray that God will reward her legacy of kindness and hard work by extending His grace to those she left behind.
Alemishet( A former student)

An inspirational "teacher" who changed the face of Testing of English for NNS wishing to enter British Universities.
Recognizing that an 'O' Level in English was far too culturally oriented to be used as an appropriate test for University entrance for STEM subjects for NNS, a consortium of British Universities (JMB / NEAB) commisioned (The now late) Dr Patricia MCELDOWNEY to design and implement what became the NEAB - UETESOL (University Entrance Test in English for Speakers of Other Languages). It was a radical & welcome transformation and for many years set the standard for the form of such examinations, their marking schemes and acceptable profiles across the receptive and productive skills (S, L, R, Writing)
For reasons which were less than clear, the hard-edged and prescriptive IELTS test was aggressively "imposed" as the international standard for UETESOL and other areas of study and employment in UK.
At last, and not before time, the inappropriateness of IELTS in certain sectors is being recognized, such as employment in the Health and Care sectors One can but hope that the spirit and practice of enablement "Pat" MCELDOWNEY brought will be reflected in new test being mooted.

I can only add my tribute to a very formative teacher.
Just today I was sharing Pat's ideas with my own students.

Prayer

Ms Pat was my teacher. She was a superb teacher and a very friendly figure. just now I have come to know about her death and felt great grief. This was really a very shocking news for me. I benefited a lot from her instruction and supervision. She was a great researcher and scholar in English Grammar and Communication. I pray that her soul rest in peace!! Amin.

From a thankful student