Post-admission Language Assessment of University Students

by John Read

Author	: John Read
Publisher	: Springer
Total Pages	: 246
Release	: 2016-08-10
Genre	: Education
ISBN	: 3319391925

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English-medium universities around the world face real challenges in ensuring that incoming students have the language and literacy skills they need to cope with the demands of their degree programmes. One response has been a variety of institutional initiatives to assess students after admission, in order to identify those with significant needs and advise them on how to enhance their academic language ability. This volume brings together papers from Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Oman, South Africa and the United States, written by language assessment specialists who discuss issues in the design and implementation of these post-admission assessments in their own institutions. A major theme running through the book is the need to evaluate the validity of such assessments not just on their technical quality but on their impact, in terms of giving students access to effective means of developing their language skills and ultimately enhancing their academic achievement.

Validity Argument in Language Testing

by Carol A. Chapelle

Author	: Carol A. Chapelle
Publisher	: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages	: 371
Release	: 2021-01-21
Genre	: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN	: 110860238X

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Language tests play pivotal roles in education, research on learning, and gate-keeping decisions. The central concern for language testing professionals is how to investigate whether or not tests are appropriate for their intended purposes. This book introduces an argument-based validity framework to help with the design of research that investigates the validity of language test interpretation and use. The book presents the principal concepts and technical terms, then shows how they can be implemented successfully in practice through a variety of validation studies. It also demonstrates how argument-based validity intersects with technology in language testing research and highlights the use of validity argument for identifying research questions and interpreting the results of validation research. Use of the framework helps researchers in language testing to communicate clearly and consistently about technical issues with each other and with researchers of other types of tests.

The Concise Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics

by Carol A. Chapelle

Author	: Carol A. Chapelle
Publisher	: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages	: 1700
Release	: 2020-01-09
Genre	: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN	: 1119147379

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Offers a wide-ranging overview of the issues and research approaches in the diverse field of applied linguistics Applied linguistics is an interdisciplinary field that identifies, examines, and seeks solutions to real-life language-related issues. Such issues often occur in situations of language contact and technological innovation, where language problems can range from explaining misunderstandings in face-to-face oral conversation to designing automated speech recognition systems for business. The Concise Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics includes entries on the fundamentals of the discipline, introducing readers to the concepts, research, and methods used by applied linguists working in the field. This succinct, reader-friendly volume offers a collection of entries on a range of language problems and the analytic approaches used to address them. This abridged reference work has been compiled from the most-accessed entries from The Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics (www.encyclopediaofappliedlinguistics.com), the more extensive volume which is available in print and digital format in 1000 libraries spanning 50 countries worldwide. Alphabetically-organized and updated entries help readers gain an understanding of the essentials of the field with entries on topics such as multilingualism, language policy and planning, language assessment and testing, translation and interpreting, and many others. Accessible for readers who are new to applied linguistics, The Concise Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics: Includes entries written by experts in a broad range of areas within applied linguistics Explains the theory and research approaches used in the field for analysis of language, language use, and contexts of language use Demonstrates the connections among theory, research, and practice in the study of language issues Provides a perfect starting point for pursuing essential topics in applied linguistics Designed to offer readers an introduction to the range of topics and approaches within the field, The Concise Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics is ideal for new students of applied linguistics and for researchers in the field.

Transnational English Language Assessment Practices in the Age of Metrics

by Osman Z. Barnawi

Author	: Osman Z. Barnawi
Publisher	: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages	: 352
Release	: 2022-12-26
Genre	: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN	: 1000810844

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This edited volume examines how transnational English language assessment practices are envisioned, enacted, and justified by different stakeholders, including students, teachers, and universities in different geographical contexts, and what would be the multi-level consequences of such practices. Bringing together diverse perspectives from across the Global South and Global North, the book argues that the field of English language assessment has always been transnational, despite an absence of a research that explicitly examines English language assessment practices in relation to transnationalism. The contribution of this volume lies in filling in this critical scholarly gap. Through a wide set of epistemological, theoretical, and pedagogical interventions along with methodological orientations and analytical frameworks, the chapter authors question the social, economic, political, linguistic, and pedagogical consequences of transnational English language assessment practices in higher education (HE) settings and contexts. Offering fresh perspectives on English language assessment practices in relation to transnationalism, this book will be of great interest to researchers, academics, and post-graduate students in the fields of applied linguistics, Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL), and language assessment more broadly.

Local Language Testing

by Slobodanka Dimova

Author	: Slobodanka Dimova
Publisher	: Routledge
Total Pages	: 228
Release	: 2020-02-20
Genre	: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN	: 0429960328

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Local Language Testing: Design, Implementation, and Development describes the language testing practice that exists in the intermediate space between large-scale standardized testing and classroom assessment, an area that is rarely addressed in the language testing and assessment literature. Covering both theory and practice, the book focuses on the advantages of local tests, fosters and encourages their use, and provides suggested ideas for their development and maintenance. The authors include examples of operational tests with well-proven track records and discuss: the ability of local tests to represent local contexts and values, explicitly and purposefully embed test results within instructional practice, and provide data for program evaluation and research; local testing practices grounded in the theoretical principles of language testing, drawing from experiences with local testing and providing practical examples of local language tests, illustrating how they can be designed to effectively function within and across different institutional contexts; examples of how local language tests and assessments are developed for use within a specific context and how they serve a variety of purposes (e.g., entry-level proficiency testing, placement testing, international teaching assistant testing, writing assessment, and program evaluation). Aimed at language program directors, graduate students, and researchers involved in language program development and evaluation, this is a timely book in that it focuses on the advantages of local tests, fosters and encourages their use, and outlines their development and maintenance. It constitutes essential reading for language program directors, graduate students, and researchers involved in language program development and evaluation.

Reconsidering Context in Language Assessment

by Janna Fox

Author	: Janna Fox
Publisher	: Routledge
Total Pages	: 296
Release	: 2022-04-06
Genre	: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN	: 1351184555

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This volume reconsiders the problem of context in language testing and other modes of assessment from the perspective of transdisciplinarity. Transdisciplinary assessment research brings together collaborators who draw on the strengths of their differing backgrounds and expertise in order to address high-stakes complex socially-relevant problems. Traditional treatments of context in language assessment research have generally been informed by individualist cognitive theories within measurement and psychometrics. The additive potential of alternative social theories, including theories of genre, situated learning, distributed cognition, and intercultural communication, has largely been overlooked. In this book, the benefits of socio-theoretical reconsiderations of context are discussed and further exemplified in transdisciplinary research studies that investigate the use of assessment in classroom and workplace settings. The book offers a renewed view of context in arguments for the validity of assessment practices, and will be of interest to assessment researchers, practitioners, and students in applied linguistics, education, educational psychology, language testing, and other related disciplines and fields.

Language, Culture, and Education in an Internationalizing University

by Kumari Beck

Author	: Kumari Beck
Publisher	: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages	: 289
Release	: 2024-07-25
Genre	: Education
ISBN	: 1350211729

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This book offers a multi-dimensional analysis of the experiences of faculty, students, and staff at a Canadian university that emphasizes international education, providing an ethnographic lens for understanding globalization and internationalization of higher education on a wider, global scale. The collaborative work of multiple authors based in different departments and roles within the university offers a holistic picture of current international education policies and practices, and how they coalesce to shape the experiences of all affected stakeholders. The book focuses on questions of cultural difference and the development of intercultural capital and highlights engagement with English dominance, language matters and multilingualism in everyday experiences and pedagogical practices in the institution. The contributors address implications for attending to linguistic and cultural diversity in the policies and practices of an Anglo-dominant university that are applicable to similar contexts worldwide. As a self-study from a reputed university, the book provides valuable insights for higher education program leaders and decision makers to strategically rethink the value and quality of the internationalization activities they engage in, their scholarship and creative activities, and, above all, their commitment to ethical internationalization.

The Diagnosis of Writing in a Second or Foreign Language

by Ari Huhta

Author	: Ari Huhta
Publisher	: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages	: 317
Release	: 2023-07-07
Genre	: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN	: 1315511959

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The Diagnosis of Writing in a Second or Foreign Language is a comprehensive survey of diagnostic assessment of second/foreign language (SFL) writing. In this innovative book, a compelling case is made for SFL writing as an individual, contextual, and multidimensional ability, combining several theoretically informed approaches upon which to base diagnosis. Using the diagnostic cycle as the overarching framework, the book starts with the planning phase, cover design, development, and delivery of diagnostic assessment, ending with feedback and feed-forward aspects to feed diagnostic information into the teaching and learning process. It covers means to diagnose both the writing processes and products, including the design and development of diagnostic tasks and rating scales, as well as automated approaches to assessment. Also included is a range of existing instruments and approaches to diagnosing SFL writing. Addressing large-scale as well as classroom contexts, this volume is useful for researchers, teachers, and educational policy-makers in language learning.

Trends in Language Assessment Research and Practice

by Vahid Aryadoust

Author	: Vahid Aryadoust
Publisher	: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Total Pages	: 632
Release	: 2016-02-29
Genre	: Language and languages
ISBN	: 1443889792

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Despite prodigious developments in the field of language assessment in the Middle East and the Pacific Rim, research and practice in these areas have been underrepresented in mainstream literature. This volume takes a fresh look at language assessment in these regions, and provides a unique overview of contemporary language assessment research. In compiling this book, the editors have tapped into the knowledge of language and educational assessment experts whose diversity of perspectives and experience has enriched the focus and scope of language and educational assessment in general, and the present volume in particular. The six ‘trends’ addressed in the 26 chapters that comprise this title consider such contemporary topics as data mining, in-class assessment, and washback. The contributors explore new approaches and techniques in language assessment including advances resulting from multidisciplinary collaboration with researchers in computer science, genetics, and neuroscience. The current trends and promising new directions identified in this volume and the research reported here suggest that researchers across the Middle East and the Pacific Rim are playing—and will continue to play—an important role in advancing the quality, utility, and fairness of language testing and assessment practices.