Download or read book Teacher Involvement in High Stakes Language Testing written by Daniel Xerri and published by Springer. This book was released on 2018-04-27 with total page 349 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book advocates that teachers should play an active role in high-stakes language testing and that more weight should be given to teacher judgement. This is likely to increase the formative potential of high-stakes tests and provide teachers with a sense of ownership. The implication is that the knowledge and skills they develop by being involved in these tests will feed into their own classroom practices. The book also considers the arguments against teacher involvement, e.g. the contention that teacher involvement might entrench the practice of teaching to the test, or that teachers should not be actively involved in high-stakes language testing because their judgement is insufficiently reliable. Using contributions from a wide range of international educational contexts, the book proposes that a lack of reliability in teacher judgement is best addressed by means of training and not by barring educators from participating in high-stakes language testing. It also argues that their involvement in testing helps teachers to bolster confidence in their own judgement and develop their assessment literacy. Moreover, teacher involvement empowers them to play a role in reforming high-stakes language testing so that it is more equitable and more likely to enhance classroom practices. High-stakes language tests that adopt such an inclusive approach facilitate more effective learning on the part of teachers, which ultimately benefits all their students.
Download or read book The Unintended Consequences of High Stakes Testing written by Gail M. Jones and published by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. This book was released on 2003-04-09 with total page 189 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: To better understand how high-stakes accountability has influenced teaching and learning, this book takes an in-depth look at the myriad consequences that high-stakes tests hold for students, teachers, administrators, and the public. By focusing on these tests and spending large amounts of time on test preparation and driving teachers to teach low-level, rote memorization, schools are essentially wiping out non-tested subjects such as science, social studies, physical education, and the arts. Although testing is promoted as a strategy for improving education for all, research shows that testing has differential effects on students with special needs, minority students, students living in poverty, and those for whom English is a second language. The Unintended Consequences of High Stakes Testing unpacks the assumptions and philosophical foundations on which testing policies are based. The authors' arguments are grounded in extensive interviews and research. Through an examination of research, these authors show that high-stakes testing promotes students' dependence on extrinsic motivation at the cost of intrinsic motivation and the associated love of learning—which has tangible impacts on their education and lives. Features: -Examines how high stakes testing from the perspectives of teachers, students, and adminstrators. -Considers how testing impacts the curriculum including tested subjects such as reading, writing, and mathematics as well as non-tested subjects such as science, social studies, physical education, and the arts. -Documents how teachers and administrators engage in test preparation and discusses ethical and unethical test preparation practices. -Reviews the evolution of testing through history and how it mpacts the curriculum. -Examines the differential effects of testing on students with special needs, minority students, students living in poverty, and those for whom English is a second language.
Download or read book Language Assessment Literacy written by Dina Tsagari and published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. This book was released on 2020-04-21 with total page 332 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The field of language testing and assessment has recognized the importance and underlying theoretical and practical underpinnings of language assessment literacy (LAL), an area that is gradually coming to prominence. This book addresses issues that promote the concept of LAL for language research, teaching, and learning, covering a range of topics. It brings together 14 chapters based on high-stakes and classroom-based studies authored by academics, professionals and researchers in the field. The text examines diverse issues through a multifaceted approach, presenting high-quality contributions that fill a gap in a research area that has long been in need of theoretical and empirical attention.
Download or read book High Stakes Testing written by David Coniam and published by Springer. This book was released on 2018-10-24 with total page 428 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides a detailed account of the origin, development, administration, revision and subsequent research findings on the benchmarking initiative from 1996-2016. It presents an overall assessment of the initiative’s impact on major stakeholders, predictions regarding the way forward, and implications for other countries, especially in South East Asia. In addition, the book discusses what the larger global community can learn from Hong Kong’s two-decade experience of conceptualizing and implementing minimum standard language requirements for teachers.
Download or read book High Stakes written by Committee on Appropriate Test Use and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 1998-12-30 with total page 351 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Everyone is in favor of "high education standards" and "fair testing" of student achievement, but there is little agreement as to what these terms actually mean. High Stakes looks at how testing affects critical decisions for American students. As more and more tests are introduced into the country's schools, it becomes increasingly important to know how those tests are used--and misused--in assessing children's performance and achievements. High Stakes focuses on how testing is used in schools to make decisions about tracking and placement, promotion and retention, and awarding or withholding high school diplomas. This book sorts out the controversies that emerge when a test score can open or close gates on a student's educational pathway. The expert panel: Proposes how to judge the appropriateness of a test. Explores how to make tests reliable, valid, and fair. Puts forward strategies and practices to promote proper test use. Recommends how decisionmakers in education should--and should not--use test results. The book discusses common misuses of testing, their political and social context, what happens when test issues are taken to court, special student populations, social promotion, and more. High Stakes will be of interest to anyone concerned about the long-term implications for individual students of picking up that Number 2 pencil: policymakers, education administrators, test designers, teachers, and parents.
Download or read book Unequal By Design written by Wayne Au and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2010-04-26 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Unequal By Design critically examines high-stakes standardized testing in order to illuminate what is really at stake for students, teachers, and communities negatively affected by such testing. This thoughtful analysis traces standardized testing’s origins in the Eugenics and Social Efficiency movements of the late 19th and early 20th century through its current use as the central tool for national educational reform via No Child Left Behind. By exploring historical, social, economic, and educational aspects of testing, author Wayne Au demonstrates that these tests are not only premised on the creation of inequality, but that their structures are inextricably intertwined with social inequalities that exist outside of schools.
Download or read book Testing Teacher Candidates written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2001-10-19 with total page 472 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Americans have adopted a reform agenda for their schools that calls for excellence in teaching and learning. School officials across the nation are hard at work targeting instruction at high levels for all students. Gaps remain, however, between the nation's educational aspirations and student achievement. To address these gaps, policy makers have recently focused on the qualifications of teachers and the preparation of teacher candidates. This book examines the appropriateness and technical quality of teacher licensure tests currently in use, evaluates the merits of using licensure test results to hold states and institutions of higher education accountable for the quality of teacher preparation and licensure, and suggests alternatives for developing and assessing beginning teacher competence. Teaching is a complex activity. Definitions of quality teaching have changed and will continue to change over time as society's values change. This book provides policy makers, teacher testers, and teacher educators with advice on how to use current tests to assess teacher candidates and evaluate teacher preparation, ensuring that America's youth are being taught by the most qualified candidates.
Download or read book The Routledge Handbook of Language Testing written by Glenn Fulcher and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2021-12-15 with total page 675 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This second edition of The Routledge Handbook of Language Testing provides an updated and comprehensive account of the area of language testing and assessment. The volume brings together 35 authoritative articles, divided into ten sections, written by 51 leading specialists from around the world. There are five entirely new chapters covering the four skills: reading, writing, listening, and speaking, as well as a new entry on corpus linguistics and language testing. The remaining 30 chapters have been revised, often extensively, or entirely rewritten with new authorship teams at the helm, reflecting new generations of expertise in the field. With a dedicated section on technology in language testing, reflecting current trends in the field, the Handbook also includes an extended epilogue written by Harding and Fulcher, contemplating what has changed between the first and second editions and charting a trajectory for the field of language testing and assessment. Providing a basis for discussion, project work, and the design of both language tests themselves and related validation research, this Handbook represents an invaluable resource for students, researchers, and practitioners working in language testing and assessment and the wider field of language education.
Download or read book Learning Oriented Language Assessment written by Atta Gebril and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2021-05-11 with total page 222 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This collection brings together research on learning-oriented language assessment from scholars working across geographic and educational contexts, highlighting the opportunities of assessment practices which seek to better align assessment and learning tasks and support effective learning. The volume begins by introducing learning-oriented assessment (LOA) and the context around its growing popularity, especially in accountability-oriented settings which favor summative large-scale tests. The first part of the book charts the development of LOA’s theoretical and conceptual underpinnings, outlining the ways in which they have been informed by theories of learning and key elements. The second part demonstrates LOA in practice, drawing on examples from different countries and instructional settings to explore such topics as the role of technology in LOA and developing feedback materials based around LOA principles and developed for core literacy skills. Offering a holistic view of learning-oriented assessment and the real-world affordances and challenges of its implementation, this book is key reading for graduate students, researchers, and practitioners in language testing and assessment, TESOL, and language education.
Download or read book Classroom Assessment for Language Teaching written by Eddy White and published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. This book was released on 2020-02-26 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book focuses where assessment has greatest relevance—the classroom. A great deal of research related to assessment is focused on ‘the testing industry’, high-stakes language proficiency testing, and related analytical and statistical reports that are far removed from teachers’ and students’ experiences in the classroom. Recently, more attention has been paid to assessment in language classrooms and the many challenges that teachers face in both measuring and promoting student learning. This book contributes to the body of knowledge related to teacher assessment competence, and how it is manifested in the decisions they make about assessment procedures and instruments in their classes. Focused on specific challenges related to classroom assessment, each chapter reports on particular assessment issues faced by teachers, their choices regarding such issues, and the consequences (actual or anticipated) of their decision-making. This book will interest the thousands of teachers globally dealing with the numerous challenges associated with effective classroom assessment in language learning. This collection of teacher voices, stories, and investigations provides possible solutions to such challenges, and will serve to promote assessment literacy in the language teaching profession.
Download or read book Educating Hearts and Minds written by Catherine C. Lewis and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1995-01-27 with total page 266 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How do children become eager, motivated learners and caring, responsible citizens? Educating Hearts and Minds, first published in 1995, is a portrait of Japanese preschool and early elementary education which examines these questions. Its thesis - which will surprise many Americans - is that Japanese schools are successful because they meet children's needs for friendship, belonging, and contribution. This book brings to life what actually happens inside Japanese classrooms. What do children learn? How do they learn? What values are emphasised, and how are they taught? In a sharp departure from most previous accounts, this book suggests that Japanese education succeeds because all children - not just the brightest or best-behaved - somehow come to feel like valued members of the school community. Ironically, Japanese teachers credit John Dewey and other progressive Western educators for many of the techniques that make Japanese schools both caring and challenging. This book brings to a wider readership the voices of Japanese classroom teachers - voices that are at once deeply consonant with Western aspirations and deeply provocative.
Download or read book Handbook of Second Language Assessment written by Dina Tsagari and published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. This book was released on 2016-03-07 with total page 462 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Second language assessment is ubiquitous. It has found its way from education into questions about access to professions and migration. This volume focuses on the main debates and research advances in second language assessment in the last fifty years or so, showing the influence of linguistics, politics, philosophy, psychology, sociology, and psychometrics. There are four parts which, when taken together, address the principles and practices of second language assessment while considering its impact on society. Read separately, each part addresses a different aspect of the field. Part I deals with the conceptual foundations of second language assessment with chapters on the purposes of assessment, and standards and frameworks, as well as matters of scoring, quality assurance, and test validation. Part II addresses the theory and practice of assessing different second language skills including aspects like intercultural competence and fluency. Part III examines the challenges and opportunities of second language assessment in a range of contexts. In addition to chapters on second language assessment on a national scale, there are chapters on learning-oriented assessment, as well as the uses of second language assessment in the workplace and for migration. Part IV examines a selection of important issues in the field that deserve attention. These include the alignment of language examinations to external frameworks, the increasing use of technology to both deliver and score second language tests, the responsibilities associated with assessing test takers with special needs, the concept of 'voice' in second language assessment, and assessment literacy for teachers and other test and score users.
Download or read book The Routledge Handbook of English Language Teaching written by Graham Hall and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-05-12 with total page 717 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Routledge Handbook of English Language Teaching is the definitive reference volume for postgraduate and advanced undergraduate students of Applied Linguistics, ELT/TESOL, and Language Teacher Education, and for ELT professionals engaged in in-service teacher development and/or undertaking academic study. Progressing from ‘broader’ contextual issues to a ‘narrower’ focus on classrooms and classroom discourse, the volume’s inter-related themes focus on: ELT in the world: contexts and goals planning and organising ELT: curriculum, resources and settings methods and methodology: perspectives and practices second language learning and learners teaching language: knowledge, skills and pedagogy understanding the language classroom. The Handbook’s 39 chapters are written by leading figures in ELT from around the world. Mindful of the diverse pedagogical, institutional and social contexts for ELT, they convincingly present the key issues, areas of debate and dispute, and likely future developments in ELT from an applied linguistics perspective. Throughout the volume, readers are encouraged to develop their own thinking and practice in contextually appropriate ways, assisted by discussion questions and suggestions for further reading that accompany every chapter. Advisory board: Guy Cook, Diane Larsen-Freeman, Amy Tsui, and Steve Walsh
Download or read book Language Assessment Literacy for In Service Teachers written by Giraldo, Frank and published by Ediciones Unisalle. This book was released on 2024-02-08 with total page 184 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the field of language testing, there is a growing interest regarding pedagogical approaches to problematize and foster teachers' Language Assessment Literacy (LAL). Although relevant LAL research studies report on the contents and teaching methodologies of assessment courses, few report on their entire design, implemen- tation, and evaluation stages. In Language Assessment Literacy for In-Service Teachers: Online Course Planning and Implementation, the author describes and discusses a systematic approach to plan, teach, and evaluate an online language assessment course for English language teachers in the coffee region of Colombia. In particular, the book explores the following LAL issues: • A discussion of LAL and teachers' professional development, with an emphasis on proposed pedagogies for fostering LAL. • An empirical approach to drawing these teachers' LAL, designing the online course and accompanying materials, implementing the course, and evaluating it. • Ideas for teaching assessment to language teachers and assessing their LAL. in online environments. • Numerous tasks for teacher educators to problematize their own courses for teachers' LAL. • Sample data collection instruments and pedagogical materials to elicit and activate teachers' LAL. Throughout the book, the author constantly invites teacher educators to analyze his proposed approach, while highlighting the challenges and implications inher ent in the enterprise of developing online courses to cultivate teachers' LAL. In conclusion, this book offers conceptual, pedagogical, and research insights into LAL pedagogies involving in-service language teachers
Download or read book Exploring Language Assessment and Testing written by Anthony Green and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-10-01 with total page 210 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Routledge Introductions to Applied Linguistics is a series of introductory level textbooks covering the core topics in Applied Linguistics, primarily designed for those beginning postgraduate studies, or taking an introductory MA course as well as advanced undergraduates. Titles in the series are also ideal for language professionals returning to academic study. The books take an innovative 'practice to theory' approach, with a 'back-to-front' structure. This leads the reader from real-world problems and issues, through a discussion of intervention and how to engage with these concerns, before finally relating these practical issues to theoretical foundations. Additional features include tasks with commentaries, a glossary of key terms, and an annotated further reading section. Exploring Language Assessment and Testing is a straightforward introduction to the field that provides an inclusive and impartial survey of both classroom based assessment by teachers and larger scale testing, using concrete examples to guide students to the relevant literature. Ranging from theory to classroom based scenarios, the author provides practical guidance on designing, developing and using assessments, with flexible, step by step processes for improving the quality of tests and assessment systems to make them fairer and more accurate. This book is an indispensable introduction to the areas of language assessment and testing, and will be of interest to language teachers as well as postgraduate and advanced undergraduate students studying Language Education, Applied Linguistics and Language Assessment.
Download or read book International Handbook of English Language Teaching written by Jim Cummins and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2007-12-31 with total page 1215 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This two volume handbook provides a comprehensive examination of policy, practice, research and theory related to English Language Teaching in international contexts. More than 70 chapters highlight the research foundation for best practices, frameworks for policy decisions, and areas of consensus and controversy in second language acquisition and pedagogy. The Handbook provides a unique resource for policy makers, educational administrators, and researchers concerned with meeting the increasing demand for effective English language teaching. It offers a strongly socio-cultural view of language learning and teaching. It is comprehensive and global in perspective with a range of fresh new voices in English language teaching research.
Download or read book Language Assessment Literacy and the Professional Development of Pre Service Foreign Language Teachers written by Giraldo, Frank and published by Editorial Universidad de Caldas. This book was released on 2022-07-03 with total page 254 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Language teachers the world over inevitably need to engage in assessing their students’ language ability for various purposes – diagnostic, progress, achievement, etc. Because language assessment is a major task for language teachers, language teaching programs should provide pre-service teachers with opportunities to problematize assessment in the foreign or second language classroom. Educating pre-service teachers for assessment should lead to positive consequences on their in-service work. In this book, the author provides a research-based approach to plan, design, implement, and evaluate a language assessment course for pre-service teachers. The following are some of the central issues addressed in the book: • A conceptualization of Language Assessment Literacy (LAL) –the central construct in the book– and its relationship with language teachers’ professional development. • A theoretically and empirically driven approach for planning and designing a language assessment course. • A hands-on approach to teaching language assessment to pre-service language teachers. • Suggestions for teaching the design of assessments for the four language skills. • Suggestions for language teacher educators to discuss and derive ideas for assessment in their language teaching programs. • Real sample items and tasks for teaching and assessing pre-service teachers’ LAL. The author constantly invites teacher educators to reflect upon the theory, research, and practice presented in the book. In doing so, he encourages these stakeholders to plan and teach language assessment courses that foster the LAL of pre-service teachers’, an overlooked stakeholder group in LAL discussions.
