Download or read book Testing Academic Language Proficiency written by Marco Mezzadri and published by . This book was released on 2017 with total page 127 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book focuses on the development of the process of teaching and assessing foreign language competence for study purposes in a pluricultural and plurilingual context. It addresses not only the individual who is learning the language for academic purposes (LAP), but also other stakeholders, like teachers, schools and universities, and external boards, such as examination boards for language testing. The book highlights an ongoing research project at the University of Parma, Italy, aimed at developing teaching programs and evaluative tools for language for academic purposes. Starting from a reflection upon the nature of language for study purposes stemming from the tradition of English for Academic Purposes, it describes the model of an LAP test implemented in Italian secondary schools and universities, and shows the findings concerning the performance in the test of both students whose mother tongue is Indo-European and those who speak non-Indo-European languages.
Download or read book Allocating Federal Funds for State Programs for English Language Learners written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2011-06-20 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As the United States continues to be a nation of immigrants and their children, the nation's school systems face increased enrollments of students whose primary language is not English. With the 2001 reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) in the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), the allocation of federal funds for programs to assist these students to be proficient in English became formula-based: 80 percent on the basis of the population of children with limited English proficiency1 and 20 percent on the basis of the population of recently immigrated children and youth. Title III of NCLB directs the U.S. Department of Education to allocate funds on the basis of the more accurate of two allowable data sources: the number of students reported to the federal government by each state education agency or data from the American Community Survey (ACS). The department determined that the ACS estimates are more accurate, and since 2005, those data have been basis for the federal distribution of Title III funds. Subsequently, analyses of the two data sources have raised concerns about that decision, especially because the two allowable data sources would allocate quite different amounts to the states. In addition, while shortcomings were noted in the data provided by the states, the ACS estimates were shown to fluctuate between years, causing concern among the states about the unpredictability and unevenness of program funding. In this context, the U.S. Department of Education commissioned the National Research Council to address the accuracy of the estimates from the two data sources and the factors that influence the estimates. The resulting book also considers means of increasing the accuracy of the data sources or alternative data sources that could be used for allocation purposes.
Download or read book Second Handbook of English Language Teaching written by Xuesong Gao and published by Springer. This book was released on 2019-10-23 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Second Handbook of English Language Teaching provides a comprehensive examination of policy, practice, research and theory related to English language teaching in international contexts. Over 70 chapters focus on the research foundation for best practices, frameworks for policy decisions, and areas of consensus and controversy in second-language acquisition and pedagogy. In countries around the globe, English has become the second language taught most frequently and intensively. In many countries, particularly in Asia, government policies have made English a part of the curriculum from primary school on. Demand for English teaching by parents and adult learners is fueled by the desire to increase economic competitiveness, globalization of the workforce, immigration, and a move toward lifelong learning. Immigration has led to an increased demand for English-language teaching even in countries where English is the dominant language.
Download or read book Language Testing Reconsidered written by Janna D. Fox and published by University of Ottawa Press. This book was released on 2007-06-01 with total page 191 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Language Testing Reconsidered provides a critical update on major issues that have engaged the field of language testing since its inception. Anyone who is working in, studying or teaching language testing should have a copy of this book. The information, discussions, and reflections offered within the volume address major developments within the field over the past decades, enlivened by current "takes" on these issues. The real value of this collection, however, lies in its consideration of the past as a means of defining the future agenda of language testing.
Download or read book The Language Demands of School written by Alison L. Bailey and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2007-01-01 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Language Demands of School is an edited volume describing an extensive empirical base for academic English testing, instruction and professional development. The chapters comprise empirical research by Bailey and colleagues at the National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, Student Testing (CRESST) at UCLA, and invited contributions by practitioners in the fields of language policy, testing and instruction. The central focus of the chapters is the research conducted by CRESST over the last two years in an attempt to document the academic English language demands placed on school-age learners of English. The three additional chapters give the perspectives of a policy-maker at the state level, test developers, and practitioners. The Language Demands of School fills a gap in the current literature by addressing the kind(s) of English required of K-12 English Learner students from an evidence-based perspective. This is timely given the broader context of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, which has prompted school systems to identify English language proficiency tests to meet the federal mandate. One of the problems that has surfaced in the search for English language tests for K-12 English Learner students is the inadequacy of existing research on the development of the academic English language skills that all students—both English Learner and native English-speaking—need to be successful in the school setting. The Language Demands of School is devoted to exploring this topic and to presenting research that illuminates both the questions and the answers.
Download or read book Assessing Academic English written by Alan Davies and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2008-02-21 with total page 472 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The volume offers an explanatory account of the progress of academic language proficiency testing in the UK (and later Australia), from the British Council's English Proficiency Test Battery (EPTB), through the revolutionary English Language Testing Service (ELTS) to the present solution of IELTS. The three stages of academic language testing in the UK over the last 50 years move from grammar through real life to features of language use. At the same time, comparison of predictive validities suggests that all three measures account for very similar shares of the variance (about 10%) and that therefore the choice of an academic language proficiency test is determined only in part by predictive validity: other factors such as test delivery, test renewal in response to fashion, research and impact on stakeholders, and assessment of all four language skills are also important.
Download or read book Testing Academic Language Proficiency written by Marco Mezzadri and published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. This book was released on 2018-01-23 with total page 137 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book focuses on the development of the process of teaching and assessing foreign language competence for study purposes in a pluricultural and plurilingual context. It addresses not only the individual who is learning the language for academic purposes (LAP), but also other stakeholders, like teachers, schools and universities, and external boards, such as examination boards for language testing. The book highlights an ongoing research project at the University of Parma, Italy, aimed at developing teaching programs and evaluative tools for language for academic purposes. Starting from a reflection upon the nature of language for study purposes stemming from the tradition of English for Academic Purposes, it describes the model of an LAP test implemented in Italian secondary schools and universities, and shows the findings concerning the performance in the test of both students whose mother tongue is Indo-European and those who speak non-Indo-European languages.
Download or read book Post admission Language Assessment of University Students written by John Read and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-08-10 with total page 246 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book English Language Proficiency Testing in Asia written by Lily I-Wen Su and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-11-19 with total page 230 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As the demand for English language education grows in Asia, there has been a parallel growth in the development and implementation of standardized tests at the local level. Offering much-needed context on locally produced tests in Asia, contributors examine emerging models for English language assessment and the impact these large-scale tests have on the teaching and learning of English. Chapters address the following well-known and developing high-stakes tests in different regions across Asia: the GEPT, the TEPS, the VSTEP, the CET, the EIKEN and TEAP, and the ELPA. Brought together by world-renowned testing assessment scholar Cyril Weir and the Language Training and Testing Center (LTTC), one of Asia’s leading testing institutions based in Taiwan, this volume is a useful reference for evaluating, developing, and validating local tests of English and their societal impact. Comprehensive and research-based, chapters cover historic backgrounds, sociocultural contexts, test quality, international standing, and future considerations. Ideal for graduate students, researchers, and scholars in language assessment, TESOL/TEFL, and applied linguistics, this book will also be of interest to language teaching professionals, language test developers, and graduate students in Asian studies and international education, intercultural communication, and intercultural studies.
Download or read book Local Language Testing written by Slobodanka Dimova and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-02-20 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book Assessing English Proficiency for University Study written by J. Read and published by Springer. This book was released on 2015-01-27 with total page 156 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book focuses on strategies and procedures for assessing the academic language ability of students entering an English-medium university, so that those with significant needs can have access to opportunities to enhance their language skills.
Download or read book Language Tests at School written by John W. Oller and published by Longman Publishing Group. This book was released on 1979 with total page 516 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Testing for Language Teachers written by Arthur Hughes and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2003 with total page 263 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This second edition remains the most practical guide to testing language. It has a new chapter on testing young learners.
Download or read book Woodcock Johnson IV written by Nancy Mather and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2016-01-26 with total page 617 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Includes online access to new, customizable WJ IV score tables, graphs, and forms for clinicians Woodcock-Johnson IV: Reports, Recommendations, and Strategies offers psychologists, clinicians, and educators an essential resource for preparing and writing psychological and educational reports after administering the Woodcock-Johnson IV. Written by Drs. Nancy Mather and Lynne E. Jaffe, this text enhances comprehension and use of this instrument and its many interpretive features. This book offers helpful information for understanding and using the WJ IV scores, provides tips to facilitate interpretation of test results, and includes sample diagnostic reports of students with various educational needs from kindergarten to the postsecondary level. The book also provides a wide variety of recommendations for cognitive abilities; oral language; and the achievement areas of reading, written language, and mathematics. It also provides guidelines for evaluators and recommendations focused on special populations, such as sensory impairments, autism, English Language Learners, and gifted and twice exceptional students, as well as recommendations for the use of assistive technology. The final section provides descriptions of the academic and behavioral strategies mentioned in the reports and recommendations. The unique access code included with each book allows access to downloadable, easy-to-customize score tables, graphs, and forms. This essential guide Facilitates the use and interpretation of the WJ IV Tests of Cognitive Abilities, Tests of Oral Language, and Tests of Achievement Explains scores and various interpretive features Offers a variety of types of diagnostic reports Provides a wide variety of educational recommendations and evidence-based strategies
Download or read book Frontiers in Language Assessment and Testing written by Vahid Aryadoust and published by Frontiers Media SA. This book was released on 2020-12-30 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This eBook is a collection of articles from a Frontiers Research Topic. Frontiers Research Topics are very popular trademarks of the Frontiers Journals Series: they are collections of at least ten articles, all centered on a particular subject. With their unique mix of varied contributions from Original Research to Review Articles, Frontiers Research Topics unify the most influential researchers, the latest key findings and historical advances in a hot research area! Find out more on how to host your own Frontiers Research Topic or contribute to one as an author by contacting the Frontiers Editorial Office: frontiersin.org/about/contact.
Download or read book The Knowledge Gap written by Natalie Wexler and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2020-08-04 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Essential reading for teachers, education administrators, and policymakers alike.” —STARRED Library Journal The untold story of the root cause of America's education crisis It was only after years within the education reform movement that Natalie Wexler stumbled across a hidden explanation for our country's frustrating lack of progress when it comes to providing every child with a quality education. The problem wasn't one of the usual scapegoats: lazy teachers, shoddy facilities, lack of accountability. It was something no one was talking about: the elementary school curriculum's intense focus on decontextualized reading comprehension "skills" at the expense of actual knowledge. In the tradition of Dale Russakoff's The Prize and Dana Goldstein's The Teacher Wars, Wexler brings together history, research, and compelling characters to pull back the curtain on this fundamental flaw in our education system--one that fellow reformers, journalists, and policymakers have long overlooked, and of which the general public, including many parents, remains unaware. But The Knowledge Gap isn't just a story of what schools have gotten so wrong--it also follows innovative educators who are in the process of shedding their deeply ingrained habits, and describes the rewards that have come along: students who are not only excited to learn but are also acquiring the knowledge and vocabulary that will enable them to succeed. If we truly want to fix our education system and unlock the potential of our neediest children, we have no choice but to pay attention.
Download or read book Language Testing and Assessment written by and published by . This book was released on 19?? with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
