Download or read book The Construct of Language Proficiency written by Ludo Verhoeven and published by John Benjamins Publishing. This book was released on 1992-01-01 with total page 221 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This books aims to open up new perspectives in the study of language proficiency by bringing together current research from different fields in psychology and linguistics. All contributions start out from empirical studies, which are then related to applications in language assessment. The book also serves as a survey of recent developments in psycholinguistic research in the Netherlands. The book starts out with a thorough introduction of international literature on models of language proficiency, language development and its assessment. Section 1 deals with first language proficiency and addresses such problems as grammar in early child language, grammatical proficiency and its (in)variance across a range of ages, reading abilities, and writing skills. Section 2 focuses on multilingual proficiency and deals with test bias in relation to the background of the second language learner, bilingual proficiency in ethnic minority children, the development of the second language learner lexicon, communicative competence of school-age children in the context of second language learning, the assessment of foreign language attrition and the dimensionality in oral foreign language proficiency.
Download or read book A Principled Approach to Language Assessment written by National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2020-09-19 with total page 113 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The United States is formally represented around the world by approximately 14,000 Foreign Service officers and other personnel in the U.S. Department of State. Roughly one-third of them are required to be proficient in the local languages of the countries to which they are posted. To achieve this language proficiency for its staff, the State Department's Foreign Service Institute (FSI) provides intensive language instruction and assesses the proficiency of personnel before they are posted to a foreign country. The requirement for language proficiency is established in law and is incorporated in personnel decisions related to job placement, promotion, retention, and pay. A Principled Approach to Language Assessment: Considerations for the U.S. Foreign Service Institute evaluates the different approaches that exist to assess foreign language proficiency that FSI could potentially use. This report considers the key assessment approaches in the research literature that are appropriate for language testing, including, but not limited to, assessments that use task-based or performance-based approaches, adaptive online test administration, and portfolios.
Download or read book The Construct of Language Proficiency written by Ludo Verhoeven and published by John Benjamins Publishing. This book was released on 1992-10-29 with total page 222 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This books aims to open up new perspectives in the study of language proficiency by bringing together current research from different fields in psychology and linguistics. All contributions start out from empirical studies, which are then related to applications in language assessment. The book also serves as a survey of recent developments in psycholinguistic research in the Netherlands. The book starts out with a thorough introduction of international literature on models of language proficiency, language development and its assessment. Section 1 deals with first language proficiency and addresses such problems as grammar in early child language, grammatical proficiency and its (in)variance across a range of ages, reading abilities, and writing skills. Section 2 focuses on multilingual proficiency and deals with test bias in relation to the background of the second language learner, bilingual proficiency in ethnic minority children, the development of the second language learner lexicon, communicative competence of school-age children in the context of second language learning, the assessment of foreign language attrition and the dimensionality in oral foreign language proficiency.
Download or read book Language Dominance in Bilinguals written by Jeanine Treffers-Daller and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2016 with total page 315 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With contributions from an international team of leading experts, this volume offers new ways to explore and measure language dominance.
Download or read book Language Proficiency in Native and Non native Speakers written by Jan H. Hulstijn and published by John Benjamins Publishing Company. This book was released on 2015-02-15 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book, written for both seasoned and novice researchers, presents a theory of what is called Basic and Higher Language Cognition (BLC and HLC), a theory aimed at making some fundamental issues concerning first and second language learning and bilingualism (more) empirical. The first part of the book provides background for and explication of the theory as well as an agenda for future research, while the second part reports on selected studies of language proficiency in native speakers, as well as non-native speakers, and studies of the relationship between literacy in a first and second language. Conceptual and methodological problems in measuring language proficiency in research on second language acquisition and bilingualism are also discussed. Further, the notion of levels of language proficiency, as rendered by the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), is critically examined, suggesting ways of empirically investigating a number of questions that the CEFR raises but is not capable of answering.
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 Construct of Language Proficiency written by Ludo Verhoeven and published by . This book was released on 1992 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Assessing English Language Proficiency in U S K 12 Schools written by Mikyung Kim Wolf and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-05-31 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Assessing English Language Proficiency in U.S. K–12 Schools offers comprehensive background information about the generation of standards-based, English language proficiency (ELP) assessments used in U.S. K–12 school settings. The chapters in this book address a variety of key issues involved in the development and use of those assessments: defining an ELP construct driven by new academic content and ELP standards, using technology for K–12 ELP assessments, addressing the needs of various English learner (EL) students taking the assessments, connecting assessment with teaching and learning, and substantiating validity claims. Each chapter also contains suggestions for future research that will contribute to the next generation of K–12 ELP assessments and improve policies and practices in the use of the assessments. This book is intended to be a useful resource for researchers, graduate students, test developers, practitioners, and policymakers who are interested in learning more about large-scale, standards-based ELP assessments for K–12 EL students.
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 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 Measuring L2 Proficiency written by Pascale Leclercq and published by Multilingual Matters. This book was released on 2014-06-23 with total page 245 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume brings together concrete ideas on identifying and measuring second language (L2) proficiency from different branches of SLA. The chapters introduce a range of tools for the evaluation of learners' language level with respect to both productive and receptive skills and provide a variety of answers to the question of how to assess L2 proficiency in a valid, reliable and practical manner.
Download or read book The Development of a Common Framework Scale of Language Proficiency written by Brian North and published by Peter Lang Incorporated, International Academic Publishers. This book was released on 2000 with total page 488 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Scales describing language proficiency in a series of levels can provide orientation for educational programmes, criteria for assessment, and reporting to stakeholders. However, in most cases such instruments are produced just by expert opinion. A scale of language proficiency actually implies a descriptive scheme related to theory but usable by practitioners. It also implies a methodology for scaling content to different levels. This book describes the use of both qualitative and quantitative techniques to develop scales for the «Common Reference Levels» in the Common European Framework of Reference for modern languages. Short stand-alone descriptors were (i) developed and classified, (ii) refined and elaborated in workshops, and then (iii) scaled by analyzing the judgments of one hundred teachers on the English language proficiency of the learners in their classes.
Download or read book Diagnosing Foreign Language Proficiency written by J. Charles Alderson and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 2006-11-01 with total page 297 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book addresses the need for tests that can diagnose the strengths and weaknesses in learners' developing foreign language proficiency. It presents the rationale for, and research surrounding, the development of DIALANG, a suite of internet-delivered diagnostic foreign language tests funded by the European Commission. The word 'diagnosis' is common in discussions in language education and applied linguistics, but very few truly diagnostic tests exist. However, the diagnosis of foreign language proficiency is central to helping learners make progress. This volume explores the nature of diagnostic testing, emphasizing the need for a better understanding of the nature of appropriate diagnosis. The book starts with a debate about how diagnostic testing might most appropriately be developed. Charles Alderson argues that the field has neglected to construct diagnostic tests, partly because other forms of testing have dominated the field. Alderson examines how proficiency has been diagnosed in the key areas of language: reading, listening, writing, grammar and vocabulary. The value of self-assessment is discussed and exemplified as a key component in developing learners', and teachers', awareness of the complexity of language learning. The book ends with a consideration of and recommendations for future developments in the diagnosis of foreign language proficiency.
Download or read book Assessing English for Professional Purposes written by Ute Knoch and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-09-10 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ** WINNER OF ILTA/SAGE Best Book Award 2020 ** Assessing English for Professional Purposes provides a state-of-the-art account of the various kinds of language assessments used to determine people’s abilities to function linguistically in the workplace. At a time when professional expertise is increasingly mobile and diverse, with highly trained professionals migrating across national boundaries to apply their skills in English-speaking settings, this book offers a renewed agenda for inquiry into language assessments for professional purposes (LAPP). Many of these experts work in high-risk environments where communication breakdowns can have serious consequences. This risk has been identified by governments and professional bodies, who implement language tests for gate-keeping purposes. Through a sociological lens of risk and responsibility, this book: provides a detailed overview of both foundational and recent literature in the field; offers conceptual tools for specific purpose assessment, including a socially oriented theory of construct; develops theory and practice in key areas, such as needs analysis, test development, validation and policy; significantly broadens the scope of the assessment of English for professional purposes to include a range of assessment practices for both professionals and laypeople in professional settings. Assessing English for Professional Purposes is key reading for researchers, graduate students and practitioners working in the area of English for Specific Purposes assessment.
Download or read book Another Generation of Fundamental Considerations in Language Assessment written by Gary J. Ockey and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2020-11-23 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This edited book is a collection of papers, written by language assessment professionals to reflect the guidance of Professor Lyle F. Bachman, one of the leading second language assessment experts in the field for decades. It has three sub-themes: assessment of evolving language ability constructs, validity and validation of language assessments, and understanding internal structures of language assessments. It provides theoretical guidelines for practical language assessment challenges. Chapters are written by language assessment researchers who graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles, where Professor Bachman trained them including the book editors.
Download or read book English Language Proficiency Assessments for Young Learners written by Mikyung Kim Wolf and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-05-25 with total page 330 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: English Language Proficiency Assessments for Young Learners provides both theoretical and empirical information about assessing the English language proficiency of young learners. Using large-scale standardized English language proficiency assessments developed for international or U.S. contexts as concrete examples, this volume illustrates rigorous processes of developing and validating assessments with considerations of young learners’ unique characteristics. In this volume, young learners are defined as school-age children from approximately 5 to 13 years old, learning English as a foreign language (EFL) or a second language (ESL). This volume also discusses innovative ways to assess young learners’ English language abilities based on empirical studies, with each chapter offering stimulating ideas for future research and development work to improve English language assessment practices with young learners. English Language Proficiency Assessments for Young Learners is a useful resource for students, test developers, educators, and researchers in the area of language testing and assessment.
Download or read book Bilingual Education and Social Change written by Rebecca Diane Freeman and published by Multilingual Matters. This book was released on 1998 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A general introduction to bilingualism, bilingual education, and minority education in the United States, and an ethnographic/discourse analytic study of how one successful dual-language programme challenges mainstream US educational progammes that discriminate against minority students and the languages they speak. Implications for research practice and practice in other school and community contexts are emphasized.
