State of the art review : language testing and assessment (part two).

In Part 1 of this two-part review article (Alderson & Banerjee, 2001), we first addressed issues of washback, ethics, politics and standards. After a discussion of trends in testing on a national level and in testing for specific purposes, we surveyed developments in computer-based testing and then finally examined self-assessment, alternative assessment and the assessment of young learners. In this second part, we begin by discussing recent theories of construct validity and the theories of language use that help define the constructs that we wish to measure through language tests. The main sections of the second part concentrate on summarising recent research into the constructs themselves, in turn addressing reading, listening, grammatical and lexical abilities, speaking and writing. Finally we discuss a number of outstanding issues in the field

Developing Better Non-English Materials: Understanding the Limits of Translation

Presents lessons learned from demonstration sites on the challenges of providing non-English material for patients with limited English proficiency, including misconceptions about translation and lack of effective evaluation methods. Recommends solutions

Community Service-Learning Translations in a Legal Spanish Course

There is growing interest in including service-learning courses in higher education, and abundant literature exists on this subject. Less researched is binomial service learning, specifically related to civic learning and legal translation. Studies on the goals of combining foreign language instruction with civic participation in the Hispanic community through translation have revealed very positive outcomes. This paper presents two different community-related translation activities in a Spanish course for specific purposes (specifically, Legal Spanish), and the corresponding students’ reflections. One is related to El Salvador and to asylum and refugee claims in the US, while the other is linked to a Health Center in Trenton, NJ. The conclusion summarizes the results and evaluates their significance in the context of community-learning service and their success in bringing students closer to a reality that is far beyond their context, while critically thinking about justice-related issues

Assessing the effect of topic interest on two measures of incidental vocabulary learning : can dictionary look-up behavior be a factor?

Tesis (Profesor de Inglés para la Enseñanza Básica y Media y al grado académico de Licenciado en Educación)Throughout the years, several studies have been conducted in order to analyze the effect of topic interest on incidental vocabulary learning. It has been stated that being interested in a topic is a mental resource that enhances learning, which then leads to better performance and achievement (Hidi, 1990). This type of interest has been classified as individual, situational and topic interest (Renninger, Hidi and Krapp, 1992; Schiefele, 1999; Hidi, 1990; Ainley, Hidi and Berndorff, 2002). In order to provide more insights regarding topic interest and incidental vocabulary learning, the purpose of the present study is to explore the effect of topic interest on incidental vocabulary learning in two topic interest conditions, high and low, as well as the effect of topic interest on dictionary look-up behavior. For this purpose, a quantitative study was conducted. The study was divided into two main sessions, and the participants were 23 intermediate level students at a private university in Santiago. These participants were asked to read two texts with topics previously identified by them as having high and low topic interest. Twenty target words in the texts were selected in order to assess vocabulary depth and quantitative gains in both conditions, by means of a vocabulary knowledge scale (Paribakht & Wesche, 1993, 1996) and a passive recognition (Laufer & Goldstein, 2004) respectively. Results suggest that topic interest had a significant effect on the incidental vocabulary learning achieved by the participants in terms of vocabulary depth, and also in terms of quantitative gains. In addition, when dictionary look-up behavior was taken into account, vocabulary gains were kept. Discussion of the results, conclusions and implications for pedagogy are presented in the corresponding chapters.A través de los años, se han realizado diferentes estudios con el fin de analizar el efecto de interés de tópico en el aprendizaje incidental de vocabulario. Se ha dicho que estar interesado en un tema realza el aprendizaje, lo cual conduce a un mejor desempeño académico (Hidi, 1990). Este tipo de interés ha sido clasificado como interés de tópico, situacional e individual (Renninger, Hidi and Krapp, 1992; Schiefele, 1999; Hidi, 1990; Ainley, Hidi and Berndorff, 2002). A fin de proporcionar más información con respecto al interés de tópico y al comportamiento de búsqueda en un diccionario, el propósito de este estudio es explorar el efecto del interés de tópico en el aprendizaje incidental de vocabulario en dos condiciones (Alta y Baja), así como también el efecto del interés de tópico en el comportamiento de búsqueda en un diccionario. Para conseguir dicho propósito, se realizó un estudio cuantitativo. El estudio se dividió principalmente en dos sesiones, y los participantes fueron 23 estudiantes de una Universidad privada de Santiago con un nivel de Inglés intermedio. Dichos participantes tuvieron que leer dos textos que habían sido identificados por ellos previamente como el más y menos interesante. Veinte palabras fueron seleccionadas de los textos con el fin de evaluar el progreso en la profundidad del vocabulario y ganancias cuantitativas de vocabulario en las dos condiciones, por medio de una escala de conocimiento de vocabulario (Paribakht & Wesche, 1993, 1996), y una prueba de reconocimiento pasivo (Laufer & Goldstein, 2004) respectivamente. Los resultados indican que el interés de tópico tuvo un efecto significativo en el aprendizaje incidental de vocabulario logrado por los participantes en relación al progreso en la profundidad del vocabulario, y en relación a las ganancias cuantitativas de vocabulario. Además, cuando el comportamiento de búsqueda en el diccionario es tomado en cuenta, las ganancias cuantitativas de vocabulario se mantienen. La discusión de los resultados, conclusiones e implicancias para la pedagogía están presentadas en sus capítulos correspondiente

DESIGNING WRITING TEST

Language testing is a field of study related to the assessment of one's proficiency in the mastery of language that includes 4 (four) basic competencies such as listening, speaking, reading, and writing. The assessment toward the four basic competencies of language will determine the level of one’s ability to master a specific language. Writing is one of the language skills that have been considered as necessary in proficiency language testing. In designing a writing task, one needs to carry out three steps, namely: defining the task, exploring the expectations for the task, and providing support and explanatory materials

#Socialtagging: Defining its Role in the Academic Library

The information environment is rapidly changing, affecting the ways in which information is organized and accessed. User needs and expectations have also changed due to the overwhelming influence of Web 2.0 tools. Conventional information systems no longer support evolving user needs. Based on current research, we explore a method that integrates the structure of controlled languages with the flexibility and adaptability of social tagging. This article discusses the current research and usage of social tagging and Web 2.0 applications within the academic library. Types of tags, the semiotics of tagging and its influence on indexing are covered