Improving Testing for English Language Learners

Improving Testing for English Language Learners is a comprehensive book that provides relevant information on testing English language learners (ELLs) from kindergarten through twelfth grade in schools in the United States. The author, Rebecca J. Kopriva, blends her research background and experience with current issues surrounding the testing of ELLs. In selected chapters, she also collaborates with other leading researchers to provide more precise information on the topics covered. Specifically, this book examines test use by focusing on the interaction of the test-taker and content tests, rather than on language proficiency assessments. Kopriva currently works for the Wisconsin Center for Education Research at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, as a visiting researcher. She has also served as a testing director for various states as well as the U.S. Department of Education. This book, in fact, can be viewed as an extension of her previous research. She explains in the preface and chapter 1 that this book is not necessarily meant to be read cover to cover. Rather, each chapter stands alone as a reference on a particular topic. If the reader needs more background on ELLs, he or she can begin with the first chapters. However, if the reader already has established background knowledge, s/he can refer to those chapters which address his or her particular needs or interests

Improving Testing for English Language Learners

Improving Testing for English Language Learners is a comprehensive book that provides relevant information on testing English language learners (ELLs) from kindergarten through twelfth grade in schools in the United States. The author, Rebecca J. Kopriva, blends her research background and experience with current issues surrounding the testing of ELLs. In selected chapters, she also collaborates with other leading researchers to provide more precise information on the topics covered. Specifically, this book examines test use by focusing on the interaction of the test-taker and content tests, rather than on language proficiency assessments. Kopriva currently works for the Wisconsin Center for Education Research at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, as a visiting researcher. She has also served as a testing director for various states as well as the U.S. Department of Education. This book, in fact, can be viewed as an extension of her previous research. She explains in the preface and chapter 1 that this book is not necessarily meant to be read cover to cover. Rather, each chapter stands alone as a reference on a particular topic. If the reader needs more background on ELLs, he or she can begin with the first chapters. However, if the reader already has established background knowledge, s/he can refer to those chapters which address his or her particular needs or interests

Narrative self-constructions of Senator Ralph Yarborough in the 1967 Congressional Hearings on the Bilingual Education Act

The Bilingual Education Act of 1968 served as an important initiative in meeting some of linguistic needs of language minority students. This piece of legislation has been studied in terms of its content, interpretation and implementation. However, there is little research to explain how it was developed and passed into law and who played an important role in creating and supporting this bill. This paper uses political and linguistic anthropological discourse analytic methods to examine the narrative self-constructions of the co-author and chief sponsor of the bill, Senator Ralph Yarborough. After providing background on the socio-political climate oc¬curring during these hearings, I address two separate research questions. First, I examine how Senator Yarborough constructed spaces where he in¬troduced his self-construction narratives. Then, I analyze the self-construc¬tion narratives in which he presented himself in three distinct roles: edu-cator, traveler and younger self. These narratives within the context of the congressional hearings have created a paradox of power and self-depreca¬tion that characterizes Senator Yarborough’s self-construction narratives

A Review of “Inclusive pedagogy for English language learners: a handbook of research-informed practices”

This article is a review of the book “Inclusive pedagogy for English language learners: a handbook of research-informed practices” edited by L.S. Verplaetse and N. Migliacci

Improving Testing for English Language Learners by Rebecca J. Kopriva

This article is a review of the book “Improving Testing for English Language Learners” by Rebecca J. Kopriva

Dynamic Bilingualism as the Norm: Envisioning a Heteroglossic Approach to Standards-Based Reform

Standards-based reforms in many Anglophone nations have been informed by monoglossic language ideologies that marginalize the dynamic bilingualism of emergent bilinguals. Recent developments in applied linguistics that advocate for heteroglossic language ideologies offer an alternative for standards-based reform. This article argues that standards-based reform initiatives will not be able to address the needs of emergent bilingual students unless they create ideological spaces that move away from monoglossic language ideologies toward heteroglossic language ideologies and implementational spaces that provide concrete tools for enacting this vision in the classroom. With a particular focus on the Common Core State Standards in the U.S. context, the article develops a vision for standards-based reform that begins to affirm and build on the dynamic bilingualism of emergent bilingual students. Specifically, the article explores two classrooms and the New York State Bilingual Common Core Initiative as starting points for theorizing how to develop ideological and implementational spaces that infuse heteroglossic language ideologies into standards-based reform initiatives while also emphasizing the role of monoglossic approaches to assessments in ultimately undermining the attempts that are currently being made

A Critical Investigation of Test Use: Language Testing, the Social Dimension

This article is a review of the book “Language Testing: The Social Dimension” by Tim MacNamara and Carsten Roever

Critical Issues Surrounding Test Accommodations: A Language Planning and Policy Perspective

Testing has become a central concern for educators concerned with English language learners (ELLs) in U.S. public schools. The development of the policies and practices surrounding the use of test accommodations, or changes to the test response, administration, or test itself (Abedi, 2008), for this population have been and continue to be influenced by multiple complicating forces. These factors include but are not exclusively restricted to language and testing policies, national educational policy and discourses in addition to students with disabilities research and policy. This paper, therefore, aims to identify and clarify some critical issues that surround the practice of test accommodations for ELLs as seen through a language planning and policy lens. This approach of framing test accommodations as a form of language policy brings into relief the myriad of language-specific factors, such as framing language diversity from a deficit perspective, that surround testing accommodations