Language for Specific Purposes Testing: A Historical Review

Language for specific purposes (LSP) has a long history in the language testing literature. An outgrowth of the communicative language movement of the 1970s, LSP testing arose out of the practical need to assess individuals’ abilities to perform specific tasks in academic and professional settings. This historical review traces the evolution of LSP testing in the language testing literature, focusing specifically on theory and research in two key areas: (a) authenticity and (b) the interaction between language knowledge and background knowledge. The review then turns to how Douglas (2000), in the most comprehensive treatment of LSP testing to date, incorporates insights from these two lines of work into his conceptualization. Throughout the review, tensions and debates emerging from the literature are discussed. The final section addresses the uncertain future of LSP in the language testing landscape

What the "periphery" can teach the "core" in the education of multilingual learners

The contributors to this special issue make a compelling case for paying greater attention to multilingual learners (MLs) in "peripheral" (i.e., beyond the "core") educational settings, including in art, drama, museum, career and technical, and world language education. In this commentary, I build on and extend their argument by proposing that a focus on the periphery has the potential not only to shine a light on settings that have received less attention in research to date, but also to help rethink the education of MLs more broadly. Specifically, lessons from the periphery about what makes learning deep for MLs could offer a fresh perspective on core content areas, such as science, mathematics, language arts, and social studies, that have been somewhat resistant to change in their purposes and structures over time. Grounded in contemporary theoretical perspectives in language education, I propose four lessons that the periphery could teach the core in the education of MLs: (a) establishing authentic purposes and audiences, (b) creating communities of practice, (c) cultivating learners' identities, and (d) promoting multiple modalities of expression. Ultimately, this commentary seeks to initiate a dialogue between educators in the periphery and those in the core toward developing a collective vision of what it might look like to provide MLs with the deep, personally meaningful, and equitable school experiences they deserve

The Complex Terrain of Equity for Multilingual Learners in K-12 Education

The field of multilingual learner education has become increasingly complex, with longstanding efforts focused on promoting access to multilingual learners being criticized for failing to transform systems responsible for these students' marginalization. This essay brings clarity to the complex terrain of equity for multilingual learners in K-12 education by highlighting how conceptions of equity as access and as transformation underpin vexing issues in the field related to (a) how learners are categorized, (b) what is being learned, and (c) what instructional arrangements facilitate learning. The essay closes by proposing ways forward across research, policy, and practice toward shaping a field that is mutually engaged yet productively diverse as well as better positioned to foster interdisciplinary dialogue with other fields

Assessment of English Learners and Their Peers in the Content Areas: Expanding What "Counts" as Evidence of Content Learning

In this article, I argue for expanding what "counts" as evidence of content learning in the assessment of English learners (ELs) and their peers in the content areas. ELs bring expansive meaning-making resources to content classrooms that are valuable assets for meeting the ambitious learning goals of the latest K-12 education reform. Traditionally, however, the assessment of ELs in the content areas (e.g., science, language arts) has been pursued in restrictive ways, with a narrow focus on demonstrating learning through the written language modality and independent performance. This disconnect between the expansive meaning-making resources of ELs and the restrictive nature of content assessments limits ELs' opportunities to demonstrate what they know and can do and ultimately serves to perpetuate the deficit views of these students. I begin by providing contextual background on classroom assessment aligned to the latest standards in U.S. K-12 education. Then, I present two studies that illustrate two different expansive assessment approaches with ELs in elementary science: (a) multimodal assessment and (b) dynamic assessment. Finally, I highlight synergies of these studies with related research efforts across diverse contexts, toward the goal of developing a collective vision of expansive assessment that leverages ELs' expansive ways of making meaning

English language proficiency standards aligned with content standards: How the Next Generation Science Standards and WIDA 2020 reflect each other

Abstract The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) provide a vision for contemporary science education with all students, including the fast‐growing population of multilingual learners in the United States K‐12 context. The shifts heralded by the NGSS have resulted in significant changes to English language proficiency (ELP) or English language development (ELD) standards so they better align with content standards and support all students, including multilingual learners, to engage in language‐rich disciplinary practices (e.g., arguing from evidence). The purpose of this article is to describe ELP/ELD standards aligned with content standards. Specifically, we describe how the policy initiatives of the NGSS as science standards and WIDA 2020 as ELP/ELD standards reflect each other in terms of conceptual foundations and architecture of the standards guiding classroom practices. By becoming more explicitly aware of how science standards and language standards present “mirror images” of each other, science educators will be better positioned to collaborate with their language education colleagues. As this article is intended to engage science educators who are generally familiar with the NGSS but likely new to ELP/ELD standards, we describe WIDA 2020 in detail and in ways accessible to a broad audience. In doing so, we aim to ensure the science education and language education communities are coordinated in their efforts to promote equitable science learning for all students, including multilingual learners. We close with implications for research, policy, and practice through collaboration between science education (as well as other content areas) and language education