Studying Speaking to Inform Second Language Learning

There seems to be an ever-widening gap between practitioners and researchers: a disconnect that never seems to close. This relationship or perhaps lack of relationship was perhaps no better evidenced than in one of the opening colloquia at TESOL 2004 Long Beach. Panelists included Diane Larsen-Freeman, Patricia Duff, and David Nunan, among others. These researchers have long been active in our field and have held leadership roles in the American Association for Applied Linguistics (AAAL) as well as in TESOL. The panelists addressed the concerns of many TESOLers on the relationship between AAAL and TESOL. Perhaps foremost in everyone’s mind was the fact that AAAL did not hold its 2004 conference in Long Beach, breaking a long tradition in which one conference piggybacked the other. Nor would AAAL hold the 2005 annual conference in San Antonio where TESOL 2005 is to be held. There was some talk among the general TESOL membership that AAAL was breaking off from TESOL. This colloquium was probably intended to allay some of those fears and to forge a continuing alliance between these two professional organizations. However, in some ways the presentations by panelists served to deepen this continuing gap between research and practice, or perhaps just make it more salient. It seems that the focus of TESOL as a conference has become more pedagogical while AAAL continues to foster research in second language acquisition and other areas of applied linguistics. The colloquium was both heartening and discouraging at the same time. It was the opening of a dialogue but the researchers seemed to have more to say than the practitioners. It is clear to me that studies such as those reported on in this present volume of articles answer a crisis in our profession as evidenced at the 2004 opening colloquium

Understanding Language Testing

Understanding Language Testing is a valuable contribution to language teacher education; it addresses the essential facets of language testing needed by language test users, including practitioners, program administrators, and future language test developers, to effectively evaluate and assess the language ability of language learners. The book covers the key considerations in the development and use of language tests today in a succinct yet comprehensive manner. It begins with a quick introduction of what language testing entails, and a discussion of what counts as language ability, the object of measurement in language testing. Douglas also examines the contextual elements of language use necessary to create authentic contextualized tasks that provide for valid and reliable inferences about a test taker’s language ability. After that, he outlines the steps in test development, starting with a needs analysis through which the purpose of the assessment is defined, the targeted population is identified, and the target language use task and language characteristics are clearly described. Douglas then focuses on the development of test tasks. In Chapter 4, he considers alternatives in assessment, including conference and portfolio assessments, self- and peer-assessment, task-based and performance assessments, and finally, dynamic assessment. Chapter 5 presents a mini-course in statistics. The book ends with Chapter 6, in which issues in technology and language testing, technology and task types, and automated scoring, are examined

Teaching in the Silent Way With a Focus on Idioms

This paper is one which in essence summarizes how one teacher is trying to rethink teaching in light of the common sense principles presented in the Silent Way. The focus is teaching idioms because that was our focus in the class which served as a point of departure. However, the paper is not limited to teaching idioms in the classroom. It is more an attempt to outline and thereby understand teaching as it is presented in the Silent Way, as is evidenced by the emphasis on philosophy and techniques used in the Silent Way

Language Development Over the Lifespan

Language Development over the Lifespan, compiled by Kees de Bot and Robert W. Schrauf, is a collection of articles that explore language development—both language acquisition and language attrition—from a lifespan perspective. This volume of articles was, first of all, intended as a reference resource for research on language development and the aging process and as a text for MA courses in applied linguistics/bilingualism programs. More importantly, this book establishes a new and exciting perspective on language acquisition by considering developmental language phenomena, that is, “developmental” changes in language that occur over the span of a lifetime. This volume thus opens up new windows to research language acquisition from a developmental perspective. Language development becomes a function of the interaction of timescales both within the lifespan of the individual and at a larger “biocultural” (i.e., historical) level of language development. Historical events like the adoption of an official language by a government, for example, generate changes in language use at a macro-level, which in turn produce “cohort effects” that affect language development within the individual. A key concept to this lifespan perspective is that language is a dynamic system involving multiple components and subsystems. This book provides a comprehensive overview of the impact of cognitive and psychological factors, as well as social and cultural factors like the role of life events in the dynamic development of language

Understanding Language Testing

Understanding Language Testing is a valuable contribution to language teacher education; it addresses the essential facets of language testing needed by language test users, including practitioners, program administrators, and future language test developers, to effectively evaluate and assess the language ability of language learners. The book covers the key considerations in the development and use of language tests today in a succinct yet comprehensive manner. It begins with a quick introduction of what language testing entails, and a discussion of what counts as language ability, the object of measurement in language testing. Douglas also examines the contextual elements of language use necessary to create authentic contextualized tasks that provide for valid and reliable inferences about a test taker’s language ability. After that, he outlines the steps in test development, starting with a needs analysis through which the purpose of the assessment is defined, the targeted population is identified, and the target language use task and language characteristics are clearly described. Douglas then focuses on the development of test tasks. In Chapter 4, he considers alternatives in assessment, including conference and portfolio assessments, self- and peer-assessment, task-based and performance assessments, and finally, dynamic assessment. Chapter 5 presents a mini-course in statistics. The book ends with Chapter 6, in which issues in technology and language testing, technology and task types, and automated scoring, are examined

Language Development Over the Lifespan

Language Development over the Lifespan, compiled by Kees de Bot and Robert W. Schrauf, is a collection of articles that explore language development—both language acquisition and language attrition—from a lifespan perspective. This volume of articles was, first of all, intended as a reference resource for research on language development and the aging process and as a text for MA courses in applied linguistics/bilingualism programs. More importantly, this book establishes a new and exciting perspective on language acquisition by considering developmental language phenomena, that is, “developmental” changes in language that occur over the span of a lifetime. This volume thus opens up new windows to research language acquisition from a developmental perspective. Language development becomes a function of the interaction of timescales both within the lifespan of the individual and at a larger “biocultural” (i.e., historical) level of language development. Historical events like the adoption of an official language by a government, for example, generate changes in language use at a macro-level, which in turn produce “cohort effects” that affect language development within the individual. A key concept to this lifespan perspective is that language is a dynamic system involving multiple components and subsystems. This book provides a comprehensive overview of the impact of cognitive and psychological factors, as well as social and cultural factors like the role of life events in the dynamic development of language

Looking in the mirror of inquiry: Knowledge in our students and in ourselves

At a large, urban community college located in the Northeastern United States, a group of faculty interested in helping students assume agency in their own learning used the methodology of Collaborative Inquiry (CI) as a way to examine the factors that help or hinder this process. Unexpected was the epistemological shift they underwent as a result of the CI process. The group had hoped to find ways to make students less passive, starting with the question “How do we make students into makers of knowledge?” The CI methodology, however, required the faculty to examine themselves and their own relationship with the process of knowledge-making. Through the inquiry process, which required participants to question their own assumptions, they realized that, even though they considered themselves makers of knowledge within their respective fields, they had approached this knowledge-making process quite passively. The group members thus found themselves involved in a Collaborative Inquiry process that they hadn’t initially fully understood but which required that they become active makers of knowledge. As a result, members rejected many of the assumptions implicit in the original question and began to approach the challenge of teaching and learning more actively, more respectfully, and with more humility. This article offers a narrative of this group’s process, the conclusions they reached, a set of reflections, and considerations that others using the CI process for professional development oriented inquiries may find useful

Determinants of bed net use in children under five and household bed net ownership on Bioko Island, Equatorial Guinea

BACKGROUND: As part of comprehensive malaria control strategies, the Bioko Island Malaria Control Project (BIMCP) distributed 110,000 long-lasting insecticide-treated nets (LLIN) in late 2007 with the aim of providing one net for each sleeping area. Despite attaining initially very high levels of net coverage and net use, many children under five years of age did not sleep under a net by 2009, according to annual malaria indicator surveys. The aim of this study was to assess the determinants of bed net use in children under five and bed net ownership of the households in which they live. METHODS: Using data from annual cross-sectional household surveys of 2008 and 2009, we investigated factors associated with sleeping under a mosquito net the night prior to the survey, and a households owning at least one net, in all households which had at least one child under five years. Amongst others, caregiver's knowledge of malaria and household characteristics including a socio-economic score (SES), based on ownership of household assets, were analysed for their effect on net ownership and use. RESULTS: There was a decline of around 32% in the proportion of households that owned at least one net between 2008 and 2009. Higher household bed net ownership was associated with knowing how malaria was prevented and transmitted, having the house sprayed in the previous 12 months, having fewer children under five in the household, and children being sick at some point in the previous 14 days. Higher bed net use in children < 5 was associated with being sick at some point in the last 14 days prior to the survey, living in an urban area, more years of education of the head of the household, household ownership of at least one ITN (as opposed to an untreated net) and the year in which the survey took place. CONCLUSIONS: The big fall in bed net use from 2008 to 2009 was attributable to the striking decline in ownership. Although ownership was similar in rural and urban areas, rural households were less likely to protect their children with bed nets. Knowledge about malaria was an important determinant of bed net ownership. Further research is needed to elucidate the decline in bed net ownership between 2008 and 2009

The California Welfare Reform Act and Participation in AFDC

In this paper we report results of estimation of the number of families eligible for assistance under the Aid to Families with Dependent Children program in two major California counties in 1970. Our estimates indicate that at the time of the California Welfare Reform Act the pool of eligibles was virtually exhausted. The results confirm the conclusions of earlier work by Barbara Boland; however, that work was flawed by use of incorrect program data and certain methodological problems. The eligibles estimate is shown to be more sensitive to alternative procedures for treatment of earnings than Boland's results indicate. Substantial underreporting of public assistance payments in Census data is found.