The IALLT Language Center Evaluation Toolkit: Context, Development, and Usage

In the summer of 2014, a committee composed of members of the International Association for Language Learning Technology (IALLT) began discussions toward accomplishing the following charge: Design a tool that internal evaluation committees can use to evaluate and make recommendations for the improvement of their institution\u27s language center. We emphasize the fact that it is the university appointed evaluation committee that will use this evaluation toolkit, not the language center directors themselves (although the LC Director should have input on how the toolkit should be deployed). Such evaluation committees might be composed of language department Chairs, TA/Language coordinators, Dean or Assistant Deans. We need to keep in mind that those put in charge of evaluation language centers might not know much about language centers in general. (excerpt

Effects of Technology Modes on Ratings of Learner Recordings

While research has investigated the effect of visuals in tests of listeningcomprehension (e.g., Suvorov, 2009; Wagner, 2008, 2010), studentrecordedvideo for oral formative assessment is relatively unexplored.In this study, I examined 15 teachers’ ratings of speech recorded by 39ESL learners to see if teachers assess speech differently depending onwhether it is presented with visuals. The learners recorded 4 speechsamples: 2 with webcams, 2 with microphones only. A third speechcondition was created by removing the video track from the webcamrecordings, resulting in 3 conditions and 6 samples for each individual.The teachers rated all 6 samples. I used repeated-measures ANOVAs todetermine whether the teachers assigned significantly different scoresbased on the speech conditions. The results showed that the teachersrated the audio stripped from the video significantly higher than thevideo/audio recordings (p = .004, d = .38). This suggests that teachersmay be biased in favor of audio-only recordings and that teachersshould not give students an option of making either an audio or videorecording for a given formative assessment. Further analyses examinedhow the students’ and teachers’ preferences for audio-only or videorecordings were related to the ratings

Interview With Dr. Julie Sykes

Dr. Julie Sykes is Assistant Professor of Spanish and Hispanic Linguistics at the University of New Mexico. She delivered a keynote address at the Second Language Studies Symposium titled Digital gamemediated language learning: From ideas to implementation. This interview took place on 2/24/2012. Her website can be found at http://www.unm.edu/~spanport/faculty/sykes/

The accuracy of computer-assisted feedback and students’ responses to it

Various researchers in second language acquisition have argued for the effectiveness of immediate rather than delayed feedback. In writing, truly immediate feedback is impractical, but computer-assisted feedback provides a quick way of providing feedback that also reduces the teacher’s workload. We explored the accuracy of feedback from Criterion®, a program developed by Educational Testing Service, and students’ responses to it. Thirty-two students received feedback from Criterion on four essays throughout a semester, with 16 receiving the feedback immediately and 16 receiving it several days after writing their essays. Results indicated that 75% of the error codes were correct, but that Criterion missed many language errors. Students responded to the correct error codes 73% of the time and responded to more of the codes over the course of the semester, while the condition—delayed versus immediate—did not affect their response rates nor their accuracy on the first drafts. Although we cannot support claims that immediate feedback may be more helpful, we believe that, with proper training, Criterion can help students correct certain aspects of language

ESL Reading Test Development and Analysis

The purpose of this paper is to present an overview of ESL reading test development and analysis in the context of a small-scale ESL classroom. We created 12 multiple-choice items for an ESL reading mid-term exam, administered the test in the Community English Program at Teachers College in fall 2008, and analyzed the test results to evaluate the reliability and validity of the test. We first describe the nature of reading ability by reviewing the literature on second language reading and reading assessment. Based on a widely shared definition of reading ability, we suggest a theoretical construct of reading ability and relevant observable variables. Following Bachman and Palmer (1996), this paper provides practical guidance for language teachers with regard to how to create reading test items and assess the test quality from describing the target language use (TLU) domain and task types, developing a test design statement, generating the blueprint for test operationalization, coding multiple choice items, to conducting item and distractor analyses. Issues revolving around L2 reading test development are further discussed

Interview with Rod Ellis

Professor Rod Ellis is the deputy head of the Department of Applied Language Studies and Linguistics at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. He came to the U.S. as a Professor in the University’s Distinguished Professor visitor program. He stayed in the U.S. for five weeks. He is planning to visit the U.S. again in April 2013 for a week. At Michigan State University, he taught a short course, “Planning and Task-Based Performance,” and gave the PhD students insights into how to do research related to task-based learning/teaching. His research interests include: second language acquisition, individual learner differences, form-focused instruction, teacher education, course design, and methodology of language teaching. He was kind enough to do the interview for the Second Language Studies Working Papers

Review of Talk Time Student Book 2: Everyday English Conversation

Talk Time is an American ESL book for promoting communicative proficiency for beginning to intermediate students. Interactive and communicative activities such as information gap tasks promote the fluency in collaborative activities and task-based language learning. Interactive activities induce pushed output, the negotiation of meaning, and allow students to develop automaticity. Extensive communicative activities help students use grammar rules implicitly. This book is a good source for promoting communicative skills, yet supplementary reading materials could help to activate schema and improve language learning. Additional activities such as pretask activities and cultural content could help make language learning more effective

Effects of Rehearsal on ESL Learners’ Responses to Test Tasks

Second language (L2) testing is often stressful for test takers, especially when they take high-stakes tests such as the TOEFL. On the iBT TOEFL independent speaking questions, for example, test takers are given 15 seconds to prepare to respond to a prompt (Educational Testing Service, 2008) and have only one chance to record their answer, which puts test takers under great pressure. However, the necessity of this stressful situation has not been empirically validated; that is, the effects of giving learners planning opportunities are unclear

Investigating Incidental Vocabulary Learning in Conversation Classes: A Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis

This study examined incidental receptive and productive vocabulary gains within conversation class interactions. Sixteen Mexican learners of English attended four videotaped conversation lessons where 40 target words were incorporated into different types of exposure. Stimulated recall interviews with students highlighted the effect of cognates, learners’ access to passive vocabulary, and use of their vocabulary knowledge in learning related words. Posttests revealed a correlation between frequency of exposure and receptive/productive gains. Mean scores showed that students most often learned task-essential words, followed by words mentioned with synonyms, and last, those mentioned without an explanation. A two-way ANCOVA revealed main effects for cognates, and a statistical interaction between cognate status and types of exposure to target words, and a moderate effect of frequency of mention on receptive knowledge. Results provide implications for ESL teachers who consider incidental learning of vocabulary within their conversation lessons

Differences in English Compliment Responses Between Native English Speakers and Chinese English Learners

This research discusses the compliment responses of Chinese-speaking English learners in the United States by using the conversation analysis methods. I compared the examples collected for this study to Pomerantz’s (1978) data for compliment responses made by native speakers of American English. The participants were sixteen Chinese ESL learners. The primary result was that some compliment responses used by Chinese-speaking English learners were similar to those of native speakers of American English. Most of the time, Chinese-speaking English learners chose to accept the compliments with or without referent shifts. Even though they sometimes chose to disagree with the speaker, they would incorporate other-than-you references in their expressions. Nevertheless, Chinese-speaking English learners used “really?” or “oh really?” as one of their responses, which is quite different from American English