Foreign Language Assessment Research Articles

Cross-cultural Encounters and Foreign Language Learning, Assessment and Reflection: Using Digital Storytelling as an Assessment and Reflective Tool

Cross-cultural Encounters and Foreign Language Learning, Assessment and Reflection: Using Digital Storytelling as an Assessment and Reflective Tool

Perceived—and not manipulated—self-control depletion predicts students’ achievement outcomes in foreign language assessments

In the present study we investigated which role manipulated (i.e., experimentally induced) and perceived (i.e., self-reported) self-control depletion plays in students’ (N = 176 seventh graders) achievement-related experiences and behaviour during a test of English as a foreign language, while controlling for trait self-control. Our successful experimental manipulation of self-control depletion revealed that there were no effects on any of the students’ outcome variables. However, students who reported high self-control depletion immediately after the experimental manipulation were less motivated to work on the subsequent test, reported more distracting thoughts, showed lower performance, and felt more depleted at the end of the test session. Trait self-control turned out to be a protective and supportive factor for most of our outcome variables. Our results provide evidence that the perceived and not the manipulated level of self-control depletion is a predictor of achievement-related behaviour in tests on English as a foreign language.

IS ESP STANDARDIZED ASSESSMENT FEASIBLE?

This paper provides an overview of assessment practice as it relates to English for Specific Purposes (ESP), and which is used in a variety of higher education settings. The notion of benchmarking in ESP standardized assessment is discussed, and assessment standards leading to quality assurance are described. The challenge for educators is to agree on a common assessment framework in view of the ongoing debate on ESP benchmarking and unified assessment criteria (nationally or internationally), which is also compared to CEFR. The author uses case study analysis to focus on student assessment policy and practice in Alberta, Canada, as well as other selected countries. It is significant that, today, a number of ESP assessment models are based only partially on the main foreign language assessment principles. Accordingly, this paper provides an overview of such principles, their descriptors and best practice in ESP assessment. The main aim of the research is therefore to understand current assessment practices as well as to develop a standardized benchmarking for ESP teachers. The paper proposes a model of ESP standardized assessment based on the studied reference, ESP practices used in different countries, as well as standards of assessment in general.

Uma reflexão sobre a competência linguístico-comunicativa e a proficiência do (futuro) professor de língua estrangeira no Brasil

Neste artigo apresento uma discussão sobre a proficiência linguística (PL) em língua estrangeira (LE) de professores de línguas, com ênfase em contextos de formação de professores no Brasil. O foco está na reflexão, a partir de subsídios teóricos e dados de pesquisa, de informações que possibilitem a definição de aspectos da linguagem a serem considerados no estabelecimento de parâmetros dessa proficiência, a qual decorre da competência linguístico-comunicativa desses professores. Busca-se estabelecer, com bases nesses aspectos da linguagem e características da “competência” lingüístico-comunicativa (BACHMAN, 1990; CANALE, 1983; CONSOLO, 2002, entre outros), critérios objetivos para a caracterização dos perfis de PL desses professores, em contextos de ensino de LE no cenário brasileiro. A problemática da “competência lingüístico-comunicativa” de professores de inglês como LE, refletida, por exemplo, nos trabalhos de Consolo (1996, 1999, 2000b, 2002, 2004, 2005a,b) e Teixeira da Silva (2000), é aqui tratada no âmbito de um arcabouço teórico sobre competência lingüística e proficiência em LE (cf. BACHMAN & PALMER, 1996; ELDER, 2001; LLURDA, 2000; SCARAMUCCI, 2000, entre outros). A descrição da PL pode impactar positivamente um construto de domínio de linguagem e de avaliação relevantes para formação e atuação de professores de línguas no contexto brasileiro e em outros contextos.

Approaches to Future Teachers' Professional Training to the Organization of a Foreign Language Assessment at Primary Schools

The problem of professional training of future specialists is one of the most urgent issues in the modern dynamic world. Society needs professionals who would be able to take not only the traditional formulated solutions, but also independent non-standard solutions to professional problems, like in the integral part of their professional training such as the organization of a foreign language assessment at primary schools. In this relationship, the present paper investigated the problem of selecting the most appropriate approaches to future teachers-philologists’ professional training in the sphere of young learners’ achievements testing. The main aim of paper was to analyze and represent the most beneficial approaches for this purpose. In this paper, we realized that the professional training of future philologists should be based on a combination of personality-oriented, communicative, environmental and competence-based approaches, as well as the constructivism idea. The scientific research results may be used in the foreign language teaching methodology as a basis for the students’ training for the assessment organization.

A Diagnostic study on teachers’ beliefs and practices in foreign language assessment

This paper reports the findings of the qualitative diagnostic stage within an action research study whose purpose is to improve the language assessment literacy (LAL) of English teachers at a Colombian language institute. A questionnaire, interviews, and document analyses were used to inquire into beliefs and practices in the design of an achievement test. Findings suggest that these teachers believe tests should have core qualities that are partially mirrored in their practices. The research also highlights that beliefs and practices in test design exhibit a dynamic relationship. Conclusions are based on findings and provide information useful for professional development experiences in LAL.

Turkish EFL Teachers’ Perceptions and Practices of Foreign Language Assessment in Primary Education

The present study aimed to investigate perceptions of EFL teachers working at state primary schools on core language skills, assessment types and question types used in assessing student’s foreign language development and proficiency during an academic year. Data were gathered from 56 EFL teachers working at 42 primary state schools in Turkey through a questionnaire comprising a variety of items to elicit their perceptions and applications of language assessment in the classes of 4th to 6th graders. Results obtained from frequency analyses indicated that the pen-and-paper tests, performance tasks, and in-class observation are the mostly used assessment tools, and that the selected response items are mostly employed question types in the tests, and that performance-based and communication-based assessment types are preferred more frequently than the traditional types in evaluating students’ success in learning EFL.

A New m-Learning Scenario for a Listening Comprehension Assessment Test in Second Language Acquisition [SLA

Computer adaptive language testing offers the possibility to research and practice m-learning using ubiquitous technology. Virtual education in m-learning uses conventional Learning Objects (LO) to enable the possibility of development of several tasks oriented towards language learning including the assessment and verification of skill improvements in second language acquisition. So far, there are few research papers on the impact of using new multimodal digital resources as LO in the design process of foreign language assessment tests through mobile devices because many English certification tests still continue to use traditional testing techniques [face-to-face and pen-and-paper assessments] combined with conventional digital environments oriented to virtual education. Learning languages requires not only new m-learning scenarios for assessment but also multimodal interactive environments to improve the user's experience during proficiency tests or language certification. Multimodal object learning such as augmented environments, learning games, spatial sound, etc. can be integrated into an assessment process to enhance the user´s experience by simulating natural communicative scenarios. The present article defines an innovative new m-learning scenario for listening comprehension assessment in an on-line test by implementing a multimodal audio learning source named binaural sound. Use of this technology will enable demonstration of other possibilities of human interaction to improve the user's experience in language learning through sound perception and its cognition from the user in an especific learning task.

A Comparative Discourse Analysis of Spanish Past Narrations From the ACTFL OPI and OPIc

AbstractThe ACTFL Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI) and accompanying proficiency guidelines have become a mainstay in academic foreign language assessment. In 2006, an asynchronous electronic interface of the OPI was made available in which candidates are asked to record themselves responding to questions delivered aurally via computer, labeled the Oral Proficiency Interview‐computer (OPIc). Thompson, Cox, and Knapp () found that both instruments produced similar results but that many students in their sample who scored at the Advanced Low level on the traditional OPI scored one sublevel higher on the OPIc. The primary objective of the present study is to analyze lexical features, i.e., lexical diversity and lexical density, and discursive features, i.e., temporal and repair fluency, of students’ speech from a subset of OPI and OPIc exams to examine the relationship between the language elicited from each exam type, i.e., face‐to‐face and via computer. The research consists of two studies that focus on candidates who received (1) an Advanced Mid rating on both assessments, and (2) those who received Advanced Mid on the OPIc and Advanced Low on the OPI. While the two exams did not seem to elicit disparate levels of lexical density and diversity, significant differences surfaced in measures of fluency.

Towards new standards in foreign language assessment: learning from bilingual education

ABSTRACTAssessment is one of the most important, purposeful and yet, at times, contentious aspects of language education. Although new strategies of foreign language (FL) assessment have moved away from the traditional summative forms of grammar-based testing to a formative evaluation of learners’ communicative competence in the target language, they are yet to acknowledge the bilingual status of FL learners in their own right. This paper argues in favour of FL assessment moving to evaluate learners’ complete linguistic repertoires and how they engage in bilingual languaging strategies to make meaning, express themselves as whole individuals, and to learn. It begins with an overview of the assessment trends in both FL and bilingual educational contexts, before examining specific elements of the new standards set down by scholars for holistic language assessment in bilingual classrooms that may be of use to the FL classroom.

Foreign Language Assessment: Instructional Considerations for Students with Specific Learning Disabilities

Students with specific learning disabilities (SLDs) continue to be more likely to experience anxiety about learning a foreign language, and possibly less likely to enroll in foreign language courses at all. As schools become more inclusive and more aware of diverse learning needs, it is important to be cognizant of how the individual needs of students with SLDs may relate to classroom instruction and assessment practices. What follows is a discussion of assessment practices, with an emphasis on diagnostic and formative assessment in the context of teaching students with SLDs. Given the prevalence of mobile phones and other devices in contemporary classrooms, a strong emphasis on the role of online polling resources plays a prominent role in this discussion. Specific examples of instructional activities which align with assessments are also provided, as part of a selective literature review intended to connect larger topics in language instruction to the typical needs of students with specific learning disabilities. The perspective of the discussion pertains primarily to students with SLDs in the United States, where the vast majority of foreign language instruction occurs in the middle and secondary grades.

Oral Language Assessment from an Ecolinguistic Perspective. An Empirical Investigation of Symbolic Competence

Abstract Although today's educational environments are to a great extend multilingual, large-scale foreign language examinations test heterogeneous groups with homogeneous examination practices, without taking all ecolinguistic parameters into consideration. Trying to minimize this limitation by calibrating examinations to the sociolinguistic and intercultural competence definitions of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), secures to an extend construct validity. However, the question still arises, if “one test fits all”. This paper focuses on oral foreign language assessment discourses, where discursive coconstruction and social nature of performance prevail. Adopting the ecolinguistic approach (Fill, 1996) the paper investigates the notion of symbolic competence (Kramsch & Whiteside, 2008) in the context of oral language examinations. By analyzing oral data the paper seeks to address, how ecolinguistic parameters concur in examination discourses and to what extend this effects the validity of measurement.

Second and Foreign Language Assessment

This article summarizes some of the main issues, concerns, and debates that have ensued over the years in the field of L2 assessment and shows how past concerns have shaped contemporary L2 assessment research and practice. The article first describes what L2 assessment is and what it entails, arguing that notions of L2 assessment have been broadened over the years to keep pace with contemporary interpretations of how information from assessments in large‐scale or classroom contexts is used to make decisions. It then describes in some detail four approaches to construct definition, showing how these approaches have influenced what gets assessed. Finally, the paper discusses a range of other topics of current and future importance for L2 assessment theory, research, and practice.

Blogs as a learning and assessment instrument for English-speaking performance

The study investigated the usefulness of blogs in evaluating English-as-a-Foreign-Language learners' oral performance and explored their reactions toward using blogs as a learning and assessment tool for English-speaking performance. Fifty-one college students participated in a semester-long blog project, and each uploaded five audio entries to their individual blogs. The results indicated that the scores on the speaking blogs served as a significant predictor of students' oral presentation performance. Moreover, more than half of the participants considered their blogging experience positive. Close to half believed that the speaking blog constituted a good tool to showcase their learning process and help them reflect on their learning progress in the blog-based environment. However, only a few welcomed the idea of employing blogs as an assessment tool, while most still preferred the more conventional assessment methods, such as on-site speeches and presentations. These results carry pedagogical implications for foreign language instruction and assessment.

Diagnostic assessment of reading and listening in a second or foreign language: Elaborating on diagnostic principles

Alderson, Brunfaut and Harding (2014) recently investigated how diagnosis is practised across a range of professions in order to develop a tentative framework for a theory of diagnosis in second or foreign language (SFL) assessment. In articulating this framework, a set of five broad principles were proposed, encompassing the entire enterprise of diagnostic assessment. However, there remain questions about how best to implement these principles in practice, particularly in identifying learners’ strengths and weaknesses in the less well-documented areas of SFL reading and listening. In this paper, we elaborate on the set of principles by first outlining the stages of a diagnostic process built on these principles, and then discussing the implications of this process for the diagnostic assessment of reading and listening. In doing so, we will not only elaborate on the theory of diagnosis with respect to its application in the assessment of these skills, but also discuss the ways in which each construct might be defined and operationalized for diagnostic purposes.

Towards a Theory of Diagnosis in Second and Foreign Language Assessment: Insights from Professional Practice Across Diverse Fields

Diagnostic language assessment has received increased research interest in recent years, with particular attention on methods through which diagnostic information can be gleaned from standardized proficiency tests. However, diagnostic procedures in the broader sense have been inadequately theorized to date, with the result that there is still little agreement on precisely what diagnosis in second and foreign language learning actually entails. In order to address this problem, this article investigated how diagnosis is theorized and carried out in a diverse range of professions with a view to finding commonalities that can be applied to the context of language assessment. Ten semi-structured interviews were conducted with professionals from the fields of car mechanics, IT systems support, medicine, psychology and education. Data were then coded, yielding five macro-categories that fit the entire data set: (i) definitions of diagnosis, (ii) means of diagnosis, (iii) key players, (iv) diagnostic procedures, (v) treatment/follow-up. Based on findings within these categories, a set of five tentative principles of diagnostic language assessment is drawn-up, as well as a list of implications for future research.

Setting Standards for English Foreign Language Assessment: Methodology, Validation, and a Degree of Arbitrariness

Cut‐scores were set by expert judges on assessments of reading and listening comprehension of English as a foreign language (EFL), using the bookmark standard‐setting method to differentiate proficiency levels defined by the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR). Assessments contained stratified item samples drawn from extensive item pools, calibrated using Rasch models on the basis of examinee responses of a German nationwide assessment of secondary school language performance. The results suggest significant effects of item sampling strategies for the bookmark method on cut‐score recommendations, as well as significant cut‐score judgment revision over cut‐score placement rounds. Results are discussed within a framework of establishing validity evidence supporting cut‐score recommendations using the widely employed bookmark method.

Contextualizing EFL argumentation writing practices within the Common European Framework descriptors

As English-taught programs are substantially increasing in European higher education and many post-graduate and some undergraduate degrees now require the completion of a final paper for graduation, writing has become a major factor in English as a foreign language (EFL) assessment. One of the most frequently used assessment scales are the broad descriptors outlined in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR, Council of Europe, 2001). The purpose of the research reported in this article was to test the effectiveness of adaptations made to the CEFR descriptors for the teaching and learning of argumentative texts in the English Department I at the Complutense University in Madrid, Spain. This 3-year project involved analysis of texts from 2 different one-semester second-year classes of Academic Reading and Writing (CEFR level B2; IELTS 5.5–6.5; TOEFL iBT 87–109), with approximately 50 EFL students per class. From the CEFR B2-level writing descriptors, the research team drew up more specific descriptors to operationalize and assess the use of distinctive structural (constructing well-organized and coherent texts) and rhetorical features (construing interpersonal meaning). The aim of the project was two-fold: (1) to raise student awareness of the dialogic nature of academic discourse (improved meaning making) and (2) to prepare a syllabus to provide both teachers and students with more precise guidelines regarding the expectations for language use (improved teaching and learning strategies). The study shows how university English Departments might implement scaffolding strategies that will allow the student authors to discover points of argument through their sources in order to map out for the reader an articulated series of statements intended to establish a position.

Practical Design and Implementation Considerations of a Computer Adaptive Foreign Language Test

While the psychometric and statistical models underlying the design of computer adaptive tests (CAT) are well understood, relatively few working models exist for the purpose of foreign language assessment. Likewise, little has been published concerning the practical considerations affecting the implementation of such tests. in the process of constructing the Monash/Melbourne French CAT, we discovered much about putting testing theory into practice. The present paper reports this experience in three parts. In a preliminary section, we describe the academic context in which the French CAT was created and trialed. This is followed by a detailed consideration of the test presentation platform and operating algorithms. Lastly, we give an evaluation of the first administration of the French CAT, accompanied by a discussion of the test's reliability and validity as a placement instrument for first year Australian university students.

Foreign Language Assessment and Training in U.S. Medical Education Is a Must

Foreign Language Assessment and Training in U.S. Medical Education Is a Must