This book reports on a two-part study: the validation of a test of spoken English for Norwegian secondary school pupils and the corpus-based investigation of the role played by 'smallwords', such as 'well', 'sort of', and 'you know', in bringing about fluency. The first study builds on the Messickian six central aspects of construct validity to produce a practical framework for test validation. It identifies potential sources of invalidity in the test being examined particularly relating to 'fluency'. The second study sets about to explore the concept of fluency, and to expose the extent to which it is acknowledged in the literature to be associated with smallwords, albeit under other names. The findings from the corpus study are drawn on to propose new elements to include in descriptors of fluency, and the implications of the study for classroom practices are discussed.
The 'thing' that is supposed to be tested in the EVA speaking test is 14–15-year-
old Norwegian students' communicative language ability ( CLA) in English
spoken interaction. Prior to developing a test of spoken CLA, one of the first tasks
is to ...
Demand is steadily growing for language tests with a specialized focus which will suit the needs of key professional domains as diverse as business, law, the airline industry, and teacher education. This book explores the testing of language for sepcific purposes (LSP) from a theoretical and a practical perspective, with a particular focus on the testing of English for business purposes. A range of tests - both past and present - is reviewed, and the development of business English testing at Cambridge ESOL is discussed. The description of the revision of the Business English Certificates (BEC) forms a major part of the book and offers a unique insight into an approach to large-scale ESP test development and revision.
This book explores the testing of language for sepcific purposes (LSP) from a theoretical and a practical perspective, with a particular focus on the testing of English for business purposes.
Documents the development of the Cambridge ESOL Certificates in English Language Skills (CELS), a suite of modular examinations first offered in 2002. As a context for how CELS was conceived, developed, constructed, validated and managed, the book traces the history of exams which have influenced CELS. The Royal Society of Arts (RSA), later UCLES (University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate) Communicative Use of English as a Foreign Language examinations (CUEFL) was one such influence, as were the Certificates in Communication Skills in English (CCSE), these exams being a development of the CUEFL. The University of Oxford Delegacy of Local Examinations (UODLE) examinations, taken over by UCLES in 1995, were a further influence on CELS. UODLE itself had worked in partnership with the Association of Recognised Language Schools (ARELS) Examinations Trust, the Oxford EFL reading and writing exams for many years offered in tandem with the ARELS Oral English exams.
much so, in fact, that it is quite normal (e.g. Wilga Rivers 1968) to refer to “the
eclectic method” of language teaching, meaning a selection of approaches from
different “movements”. Howatt (1984: 192) reminds us that language teaching “
movements” that we may consider as “discrete” are often actually variations of
what he calls the same “underlying philosophy”. Howatt would thus see as
related some of the language teaching approaches treated in this volume as
more independent ...
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Formative and Summative Approaches to English Assessment Bethan Marshall
... considering first how they meandered through the strictures of exam board
control after the Second World War and then were frogmarched through reforms,
...
Paper read to International Seminar on Special Education, Melbourne, August 20-24, 1972; notes on preliminary research; focuses on interaction between child language ability & maternal language style, brief description of research design, measurement of maternal language style, sample of 121 first grade children (northern N.S.W.); results & discussion, findings add further support to theory that restricted word knowledge in mothers is related to retarded psycholinguistic development in children.
Paper read to International Seminar on Special Education, Melbourne, August 20-24, 1972; notes on preliminary research; focuses on interaction between child language ability & maternal language style, brief description of research design, ...
Die Methodenkompetenz von Jugendlichen besitzt im bilingualen (Geschichts-)Unterricht, in dem sich fach- und sprachmethodische Komponenten zum Konglomerat der "subject skills" vereinen, besondere Relevanz. Am Beispiel der "history skills" wird zunachst das Wesen der fachmethodisch-sprachstrategischen Fahigkeiten von Schulerinnen und Schulern im mehrsprachigen Unterricht genauer beleuchtet und systematisiert. Anschliessend werden verschiedene integrative Zusammenhange zwischen mehrsprachig-fachmethodischer Anwendung und fremdsprachlicher Kompetenzerweiterung diskutiert. Im zweiten Teil der Arbeit werden diese Zusammenhange und Annahmen im Rahmen einer qualitativen Studie mit 16- bis 18-Jahrigen uberpruft. Schliesslich werden in einem dritten Teil unterschiedliche didaktisch-methodische Perspektiven und Handlungsnotwendigkeiten fur den bilingualen (Geschichts-)Unterricht aufgezeigt."
Die Methodenkompetenz von Jugendlichen besitzt im bilingualen (Geschichts-)Unterricht, in dem sich fach- und sprachmethodische Komponenten zum Konglomerat der subject skills vereinen, besondere Relevanz.
