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Although second language learners' pragmatic competence (their
ability to use language in context) is an essential part of their
general communicative competence, it has not been a part of second
language tests. This book helps fill this gap by describing the
development and validation of a web-based test of ESL
pragmalinguistics. The instrument assesses learners' knowledge of
routine formulae, speech acts, and implicature in 36
multiple-choice and brief-response items. The test's quantitative
and qualitative validation with 300 learners showed high
reliability and provided strong evidence of the instrument's
construct validity. Its web-based format makes it easy to
administer and score. The book ends with a discussion of future
research directions in assessing second language pragmatics.
This book marks ten years of language test development and language
testing research in Austria. Part I describes the development of
large-scale tests at all levels of the educational system. The
documentation covers German as the language of instruction for the
majority of pupils, the so-called modern foreign languages English,
French, Italian and Spanish, as well as the classical languages
Latin and Ancient Greek. Part II brings together a considerable
body of research which has been conducted in the course and the
wake of the development and implementation of the new assessment
philosophy during the past ten years. The studies are accommodated
in a framework of test validation, which could serve as orientation
for future research in language testing in Austria. Das Buch blickt
auf zehn Jahre professioneller Testentwicklung und
Sprachtestforschung in OEsterreich zuruck. Teil I beschreibt die
Entwicklung von Testsystemen auf allen Ebenen des Bildungssystems.
Die Dokumentation umfasst Deutsch, das fur die grosse Mehrheit
Unterrichtssprache ist, die sogenannten modernen Fremdsprachen
Englisch, Franzoesisch, Italienisch und Spanisch sowie die
klassischen Sprachen Latein und Altgriechisch. Teil II umfasst eine
beachtliche Anzahl von Untersuchungen, die wahrend und nach der
Entwicklung und Implementierung der neuen Prufungsphilosophie in
den letzten zehn Jahren durchgefuhrt wurden. Die Untersuchungen
werden in ein Validierungskonzept eingeordnet, das als Orientierung
fur zukunftige Sprachtestforschung in OEsterreich dienen koennte.
Item Response Theory, though it has become a widely recognized tool
in language testing research, is still not used frequently in
practical language assessment projects. This book intends to
provide a theoretical overview as well as to give practical
guidance concerning the application of IRT in item bank building in
a language testing context by presenting a particular project in a
higher education setting.
Strategic competence (a higher-order executive ability that
executes strategies for language use) has long been theorized as a
significant non-linguistic factor affecting second language (L2)
communicative ability. Despite its recognition, the parameters of
strategic competence have been poorly defined and researched.
Utilizing the multitrait-multimethod approach, this book examines
the relationships of general strategic knowledge and strategic
regulation in a specific high-stakes, test-taking context to
English as a foreign language (EFL) reading test performance over
time through the use of a structural equation modeling (SEM)
approach. Since it is large-scale and longitudinal in nature, this
research provides an opportunity to generalize the unfolding nature
of strategic competence. The book concludes by proposing
multidimensional models to assist researching strategic competence
and by discussing pedagogical models for strategic reading
instruction.
The book examines how individual differences in candidates' levels
of extraversion interact with facets which have been shown to
affect scores obtained on oral performance tests. Three major
studies are presented: the first is concerned with the individual
candidate in the model; the second study investigates the role of
the rater in the oral test process; the final study is concerned
with the degree of interactivity required of pairs of candidates,
each of whom also acts as an interlocutor in the performance of an
oral test task. Results of the studies confirm that when an
appropriate instrument is used to assess personality, and when
theoretically sound hypotheses derived from the psychological
literature are tested, significant differences can be observed in
the responses of introverts and extraverts on particular oral test
tasks.
This book was the winner of the 2005 Jacqueline A. Ross
Dissertation Award for second or foreign language testing. The
assessment of speaking skills is an important part of the language
learning process, whether carried out by teachers in the classroom
or through proficiency tests administered by testing agencies.
However, the complex and subjective nature of speaking assessment
raises a number of important questions about the validity,
reliability and fairness of test procedures. This book, which is
based on research into the speaking test of the International
English Language Testing System (IELTS), shows how the performance
of learners in oral proficiency interviews cannot be taken
unequivocally as an indication of their ability, as variation in
interviewer behaviour can have an impact both on learner
performance and on ratings outcomes.
Pragmatic competence is an integral and indispensable component of
overall language competence. Omitting the pragmatic dimension from
language assessment is, therefore, quite unfortunate. This book
describes the development and validation of three test methods
designed to test the interlanguage pragmatic knowledge of EFL
learners. Altogether 413 subjects participated in the development
of the tests. Results showed that all three methods investigated
had measured learners' inter-language pragmatic knowledge.
Quantitative analyses showed that the tests tapped the intended
construct and the test methods measured a similar construct.
Analyses of verbal reports yielded results which supported the
quantitative analyses and revealed that the construct-relevant
knowledge was involved in the test takers' cognitive activities.
This book ends with some pedagogical implications of this study and
directions for further research.
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