This study investigated the effects of Dynamic Assessment (DA) training on the mediational strategies of experienced teachers of French as a foreign language. Moreover the strategies that mediators used for students at different levels of language experience were investigated. Last the ways in which mediators manifested mediational sensitivity, reciprocity and management was examined. Four mediators underwent DA training that exposed them to the theoretical underpinnings of DA as well as sound DA procedures. To determine the effect of this training, the way in which the mediators conducted their mediation was compared from pre-DA training to post-DA training. Three of these four mediators worked with 12 students of French as a foreign language at different levels of language learning experience. Their interactions were recorded, transcribed and analyzed. The results of this study show that the DA training did indeed have an affect on the way in which mediators conducted their mediation with students. Also there seems to be a difference, however minute, in the way that mediators mediate students possessing different levels of language experience. The implications of this study suggest that mediators would have benefitted from more robust DA training as well as an increased field experience with DA. Second students should also be trained in DA procedures so that they may be able to better participate in the dialogic activity that occurs during mediation. Third more foreign language practitioner focused definitions of DA and cognition, within a Sociocultural Theory framework, are offered. It is believed that more accessible definitions will facilitate DA's use in the foreign language classroom.

Este trabalho apresenta uma investigação sobre as concepções e práticas referentes à avaliação da aprendizagem de língua inglesa em comunidades do Ensino Fundamental. Os registros dessa investigação são aqui analisados e servem como ponto de partida para uma discussão sobre o tema segundo a perspectiva das teorias de letramentos predominantes nas últimas décadas. Trata-se de uma pesquisa qualitativa-interpretativa de caráter etnográfico (André, 2003), cujas perguntas direcionadoras são: I. Como se caracteriza hoje a avaliação da aprendizagem nas aulas de inglês em algumas comunidades do Ensino Fundamental? II. Como pensar a concepção de avaliação da aprendizagem de línguas sob a perspectiva dos novos estudos de letramento? Diante das observações de aulas, das entrevistas com as professoras e da análise dos documentos, pudemos identificar a recorrência de uma concepção de avaliação pautada no paradigma da modernidade, cujos problemas mais evidenciados foram seu entendimento como sinônimo de mensuração, a ênfase ao ensino de conteúdos objetivos e estáveis e ainda a prioridade do uso de provas escritas. Tais evidências, porém, não se fizeram de modo linear e homogêneo, uma vez que as narrativas e práticas pedagógicas dos sujeitos de pesquisa mostraram-se descontínuas e contraditórias. Assim é que pudemos curiosamente identificar concepções estruturalistas de língua acompanhadas de uma prática avaliativa formativa e concepções progressistas de ensino ao lado de uma concepção convencional de avaliação. No que diz respeito à discussão da avaliação de línguas diante das transformações epistemológicas assinaladas pelos novos estudos de letramento, concluímos que sua reconceituação deverá abarcar elementos até então negligenciados pela concepção convencional de educação. Trata-se, pois, de uma re-conceituação em curso e que requererá maior expansão de conhecimento por meio de pesquisas acadêmicas. / The aim of this study is to investigate both conceptions and practices regarding English language assessment in some Elementary School communities. The reports of this investigation are then analyzed and serve as a starting point for a discussion about the theme from the perspective of the prevailing new literacy studies in the last decades. It is an interpretative-qualitative research, with ethnographic aspects (André, 2003), whose guiding questions are: I. How does language assessment evolve in English classes in some Elementary School communities? II. What would the conception of language assessment be like from the perspective of the new literacy studies? Through research field, interviews with teachers and documentation analysis, we could identify a recurring conception of evaluation based on the paradigm of Modernity, whose most evident problems were its interpretation as measurement, the emphasis on objective and stable contents, and also the predominant use of written assessments. These findings, however, did not occur in a linear and homogeneous way, since both narratives and teaching practices appeared to be discontinuous and contradictory. Thus, we could curiously notice language structuralist conceptions together with formative evaluation and progressist views of language beside a more conventional evaluation concept. Regarding the discussion of language assessment towards the epistemological transformations signaled by the new literacy studies, we come to the conclusion that its re-conceptualization should enclose certain elements hitherto neglected by a conventional education conception. This, therefore, refers to a current reconceptualization, which will demand more academic research outcomes.

Magister Artium (Psychology) - MA(Psych) / South Africa's Language-in-Education Policy is one of additive multilingualism, but in reality this policy is not adhered to, in that most black children are being educated through the medium of English from Grade 4. This type of instruction affects the development of academic language proficiency in their primary language, as these children are not engaging in cognitively demanding tasks in their primary or first language. The Woodcock Muñoz Language Survey (WMLS) is a test to assess academic language proficiency in Additive Bilingual Education, and is extensively used in the United States of America (USA) for this purpose. It is important to note that the proposed study is a sub-study of a larger study, in which the original WMLS (American-English version) was adapted into English and Xhosa, to be used in South Africa to assess additive bilingual programmes. For this sub-study, the researcher was interested in examining the overall equivalence of the adapted English version of the WMLS. Owing to insufficient tests evaluating academic language proficiency in the South African context, the significance, as well as the overall aim, of the study is to ensure that the issues of group difference and item bias have been assessed to ensure that the adapted English version of the WMLS is suitable to be used across English first-language and Xhosa first-language speakers. Because this is a sub-study, the researcher (of the sub-study) has conducted an exploratory quantitative study with the use of Secondary Data. The researcher has used the framework of equivalence as a theoretical framework in order to examine the research question. Given the use of existing data, the procedures of the collection of the data by the researcher of the larger study have been outlined in the Methodology section of the present study. The sample consisted of 198 English and 197 Xhosa first-language speakers. / South Africa

This special issue of Language Learning in Higher Education is devoted to the field of language testing and assessment, an area often underrated in higher education, where other concerns tend to be more in the focus of attention. Our call for papers made clear that our aim was “to cover a wide range of interrelated themes, in theory and practice, such as assessment and self-assessment, formative and summative assessment, performance standards and standard setting, use and impact of tests, tailoring and developing tests for special purposes, backwash effects (desirable/undesirable), quality issues and ethical concerns. Also considered would be contributions dealing with programme assessment and evaluation . . .” In other words, we were inviting contributions from a wider range of perspectives than is often associated with this field. As a result, the 12 articles selected and presented here cover a rather wide variety of issues often more concerned with the users of language tests, i.e. with those who have to apply them, to develop them within their own institutional constraints, and to interpret and defend the results, than with full-time researchers talking to full-time researchers.

<p>The purpose of this research is to reveal and compare the language proficiency profiles of Purdue’s Chinese and Indian graduate applicants in various disciplines to take a step towards the development of Language Proficiency Literacy (LPL) of graduate admissions decision makers. The study argues that before being able to offer LPL development opportunities to admissions decision-makers, language testers need to gain admissions literacy in their specific academic context. One way this can be achieved is by analyzing graduate admissions data to see patterns of test score use in each discipline and to reveal language proficiency profiles of graduate applicants. Providing admissions decision makers with information about the linguistic characteristics of their applicants can be a very helpful step towards enhancing LPL in the context of graduate admissions. </p> <p>One of the analyses conducted towards the goal LPL development in the context of graduate admissions was a Cluster Analysis procedure followed by a Chi-square analysis to compare the language proficiency profiles of graduate applicants from various L1 backgrounds based on scores on the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). The study found three language proficiency profiles in graduate applicants’ TOEFL data: 1) the ‘unbalanced’ profile, which consists of applicants who have higher scores in the subskills of reading and listening, and comparatively lower scores on speaking and writing, 2) the ‘balanced medium’ profile, which represents students who have moderate scores across all four subskills, and 3) the ‘balanced high’ profile, which consists of applicants who have high scores across all four subskills. The study found evidence for the interaction between graduate applicant test-takers’ L1 background and belonging to a balanced or an unbalanced language proficiency profile, which highlights the importance of considering subskill scores in addition the total score when using language proficiency test scores to select graduate students from specific L1 backgrounds.</p>

Thesis (M.A.(Language Education)) -- University of Limpopo, 2009 / The assessment of the current school reform effort emphasizes the neeed to improve the education of all learners. Assessing the academic achievement of every learner is an essential part of this reform, but one that presents a challenge for most schools, school districts and provinces. Traditional assessment practices have tended to exclude learners who are denied access to important educational opportunities that are based on assessment results. This problem is often more pronounced among learners who have to do Grade 9. This study focuses on assessment and discusses the advantages and challenges experienced by learners and educators. The aim of this study, therefore, is to assess educators’ success in the implementation of OBE assessment principles of English First Additional Language (EFAL) in Grade 9. This study was prompted by educator assessments, which have kept interesting the researcher because of traditional assessments which are at odds with OBE. Most importantly, assessment is no longer practised and determined in traditional ways. The educator must assess, in detail, the knowledge, skills and dispositions that learners must develop in order to achieve learning outcomes. The researcher recommends assessment to include English langauge learners, increase school accountability for all learners, have a shared vision of learner goals and standards, have an authentic picture of learning, and reflect assessment.

Diploma thesis Assessment of language skills of specific language impaired children deals with children with specific language impairment in preschool and early school age (6-8 years). The thesis is to map the resources that are dealing with this issue and define the concept of specific language impairment in our country and foreign environment, because it is a very problematic term The theoretical part describes the status of speech therapy and special education diagnosis of children with specific language impairment in Czech Republic and foreign countries. It maps out how this developmental disorder speech therapists and special educators diagnose, what tools to use and what diagnostic criteria used in their practices. The aim of our research activities in the framework of this thesis is to determine whether and what value could have a Battery of tests of phonological skills (Seidlová Málková, Caravolas 2013) for the diagnostic process of specific language impairment. And also try to detect whether the battery includes tests to detect potential child with specific language impairment and thus contribute to the differential diagnosis. Keywords: Specific language impairment, language assessment, diagnostic markers, Battery of tests of phonological skills

The problem addressed in this study is that Native American and Hispanic English language learners (ELLs) in a rural Mississippi school district are not performing at the same level as non-ELLs. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to investigate the perceived causes of ELL failure and low academic performance on district and state assessments and in general education classes. Guided by Vygotsky's theory of development, which supports teachers and students remaining active in the learning process, research questions focused on what instructional practices general education teachers use to provide instruction for Spanish/Choctaw-speaking ELLs. General education teachers' use of professional learning communities (PLCs), instructional and assessment practices, knowledge of ELLs' instructional needs, and perceptions of professional development (PD) were examined. The purposeful sample for surveys included 33 Kindergarten through12 general education teachers who met the criteria of having the experience of providing instruction to ELLs. Teacher participants completed an online anonymous survey through SurveyMonkey. Six English Language Arts (ELA) teachers and 1 administrator participated in face-to-face interviews. The responses were open coded then analyzed using NVivo 11. Seven themes emerged from the data: differentiation is critical for ELL instruction, assessment should drive instruction, ELLs benefit from evidence based instructional strategies, PLCs support general education teachers, PD is inadequate to support ELLs and teacher needs, PD is needed on ELLs background, and administrators' support PLCs for ELLs' instruction. A 5-day PD project was designed and positive social change promoted by providing staff with evidence based ELL instructional support, resulting in improved ELL learning and achievement.

<p>South Africa&rsquo / s Language-in-Education Policy is one of additive multilingualism, but in reality this policy is not adhered to, in that most black children are being educated through the medium of English from Grade 4. This type of instruction affects the development of academic language proficiency in their primary language, as these children are not engaging in cognitively demanding tasks in their primary or first language. The Woodcock Mu&ntilde / oz Language Survey (WMLS) is a test to assess academic language proficiency in Additive Bilingual Education, and is extensively used in the United States of America (USA) for this purpose. It is important to note that the proposed study is a sub-study of a larger study, in which the original WMLS (American-English version) was adapted into English and Xhosa, to be used in South Africa to assess additive bilingual programmes. For this sub-study, the researcher was interested in examining the overall equivalence of the adapted English version of the WMLS. Owing to insufficient tests evaluating academic language proficiency in the South African context, the significance, as well as the overall aim, of the study is to ensure that the issues of group difference and item bias have been assessed to ensure that the adapted English version of the WMLS is suitable to be used across English first-language and Xhosa first-language speakers. Because this is a sub-study, the researcher (of the sub-study) has conducted an exploratory quantitative study with the use of Secondary Data. The researcher has used the framework of equivalence as a theoretical framework in order to examine the research question. Given the use of existing data, the procedures of the collection of the data by the researcher of the larger study have been outlined in the Methodology section of the present study. The sample consisted of 198 English and 197 Xhosa first-language speakers...</p>

The purpose of this analysis was to define norms for grammatical morpheme development in Spanish for Spanish-English bilingual children ages 4;0-7;6. This study uses secondary data analysis based on two existing datasets. Participants included 334 Spanish-English bilingual children that were recruited from school districts in Texas, Utah, and Pennsylvania. Grammatical morpheme accuracy was determined by performance on the BESA (Bilingual English Spanish Assessment) (Peña, Gutiérrez-Clellen et al., in preparation). Mean length of utterance in words (MLUw) data was collected from language samples. The average percent accuracy of grammatical morphemes was calculated and analyzed as a function of MLUw in Spanish. Results show that the percentage of accurately produced morphemes has a general upward trend as MLUw increases. Clinical and research implications are discussed. / text