The aim of this study originated with my role as a teacher wanting to research the impact of the European Language Portfolio, ELP, (2001) on a small group of minority language students, in Brussels’ Flemish region. In this exploratory case study, the European Language Portfolio (Spanish model) was administered to a small group of forty-five primary school students from the Bicultural Foyer Project in Brussels. In spite of the students’ positive attitudes towards this portfolio, the results suggest that the ELP has no validity for them because the Brussels’ Flemish educational community does not offer the appropriate conditions for a possible broader use of this portfolio. Belgium’s language policy environment, including its language policies, is the fundamental reason for the non-implementation of the European Language Portfolio.

O objetivo desta pesquisa foi aplicar ao Protocolo de Avaliação de Habilidades Linguístico- Pragmáticas de Gerber & Gurland (1989) em falantes de português brasileiro, descrevendo o comportamento linguístico exibido pelos participantes da amostra, e verificando se o desempenho dos voluntários pode ser influenciado por fatores de estilo, trajetória de vida e saúde, relatados em situação interacional a partir da aplicação de um questionário. Este protocolo avalia a ocorrência de quebras conversacionais de fundo linguístico ou pragmático e as estratégias de reparação dessas quebras, em interações dialógicas entre pacientes afásicos e interlocutores não afásicos, a partir da perspectiva do interlocutor, e possui poucos estudos na nossa população falante de português brasileiro. Partindo de uma perspectiva de língua enquanto função cognitiva do cérebro investigou-se se fatores de estilo, trajetória de vida e saúde por poderem afetar a cognição humana também afetariam o desempenho dos participantes. Foram realizadas e analisadas 66 entrevistas gravadas de participantes não afásicos com idade entre 18 e 75 anos de idade, distribuídos em três grupos etários, falantes de português brasileiro, com ensino fundamental completo como escolaridade mínima. As entrevistas foram guiadas por um Questionário de Informações Básicas elaborado pela autora a partir do Modelo STAC-R de Reuter-Lorenz & Park (2014) sobre fatores protetivos e depletivos à cognição humana. As análises de entrevistas que consideravam participantes sem vantagens e/ou desvantagens linguísticas/cognitivas mostraram que as quebras linguísticas apresentaram a seguinte ocorrência: quebras fonológicas mín.: 0, máx.: 3 vezes, quebras por problemas de recuperação lexical, mín.: 0, máx.: 1 vez e quebras por problemas semânticos, mín.: 0, máx.: 1 vez. Com relação às quebras pragmáticas, observou-se o seguinte padrão de ocorrência: por problemas de pressuposição/referência, mín.: 0, máx.: 4, problemas de mudança de turno, mín.: 0, máx.: 1, e no caso de quebras por manutenção de tópico não foram registradas ocorrências nas análises com a presença dos filtros de vantagem/desvantagem. O número de quebras detectadas sem discriminação do tipo de quebra foi mín.: 0, máx.: 5. A utilização de estratégias de reparação do indivíduo na análise em participantes sem vantagens/desvantagens apresentou a seguinte ocorrência: estratégia de reconhecimento, mín.: 0, máx.: 1, repetições:, mín.: 0, máx.: 3, paráfrase, mín.: 0, máx.: 1, adição de informação, mín.: 0, máx.: 3, revisão sintáticosemântica: mín.: 0, máx.: 2. As estratégias de reparação do indivíduo ocorreram no mínimo 0 e no máximo 7 vezes, em situações de ocorrência de quebra. Os resultados também mostraram que apenas a presença de problemas neurológicos foi estatisticamente significante para a ocorrência de quebras linguísticas e para o total de quebras detectadas na amostra. Esse resultado está dentro do esperado pois o protocolo foi elaborado para avaliação de afasia, que é um problema neurológico que afeta a linguagem especificamente. Entretanto, os problemas relatados pelos participantes não incluíam afasia, foram pontuais e bastante anteriores ao momento da entrevista na maior parte das vezes. Concluiu-se, portanto, que o protocolo é um bom instrumento de avaliação individual, sensível à presença de problemas neurológicos em nossa população também. Sugerimos que o protocolo seja utilizado de forma complementar a outros tipos de instrumentos de avaliação de linguagem, por ser específico para a avaliação da comunicação dialógica. / The aim of this research was to apply the Assessment Protocol of Pragmatic -Linguistic Skills of Gerber & Gurland (1989) in Brazilian Portuguese speakers, describing the linguistic behavior exhibited by the sample participants, and checking if the protocol performance could be influenced by lifestyle, life course and health factors reported in an interactional situation from the application of a questionnaire. This protocol evaluates the occurrence of linguistic or pragmatic conversational breakdowns and the strategies for repairing these breakdowns, in dialogic interactions between aphasic patients and non-aphasic interlocutors, from the perspective of the interlocutor, and has few studies in our Brazilian Portuguese speakers population. Based on a perspective of language as a cognitive function of the brain, we investigated whether factors related to lifestyle, life course and health because they could affect human cognition would also affect participants\' performance. Were carried out and analyzed, 66 recorded interviews with non - aphasic participants aged 18 to 75 years old, divided into three age groups, monolingual or bilingual speakers of Brazilian Portuguese, with complete primary education1 as minimum education. The interviews were guided by a Basic Information Questionnaire elaborated by the author based on the STAC-R Model of Reuter-Lorenz & Park (2014) on protective and depletive factors to human cognition. The interviews analysis that considered participants without linguistic/cognitive advantages and/or disadvantages showed that linguistic breakdowns presented the following occurrence: phonological breakdowns, min.: 0, max.:3 times, word retrieval breakdowns, min.: 0, max.: 1, and syntactic-semantic breakdowns, min.: 0, max.: 1. Within relation to pragmatic breakdowns, it was observed the following occurrence pattern: for pressupostional/referencial problems: min.: 0, max.: 4, turntaking problems, min.: 0, max.: 1 and in the case of topic maintenance breakdowns, it was not registered occurrences in the analysis. The number of breakdowns without discrimination of the type of the breakdown was min.: 0, max.: 5. The client repair strategies used in the analysis of participants without advantages/disadvantages presented the following occurrence: acknowledgment strategy, min.: 0, max.: 1, repetition, min.: 0, max.: 3, paraphrase, min.: 0, max.: 1, adding information, min.: 0, max.: 3, semantic-syntactic revision, min.: 0, max.: 2. The client repair strategies occurred in a minimum 0 and in a maximum 7 times in breakdown situations. The results also showed that only the presence of neurological problems was statistically significant for the occurrence of linguistc breakdowns and for the total number of breakdowns detected in the sample. This result is within the expected range, since the protocol was designed to evaluate aphasia, which is a neurological problem that affects language specifically. The problems reported by the participants did not include aphasia and were punctual and well before the moment of the interview most of the time. Therefore, it was concluded that the protocol is a good instrument for individual assessment, also sensitive to the presence of neurological problems in our population. We suggest that the protocol should be used in a complementary way to other types of language assessment tools, inasmuch it is specific for the evaluation of dialogic communication.

Title from PDF of title page. / Document formatted into pages; contains 90 pages, / Thesis (M.A.)--University of South Florida, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references. / Text (Electronic thesis) in PDF format. / ABSTRACT: English language learners are traditionally behind in academics such as reading, math and science. Hispanics, who make up the vast majority of English language learners, tend to not enroll in pre-school or higher education, have higher dropout rates and as adults earn less than whites. Common instructional strategies used in public schools are not meeting the needs of these students. The field of TESOL (Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages) has typically offered a wide variety of poorly defined teaching strategies that are not based on empirical research. Within public schools, assessment tends to serve the purpose of qualifying students for ESOL services rather than being used to guide instruction. / ABSTRACT: The present study examined using the Assessment of Basic Language and Learning Skills (ABLLS) with three English language learners in an elementary public school setting to discern its usefulness for teachers and students. Results showed that the ABLLS could be used for English language learners, and teachers generally liked the assessment information, although the current assessment may be too lengthy and time intensive to be practical for regular education settings. Also, it did not appear that reviewing the ABLLS assessment had much effect on teacher behavior in terms of changes in instructional strategies used for the three students, although teachers did indicate that they would target different skills as a result of viewing the assessment. Suggestions are made for developing a modified version of the ABLLS for use with English language learners. / ABSTRACT: Possible trends in student data are examined, as well as possible teaching strategies that may be suggested by the ABLLS. / System requirements: World Wide Web browser and PDF reader. / Mode of access: World Wide Web.

Despite the amount of empirical evidence available to validate the claim that language learners have the ability to evaluate their own abilities in a foreign language, many educators feel that self-assessments are unreliable and do not fit into the foreign language classroom. However, the move towards a proficiency-based student-centered classroom over the past two decades has caused many educators to rethink the use of self-assessment measures in the foreign language classroom. At the same time, portfolios have emerged as assessment tools for both educators and learners. Most recently, with the technological advancements in the past decade, Internet-based e-portfolios have become increasingly popular in education. However, there are very few studies on the use and implementation of e-portfolios, specifically in the foreign language classroom. This dissertation examines the role of self-assessment in the foreign language classroom. It utilizes an e-portfolio platform with pre-loaded can-do statements to create an evidence-based self-assessment for an intensive Russian language class. This dissertation presents self-assessment as a teacher-validated process utilizing formative assessment to create a learner-centered environment outside of the classroom. The study correlates results from three separate foreign language assessment tools to determine their relation to one another. The study promotes a holistic approach to language assessment and provides a process for holistic approach in the foreign language classroom. The process outlined in this study is easy to replicate and can be incorporated into foreign language courses with a limited amount of resources. / text

The purpose of this study was to validate the listening comprehension component of the Centre Test in Japan (henceforth, JNCTL) in relation to contextual parameters and cognitive processing. For the purpose of this study, a comprehensive framework of contextual parameters and a L2 listening processing model was established. This provided a solid theoretical framework for this study, whereby empirical evidence was elicited in relation to contextual parameters and cognitive processing. The elicitation was made through document analysis, focus group interviews, and a large-scale questionnaire administered to stakeholders including 110 high school English teachers and 391 third year students of high schools. The elicited data was subjected to descriptive, quantitative and qualitative analysis. The results of Preliminary studies identified ten possible key parameters to help the JNCTL achieve greater validity. They included the number of opportunities to listen to the input, a lack of hesitations, a lack of overlapping turns, a lack of multi-participant discussions, a lack of variety in the English accents used, a lack of L2 speakers, a lack of inference questions, a lack of non-linear texts, a lack of sandhi-variations, and a lack of natural speech rate. The results of the questionnaire revealed that sandhi-variation was the key parameter to help the current JNCTL achieve greater validity in a direction that would be accepted by the stakeholders, and it was further explored in Main Study in attempt to investigate the effect of sandhi-variation on listening comprehension test performance and the level of cognitive load imposed on the test takers. A series of experiments was conducted involving the manipulation of sandhi-variation. The results revealed that although no statistical difference was found in item difficulty estimates between the sandhi-variation and non-sandhi-variation versions, sandhi-variation may involve double effects on listening comprehension for the test takers. The positive effects could involve providing more prominent phonological difference between accented and unaccented words in connected speech which are produced by sandhi-variation, and this difference may reduce the cognitive load imposed on the test takers. The negative effects may involve increasing the cognitive load imposed on the test takers by obscuring sounds through elision or unclear pronunciation, and disturbing speech perception or word recognition. Recommendations are provided for improving the validity of the current JNCTL and for the development of listening comprehension tests more generally. Implications are also suggested for the teaching of listening at secondary schools in Japan. Lastly, the limitations of the study are outlined and suggestions for further research are proposed.

Background: The Samoan population is a growing population and one with an estimated high incidence of aphasia. Language assessment with bilingual individuals is said to be a challenging area of Speech-Language Therapy practice. Language assessment of bilingual Samoan-English speakers with aphasia is a field with limited research, and the specific experience of the individuals involved is an important factor to consider in improving SLT practice with this population. Aims: The current thesis aimed to explore the experience of language assessment of bilingual Samoan-English speakers with aphasia as perceived by those involved in the assessment process. Method: Two qualitative studies were utilised to address the aims, the first was a single case study observing the process of language assessment of a bilingual Samoan-English speaker with aphasia and follow-up interviews with other participants involved. The second study was a focus group with Speech-Language Therapists who had experience with language assessment of bilingual Samoan-English speakers with aphasia. Outcome and results: The results of the case study revealed eight themes: language assessment of bilingual Samoan-English speakers with aphasia is a hard process for the individuals involved; language assessment of bilingual Samoan-English speakers with aphasia is a team process; differences in understanding of communication impairments and the assessment process; time; preparation; appropriateness of assessment tasks, resources, and processes; uncertainty; and flexibility. The results of the focus group indicated eight categories: Speech-Language Therapists’ background, using interpreters, family involvement, Samoan language and culture, getting an initial impression of and building rapport with the individual with aphasia, assessment tasks and resources, determining which language(s) to assess and logistics of assessment. Conclusion: Language assessment of bilingual Samoan-English speakers with aphasia is a challenging area of Speech-Language Therapy practice. Challenges are multifaceted and although some challenges may be present in all language assessment with individuals with aphasia, they are further exacerbated by the addition of multiple languages, people, and culture. Helpful strategies identified in this study may aid in improving the overall experience.

State universities in Saudi Arabia have adopted a new educational policy, which made English the medium of instruction for all scientific departments. This has led to establishing a Foundation Year Programme (FYP) in the English Language Institute (ELI) of those universities, which aims to prepare university students to cope with the new academic requirements in their chosen majors and to improve their overall language competence. This study investigates teachers’ roles and beliefs regarding assessment practices in the ELI with the aim to uncover not only the role(s) teachers play in both continuous and summative assessment practices, but also teachers’ understandings of and attitudes towards assessment and their roles in it. Findings will also include how teachers perceive this role in this interpretive study, where the data were collected using open-ended interviews with twenty male and female expatriate and Saudi EFL teachers who work in the ELI of a specific Saudi university. The data were analysed on the basis of participants’ views and explanations about their roles in both continuous and summative assessment in the institution. The findings revealed that teachers had no role in summative assessment unless they were members of the Assessment Committee and that most teachers wanted to have a voice and be more involved. While teachers had a limited role in continuous assessment in the classroom, they felt the need for more involvement in the choice of materials/topics employed as well as more freedom regarding the way it is administered. The study also revealed that the ELI was not well receptive of criticism from teachers, which made teachers sometimes reluctant to being more involved in assessment or voicing their views in fear of being labelled negatively. Finally, some contributions to knowledge, implications for the context and recommendations are provided as well as some suggestions for improving teachers’ roles in assessment for future consideration.

The aim of this thesis is to investigate the effect of the writing prompt on test takers in terms of their test taking processes and the final written product in a second language writing assessment context. The study employs a mixed methods approach, with a quantitative and a qualitative strand. The quantitative study focuses on an analysis of the responses to six different writing prompts, with the responses being analyzed for significant differences in a range of key textual features, such as syntactic complexity, lexical sophistication, fluency and cohesion. The qualitative study incorporates stimulated recall interviews with test takers to learn about the aspects of the writing prompt that can have an effect on test taking processes, such as selecting a prompt, planning a response, and composing a response. The results of the quantitative study indicate that characteristics of the writing prompt (domain, response mode, focus, number of rhetorical cues) have an effect on numerous textual features of the response; for example, fluency, syntactic complexity, lexical sophistication, and cohesion. The qualitative results indicate that similar characteristics of the writing prompt can have an effect on how test takers select a prompt, and that the test time constraint interacts with the prompt characteristics to affect how test takers plan and compose their responses. The topic and the number of rhetorical cues are the prompt characteristics that have the greatest effect on test taking processes. The main conclusion drawn from the study findings are that several prompt characteristics should be controlled if prompts are to be considered equivalent. Without controlling certain prompt characteristics, both test taking processes and the written product will vary as a result of the prompt. The findings raise some serious questions regarding the inferences that may legitimately be drawn from writing scores. The findings provide clear guidance on prompt characteristics that should be controlled to help ensure that prompts present an equivalent challenge and opportunity to test takers to demonstrate their writing proficiency. This thesis makes an original contribution to the second language writing assessment literature in the detailed understanding of the relationships between specific prompt characteristics and textual features of the response.

Submitted by Jaqueline Silva (jtas29@gmail.com) on 2016-12-14T16:00:56Z No. of bitstreams: 2 Tese - Cristina Vasconcelos Porto - 2016.pdf: 5554486 bytes, checksum: b546b5fdefaedb7a6758613c9284b071 (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Jaqueline Silva (jtas29@gmail.com) on 2016-12-14T16:32:30Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 2 Tese - Cristina Vasconcelos Porto - 2016.pdf: 5554486 bytes, checksum: b546b5fdefaedb7a6758613c9284b071 (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-12-14T16:32:30Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 Tese - Cristina Vasconcelos Porto - 2016.pdf: 5554486 bytes, checksum: b546b5fdefaedb7a6758613c9284b071 (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-12-08 / This study aims at describing and understanding the experiences of developing language assessment of five pre-service English teachers from Universidade Federal do Pará. This research also aims at documenting the experiences these teachers had during the process of constructing their tests alone and in collaboration with their English pre-service teachers peers. To conduct this investigation, the tests were analysed in the light of the qualities of language test (content validity and reliability) and the principles of the communicative approach. This study also investigates the perceptions of the teachers on their experiences of collaboration during the process of constructing their tests. Adopting a qualitative perspective in the data collection and analysis, this case study was conducted in 2014, and the theoretical framework was based on studies about experiences, sociocultural theory and language assessment. Data were obtained through questionnaire, interview, verbal protocol, field notes, audio and video recording of the interactions the participants engaged in, and the tests ellaborated by them. Amongst the conclusions we arrived at, we observed that, through collaboration, the participants not only constructed better tests, but they also had opportunities to give their opinions, to share experiences and to reflect on their teaching practice, understanding the important role of evaluation in improving teaching and learning processes. This study has implications to initial teacher education, indicating that pre-service teachers need to have a more active role in language assessment and need to become aware that working collaborativelly can create professional development opportunities for themselves. / Este estudo tem como principal objetivo descrever e compreender as experiências de avaliar de cinco professores de inglês em formação inicial da Universidade Federal do Pará. Busca também documentar as experiências que esses professores tiveram durante os processos de elaboração de seus testes de forma individual e de forma colaborativa. Para tanto, os testes foram analisados com base nos princípios de qualidade da avaliação (validade e confiabilidade) e nos princípios da abordagem comunicativa. Além disso, este estudo busca investigar as percepções desses professores sobre a experiência da colaboração durante o processo de construção de seus testes. Adotando uma abordagem qualitativa, este estudo de caso foi conduzido no ano de 2014, e o referencial teórico teve como base estudos sobre experiências, sobre a teoria sociocultural e seus desdobramentos teóricos e sobre teorias relativas à avaliação em educação geral e em língua estrangeira. Os dados foram coletados por meio de questionário, entrevista, protocolo verbal, notas de campo, gravação em áudio e em vídeo das interações entre os participantes e testes elaborados por eles. Entre as conclusões obtidas neste estudo, pudemos observar que, por meio da colaboração, os participantes puderam não somente melhorar a prova, mas expor suas opiniões, compartilhar experiências e refletir sobre a sua prática pedagógica, percebendo a avaliação como um importante elemento que integra os processos de ensino e aprendizagem visando a sua melhoria, o que muito contribuiu para a formação docente dos participantes. Este estudo traz implicações para a formação inicial de professores, pois evidencia que o professor em formação inicial precisa ter um papel mais ativo no processo avaliativo e precisa, também, ser consciente de que o trabalho colaborativo pode criar oportunidades de crescimento profissional.

Validation in language testing is an ongoing process in which information is collected through investigations into the design, implementation, products and impacts of an assessment (Sireci, 2007). This includes the cognitive processes elicited from candidates by a test (Weir, 2005). This study investigated the English Speaking Board’s ESOL International examinations at levels B2 and C1 of the CEFR. The study considered the role of discourse competence in successful performances through examination of cognitive phases employed by candidates and metadiscourse markers and whether the use fit with models such as the CEFR and Field (2004) and so contributed to the validation argument. The study had two strands. The process strand of the study was largely qualitative and focussed on the cognitive processes which candidates used to compose their texts. Verbal reports were carried out with a total of twelve participants, six at each level. The product strand of the study analysed the use of metadiscourse markers in the scripts of sixty candidates in order to identify developing features of discourse competence at levels B2 and C1. The process strand of the study identified that there were statistically significant differences in the cognitive phases employed by the participants in the study. The investigation also identified a number of differences in what B2 and C1 learners attended to while carrying out the different phases. The product strand of the study found no statistically significant differences in the use of metadiscourse markers used by candidates at the two levels, but observed differences in the way particular metadiscourse markers were employed. These differences indicate the direction for a possible larger-scale study. Unlike previous studies into metadiscourse (Burneikaite, 2008; Plakans, 2009; Bax, Nataksuhara & Waller, forthcoming) the study controlled for task, text type and rhetorical pattern and nationality. The study suggested that discourse competence contributed to higher-level performances in writing and that the examinations under investigation elicited a wide range of cognitive phases from C1 candidates. The study also suggested that many of the CEFR’s statements about the development of discourse competence at the higher levels are correct.