Language Testing

The article deals with the definition of ways of improving the teaching of foreign languages based on the use of distance learning technologies. The main areas of implementation of distance learning are discussed, and adaptation of existing teaching methods to the features of distance education, the use of computer testing to assess the level of foreign language proficiency, the introduction of adaptive testing to improve the efficiency of evaluation and to ensure its multicriteria in particular.
The basis of the methodology for learning distantly is to put the principle of modularity, which involves the division of educational material into separate modules, as well as the use of separate program modules for the formation of a distance learning course. This allows you to organize the learning process either in the form of a sequential study of the entire course, or by selectively passing the individual modules needed to fill the "pass" in the knowledge system of the learner.
The following algorithm for the implementation of the methodology for learning a foreign language distantly was determined:
1. Choosing (sequential or selective) way of training the foreign language moduls course.
2. Choosing the next module (in the case of successful passing go to 7).
3. Submission of educational material.
4. Exercise for the learning of the material.
5. Testing (adaptive).
6. If test result is negative  go to 3,and if it is  positive  go to 2.
7. Final testing of language proficiency.
The preliminary assessment of the results of the use of the gradient approach to adaptive testing during the assessment of the quality of training in distance learning courses allows us to conclude that achieving a reduction in the passage of the test (on average twice) with compliance with the requirements for the adequacy of the assessment. This will ensure the rational use of the learning resource during distance learning, or increase the efficiency of the assessment by increasing the volume of the test.
Key words: foreign language learning, distance learning, language testing, adaptive testing, information technology

Abstract This paper presents a comprehensive framework for researching classroom-based assessment (CBA) processes, and is based on a detailed empirical study of two Australian school classrooms where students aged 11 to 13 were studying Indonesian as a foreign ...

This paper describes a new methodology for testing intelligibility across closely related languages and dialects in a traditional oral society in Vanuatu. There are many reasons why it could be useful to establish how well speakers of related varieties can understand one another: such knowledge is relevant to language planning and policy making, and it can shed light on the dynamics of language contact. However, conventional approaches to intelligibility testing, such as ‘recorded text testing’ (Hickerton, Turner & Hickerton 1952; Pierce 1952; Voegelin & Harris 1951), are time consuming to score, and difficult to implement consistently. In Europe, fast and efficient intelligibility testing has been successfully carried out across closely related varieties (cf Vanhove 2014, Author1 in preparation, Schüppert & Author1 2011 a, b, inter alia). However, these methods assume that test subjects are literate and computer-savvy. The methodology discussed in the present paper adapts European methods to conventional ‘fieldwork’ conditions. In Vanuatu we trialled a picture task and a translation task. Although some words had to be removed from the final analysis, the experiment was  successful overall and we anticipate that this method can be fruitfully applied in other oral language communities.

The ILTA Code of Ethics admonishes that language testing professionals “should engage in a thorough evaluation of the likely consequences” of their projects (ILTA, 2000). Following Bachman & Palmer (2010), the “beneficence” of the intended consequences of a test and the “values sensitivity” of the decisions made on the basis of an assessment constitute two essential components of any assessment use argument. In this poster we investigate what these components could mean in view of the possible introduction of an internationally recognized and commercially available large-scale English language test in Cuba. Bearing in mind how new a phenomenon nationwide foreign language certification is in the country, the general question that we seek to answer is: What should and what can be done in order to maximize the chance that introducing the test would bring about good in Cuban society taking account of the (evolving) educational, sociopolitical, and legal environment?

The authors are academics who have collaborated in long-term institutional university cooperation and network projects of the Flemish Interuniversity Council (Belgium) with universities in Cuba. In the Council’s country strategy for Cuba, English language learning and communication is listed as one of three transversal themes for all current and future interventions (http://www.vliruos.be/en/countries/countrydetail/cuba_3850/). Based on their experiences in a previous ten-year project in central Cuba, the authors concluded in 2011 that there was a need for establishing a regional testing center, noting the following key issues: (a) intercultural citizenship for Cuban academics, (b) sustainable local institutional development, (c) validity of administered tests, and (d) privacy and confidentiality issues. This need was reiterated in the external assessors’ final evaluation report (Carpenter & Vigil Tarquechel, 2013). Since then initiatives have been started up to establish testing centers in the context of a new project in eastern Cuba in view of the stated project goal of strengthening foreign language skills for intercultural and international academic purposes.

It is expected that the introduction of an internationally recognized test at regional testing centers could contribute to increased opportunities for Cuban academics to study and work abroad while providing an adequate answer to the previously identified key issues. At the same time, a number of concerns have been raised related to accessibility, administration, impact on instructional practice, and the question of how to address some of the more elusive competences than the ones commonly captured in standardized testing, particularly the intercultural competences required for a successful academic mobility experience.

The poster will report an initial answer to the general research question based on a stakeholder mapping exercise (identifying, analyzing, mapping, prioritizing) at project, institutional, and regional level that was conducted during the first two project years. Given that outward mobility for Cuban academics in the project concerned is almost exclusively Europe-bound, perspectives of European policymakers and students on academic mobility will also be included (Beaven, Borghetti, Van Maele & Vassilicos, 2013).

In this introduction, we outline the most relevant concepts for this special issue on integration and the politics of difference. This introduction characterizes " integration " as a dominant policy orientation and discursive regime concerned primarily with understandings of language, communication, and skill which constitute a (trans)national politics of difference. In various sites and national contexts of the global north, migrant " integration " policies render difference and mobility the site of both discursive elaboration and management. This introduction highlights the salience of critical ethnographic analyses for understanding " integration " beyond policy realms, arguing for attention to situated practices, emergent social categories and types, political-economic stakes, logics of linguistic (dis)engagement, and the reproduction of mono-and multilingual social orders. In particular, we propose to untangle this complex by describing three central processes that run through all of the contributions and which, we suggest, are indispensable for the analysis of current and emergent regimes of integration: processes of categorization, of selection, and of activation.

The application of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) concept in engineering studies in the 21 st century still serves as essential platform where authentic target workplace language use and language tasks could be simulated and trained for engineering undergraduates. This however, does not come without challenges. This study highlights the practices of English language lecturers in developing language tests for ESP courses offered in engineering programmes and the challenges faced during the process. The findings elicited via qualitative approach unearthed complex realities of lecturers' actual practices in developing ESP tests. Far from ideal conditions, they have to grapple with challenges which stem from issues at the systemic or macro level in the engineering programmes. The lecturers' practices demonstrated a host of attempts to address the layers of challenges engulfing the task of preparing good ESP tests for engineering undergraduates. They are guided by their own longstanding views on language testing that present varying degrees of conformity, ingenuity and divergence as compared to best practices in ESP tests development.