English Language Proficiency Testing in Asia

English Language Proficiency Testing in Asia
Author: Lily I-Wen Su
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 230
Release: 2019-11-19
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1351254006

As the demand for English language education grows in Asia, there has been a parallel growth in the development and implementation of standardized tests at the local level. Offering much-needed context on locally produced tests in Asia, contributors examine emerging models for English language assessment and the impact these large-scale tests have on the teaching and learning of English. Chapters address the following well-known and developing high-stakes tests in different regions across Asia: the GEPT, the TEPS, the VSTEP, the CET, the EIKEN and TEAP, and the ELPA. Brought together by world-renowned testing assessment scholar Cyril Weir and the Language Training and Testing Center (LTTC), one of Asia’s leading testing institutions based in Taiwan, this volume is a useful reference for evaluating, developing, and validating local tests of English and their societal impact. Comprehensive and research-based, chapters cover historic backgrounds, sociocultural contexts, test quality, international standing, and future considerations. Ideal for graduate students, researchers, and scholars in language assessment, TESOL/TEFL, and applied linguistics, this book will also be of interest to language teaching professionals, language test developers, and graduate students in Asian studies and international education, intercultural communication, and intercultural studies.

Local Language Testing

Local Language Testing
Author: Slobodanka Dimova
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 228
Release: 2020-02-20
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 0429960328

Local Language Testing: Design, Implementation, and Development describes the language testing practice that exists in the intermediate space between large-scale standardized testing and classroom assessment, an area that is rarely addressed in the language testing and assessment literature. Covering both theory and practice, the book focuses on the advantages of local tests, fosters and encourages their use, and provides suggested ideas for their development and maintenance. The authors include examples of operational tests with well-proven track records and discuss: the ability of local tests to represent local contexts and values, explicitly and purposefully embed test results within instructional practice, and provide data for program evaluation and research; local testing practices grounded in the theoretical principles of language testing, drawing from experiences with local testing and providing practical examples of local language tests, illustrating how they can be designed to effectively function within and across different institutional contexts; examples of how local language tests and assessments are developed for use within a specific context and how they serve a variety of purposes (e.g., entry-level proficiency testing, placement testing, international teaching assistant testing, writing assessment, and program evaluation). Aimed at language program directors, graduate students, and researchers involved in language program development and evaluation, this is a timely book in that it focuses on the advantages of local tests, fosters and encourages their use, and outlines their development and maintenance. It constitutes essential reading for language program directors, graduate students, and researchers involved in language program development and evaluation.

English Language Education Policy in Asia

English Language Education Policy in Asia
Author: Robert Kirkpatrick
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 388
Release: 2015-11-27
Genre: Education
ISBN: 3319224646

This volume offers comprehensive 'state-of-the-art' overviews of educational policies concerning the teaching of English in a large number of Asian countries. Each contribution is written by a leading expert and gives a clear assessment of current policies and future trends. Starting with a description of the English education policies in the respective countries, the contributors then delve into the 'nuts and bolts' of the English education policies and how they play out in practice in the education system, in schools, in the curriculum, and in teaching. Topics covered include the balance between the acquisition of English and the national language, political, cultural, economic and technical factors that strengthen or weaken the learning of English.

English Language Proficiency Assessments for Young Learners

English Language Proficiency Assessments for Young Learners
Author: Mikyung Kim Wolf
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 330
Release: 2017-05-25
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 1317379039

English Language Proficiency Assessments for Young Learners provides both theoretical and empirical information about assessing the English language proficiency of young learners. Using large-scale standardized English language proficiency assessments developed for international or U.S. contexts as concrete examples, this volume illustrates rigorous processes of developing and validating assessments with considerations of young learners’ unique characteristics. In this volume, young learners are defined as school-age children from approximately 5 to 13 years old, learning English as a foreign language (EFL) or a second language (ESL). This volume also discusses innovative ways to assess young learners’ English language abilities based on empirical studies, with each chapter offering stimulating ideas for future research and development work to improve English language assessment practices with young learners. English Language Proficiency Assessments for Young Learners is a useful resource for students, test developers, educators, and researchers in the area of language testing and assessment.

Post-admission Language Assessment of University Students

Post-admission Language Assessment of University Students
Author: John Read
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 246
Release: 2016-08-10
Genre: Education
ISBN: 3319391925

English-medium universities around the world face real challenges in ensuring that incoming students have the language and literacy skills they need to cope with the demands of their degree programmes. One response has been a variety of institutional initiatives to assess students after admission, in order to identify those with significant needs and advise them on how to enhance their academic language ability. This volume brings together papers from Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Oman, South Africa and the United States, written by language assessment specialists who discuss issues in the design and implementation of these post-admission assessments in their own institutions. A major theme running through the book is the need to evaluate the validity of such assessments not just on their technical quality but on their impact, in terms of giving students access to effective means of developing their language skills and ultimately enhancing their academic achievement.

The International Handbook of Educational Research in the Asia-Pacific Region

The International Handbook of Educational Research in the Asia-Pacific Region
Author: J.P. Keeves
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 1405
Release: 2013-11-11
Genre: Education
ISBN: 9401733686

The aim of the Handbook is to present readily accessible, but scholarly sources of information about educational research in the Asia-Pacific region. The scale and scope of the Handbook is such that the articles included in it provide substantive contributions to knowledge and understanding of education in the Asia region. In so doing, the articles present the problems and issues facing education in the region and the findings of research conducted within the region that contribute to the resolution of these problems and issues. Moreover, since new problems and issues are constantly arising, the articles in the Handbook also indicate the likely directions of future developments. The different articles within the Handbook seek to conceptualize the problems in each specific content area under review, provide an integration of the research conducted within that area, the theoretical basis of the research the practical implications of the research and the contribution of the research towards the resolution of the problems identified. Thus, the articles do not involve the reporting of newly conducted research, but rather require a synthesis of the research undertaken in a particular area, with reference to the research methods employed and the theoretical frameworks on which the research is based. In general, the articles do not advocate a single point of view, but rather, present alternative points of view and comment on the debate and disagreements associated with the conduct and findings of the research. Furthermore, it should be noted, that the Handbook is not concerned with research methodology, and only considers the methods employed in inquiry in so far as the particular methods of research contribute to the effective investigation of problems and issues that have arisen in the conduct and provision of education at different levels within the region.

Another Generation of Fundamental Considerations in Language Assessment

Another Generation of Fundamental Considerations in Language Assessment
Author: Gary J. Ockey
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 268
Release: 2020-11-23
Genre: Education
ISBN: 9811589526

This edited book is a collection of papers, written by language assessment professionals to reflect the guidance of Professor Lyle F. Bachman, one of the leading second language assessment experts in the field for decades. It has three sub-themes: assessment of evolving language ability constructs, validity and validation of language assessments, and understanding internal structures of language assessments. It provides theoretical guidelines for practical language assessment challenges. Chapters are written by language assessment researchers who graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles, where Professor Bachman trained them including the book editors.

Post Pandemic L2 Pedagogy

Post Pandemic L2 Pedagogy
Author: Kristian Adi Putra Kristian Adi Putra
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 196
Release: 2021-08-17
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1000468194

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has created challenges and opportunities for both teachers and students. In many countries, online teaching was something new, never experienced before. Therefore, everyone had to start from scratch. The articles in this proceeding provide the experiences, challenges, and strategies that L2 teachers and students had during the recent emergency remote teaching. Four main themes were covered: 1) online L2 learning curriculum and materials development, 2) L2 learning and acquisition in a virtual learning environment, 3) online L2 testing, assessment, program evaluation, and 4) teacher and students’ critical reflections on online L2 teaching and learning practices. Written by L2 teachers and teacher educators, we dedicate this proceeding to all L2 teachers and teacher educators who continue trying to maintain high-quality L2 education during and post-pandemic.

The Handbook of Asian Englishes

The Handbook of Asian Englishes
Author: Kingsley Bolton
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 928
Release: 2020-09-14
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 1118791657

The first volume of its kind, focusing on the sociolinguistic and socio-political issues surrounding Asian Englishes The Handbook of Asian Englishes provides wide-ranging coverage of the historical and cultural context, contemporary dynamics, and linguistic features of English in use throughout the Asian region. This first-of-its-kind volume offers a wide-ranging exploration of the English language throughout nations in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and East Asia. Contributions by a team of internationally-recognized linguists and scholars of Asian Englishes and Asian languages survey existing works and review new and emerging areas of research in the field. Edited by internationally renowned scholars in the field and structured in four parts, this Handbook explores the status and functions of English in the educational institutions, legal systems, media, popular cultures, and religions of diverse Asian societies. In addition to examining nation-specific topics, this comprehensive volume presents articles exploring pan-Asian issues such as English in Asian schools and universities, English and language policies in the Asian region, and the statistics of English across Asia. Up-to-date research addresses the impact of English as an Asian lingua franca, globalization and Asian Englishes, the dynamics of multilingualism, and more. Examines linguistic history, contemporary linguistic issues, and English in the Outer and Expanding Circles of Asia Focuses on the rapidly-growing complexities of English throughout Asia Includes reviews of the new frontiers of research in Asian Englishes, including the impact of globalization and popular culture Presents an innovative survey of Asian Englishes in one comprehensive volume Serving as an important contribution to fields such as contact linguistics, World Englishes, sociolinguistics, and Asian language studies, The Handbook of Asian Englishes is an invaluable reference resource for undergraduate and graduate students, researchers, and instructors across these areas. Winner of the 2021 PROSE Humanities Category for Language & Linguistics

Is English an Asian Language?

Is English an Asian Language?
Author: Andy Kirkpatrick
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 231
Release: 2020-10-29
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 1107134684

A comprehensive account of how English is being used and reshaped by multilingual Asian speakers to fit their everyday needs.