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Providing a much-needed critical synthesis of research on teaching vocabulary and grammar to students of a second or foreign language, this book puts the research into perspective in order to distil recommendations for language teaching. Boers evaluates a comprehensive range of both well-established and lesser-known research strands and classroom practices to draw out the most effective instructional approaches to teaching words, multiword expressions and grammar patterns. Chapters discuss learning as a by-product of communicative activities, language-focused instruction, diverse types of exercises, mnemonic techniques and more, with a view to building bridges between the available research on such instructional approaches and how they are commonly implemented in actual language courses and textbooks. This book helps teachers make research-informed decisions regarding their instructional approaches to words, phrases and patterns, and direct researchers to specific areas in need of further inquiry. Boers not only demonstrates how research findings can inform effective teaching, but also calls for a deeper appreciation on the part of researchers of the realities of the teaching profession, making this a worthwhile text for preservice teachers, teacher educators, graduate students and scholars.
Typically, books on evaluation in the second and foreign language field deal with large programs and often result from large?scale studies done by the authors. The challenge for ordinary second and foreign language classroom teachers is that they must extrapolate techniques or strategies for evaluation from a very large scale to a much smaller scale, that of the course. At the same time, classroom teachers are responsible for outcomes of their courses and need to do evaluation on a scale and for needs of their choosing. Evaluating Second Language Courses is designed for classroom teachers who are dealing with a single course, and who wish to understand and improve some aspect of their course.
"Counter Responsibility for planning language teaching programs now carries with it a strong element of accountability. Evaluation of the whole process of course design, development, and implementation is therefore a necessary area of activity for course designers, language planners, and researchers. This book brings together accounts of recent work in this increasingly important field and will be a valuable resource both for those already engaged in evaluation and for those in training. Part One presents a review of the literature, covering past developments in the wider field of educational evaluation, as well as specifically in second language education. Part Two contains a series of eight original case-studies, written by scholars involved in evaluations in widely divergent settings. The focus in each case is on how the evaluator addresses the difficulties central to each study, and the findings are also included. The final Part Three provides practical guidance for evaluators, offering suggestions about how to set up and carry out evaluations in any given setting."--Publisher's website.
This volume is designed as a practical handbook that provides guidelines for teams of evaluators investigating a department or language program or individual teachers or language program directors seeking to better understand the content and context of their programs or courses. Although the volume focuses on postsecondary foreign language programs, readers who teach at the secondary levels will be able to easily adapt the guidelines and procedures to their own contexts. The book is divided into three parts: (1) Framing the Evaluation; (2) Asking the Right Questions; and (3) Reporting for Change.
Assessment in the Second Language Writing Classroom is a teacher and prospective teacher-friendly book, uncomplicated by the language of statistics. The book is for those who teach and assess second language writing in several different contexts: the IEP, the developmental writing classroom, and the sheltered composition classroom. In addition, teachers who experience a mixed population or teach cross-cultural composition will find the book a valuable resource. Other books have thoroughly covered the theoretical aspects of writing assessment, but none have focused as heavily as this book does on pragmatic classroom aspects of writing assessment. Further, no book to date has included an in-depth examination of the machine scoring of writing and its effects on second language writers. Crusan not only makes a compelling case for becoming knowledgeable about L2 writing assessment but offers the means to do so. Her highly accessible, thought-provoking presentation of the conceptual and practical dimensions of writing assessment, both for the classroom and on a larger scale, promises to engage readers who have previously found the technical detail of other works on assessment off-putting, as well as those who have had no previous exposure to the study of assessment at all.
Classroom-based Evaluation in Second Language Education has been written to help foreign and second language educators in planning and carrying out effective and comprehensive evaluations in their classrooms. The book emphasizes the value of classroom-based assessment as a tool for improving both teaching and learning. The presentation is non-technical and does not require a specialized background in psychometrics, statistics, or research. The suggested assessment procedures are useful for a broad range of proficiency levels, teaching situations, and instructional approaches. Preview questions and follow-up activities assist the reader in applying the material discussed in each chapter.
Second Language Educational Experiences for Adult Learners explains the latest research on adult learning and then applies that work to specifically address second language learning. In the foundational chapters, this book introduces some of the differences between language learning for adults. In the second half of the volume, the authors move to consider educational design in chapters on curriculum, materials, assessment, and technology. This is an essential book for researchers and students interested in the science of language learning or anyone looking to better understand the science of adult education.
"Counter Responsibility for planning language teaching programs now carries with it a strong element of accountability. Evaluation of the whole process of course design, development, and implementation is therefore a necessary area of activity for course designers, language planners, and researchers. This book brings together accounts of recent work in this increasingly important field and will be a valuable resource both for those already engaged in evaluation and for those in training. Part One presents a review of the literature, covering past developments in the wider field of educational evaluation, as well as specifically in second language education. Part Two contains a series of eight original case-studies, written by scholars involved in evaluations in widely divergent settings. The focus in each case is on how the evaluator addresses the difficulties central to each study, and the findings are also included. The final Part Three provides practical guidance for evaluators, offering suggestions about how to set up and carry out evaluations in any given setting."--Publisher's website.
This book responds to the call for praxis in L2 education by documenting recent and ongoing projects around the world that see partnership with classroom teachers as the essential driver for continuing to develop both classroom assessment practice and conceptual frameworks of assessment in support of teaching and learning. Taken together, these partnerships shape the language assessment literacy, the knowledge and skills required for theorizing and conducting assessment activities, of both practitioners and researchers. While united by their orientation to praxis, the chapters offer considerable diversity with regard to languages taught, learner populations included (varying in age and proficiency level), specific innovations covered, research methods employed, and countries in which the work was conducted. As a whole, the book presents a way of engaging in research with practitioners that is likely to stimulate interest among not only language assessment scholars but also those studying second language education and language teacher education as well as language teaching professionals themselves.
This book presents an overview of revisiting the assessment of language abilities. It also showcases how the measurement of such constructs can result in negative or positive washback and how outcomes might be conducive to repercussions that decide on the future of many stakeholders. The 23 chapters were selected among tens of chapters received from different contexts that addressed the issue of revisiting the assessment of language abilities, such as Tunisia, Ukraine, Algeria, Russia, KSA, Sudan, Egypt, Canada, Kurdistan, UK, USA, Iran, Turkey, etc. These contexts have highlighted the necessity to revisit the different constructs which should be assessed with a clear and straightforward foundation on students’ learning objectives and their actual language ability. To do so, most of the chapters present hands-on use of relevant statistical tests that might serve in revisiting the construct definition both theoretically and operationally. Perhaps the sole and intricate question that the authors of these contributions ask is what it means to revisit the assessment of the construct of individualized language ability and how. In addition, the book accentuates the momentousness and significance of reflecting on test fairness and validation as the mainspring and backbone for democratization of assessment. This book appeals to a broad readership, such as English Language Teaching (ELT) practitioners, language teachers, students, testing organizations, policy-makers, test designers, writers of test specifications, testing experts, researchers, program evaluators, especially in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) as well as other international contexts.