Assessing Foreign Language Training Needs of Adults
Assessing Foreign Language Training Needs of Adults

Author: Kaarina Yli-Renko

Publisher:

Published: 1988

Total Pages: 104

ISBN-13:

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A study investigated the foreign language needs of employees in Finland's Ministry of the Interior as a basis for developing a language training policy. Both individual employees and department heads were surveyed about perceived language training needs. Results suggest that foreign language proficiency is very important to the ministry's functioning, with the need for language skills increasing in the future. The most important languages were found to be Swedish, English, and German, with French, Russian, Norwegian, and Danish also mentioned as needed. The language proficiency of personnel was found to be insufficient, with the greatest amount of training needed in Swedish and English oral proficiency. The employees felt they needed a higher level of language proficiency for the performance of their work than the department heads felt was required. The findings suggest that self-assessment may give more realistic information about language training needs than official assessments. (Author/MSE)

Identifying the Needs of Adults Learning a Foreign Language
Identifying the Needs of Adults Learning a Foreign Language

Author: René Richterich

Publisher: Oxford ; New York : Pergamon Press

Published: 1980

Total Pages: 146

ISBN-13:

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Analyse et identification des besoins en langue. Définition du rôle joué par l'identification des besoins dans le système unité/crédit. Suggestions pour de nouvelles méthodes d'identification.

Self-assessment of Foreign Language Skills
Self-assessment of Foreign Language Skills

Author: Mats Oskarsson

Publisher:

Published: 1984

Total Pages: 60

ISBN-13:

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A review of research in self-assessment techniques for foreign language skills is based on a survey of the literature and the results of a survey of teachers, researchers, and administrators in adult education centers in many areas of the world. Two late 1970s surveys of self-assessment research and pilot experiments concerning the general validity and usefulness of learners' estimates are described, and more recent research is reviewed. A growing body of research on the use of self-assessment procedures for continuous evaluation purposes is also examined, and the survey results are reported. The pattern emerging is of consistent overall agreement of self-estimates and external criteria, but the need for practice in autonomous learning and self-directed evaluation is emphasized in some of the sources, and it is suggested that teacher training in these areas is a further prerequisite for effective development of self-evaluation techniques. A variety of self-assessment aids are described and illustrated, and it is noted that the kind of instrument seeming to yield the most accurate information consists of descriptions of concrete linguistic situations that the learner can interpret and evaluate in behavioral terms. Implications of the findings and areas needing further study are discussed. (Author/MSE)

A Principled Approach to Language Assessment
A Principled Approach to Language Assessment

Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2020-09-19

Total Pages: 113

ISBN-13: 0309675480

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The United States is formally represented around the world by approximately 14,000 Foreign Service officers and other personnel in the U.S. Department of State. Roughly one-third of them are required to be proficient in the local languages of the countries to which they are posted. To achieve this language proficiency for its staff, the State Department's Foreign Service Institute (FSI) provides intensive language instruction and assesses the proficiency of personnel before they are posted to a foreign country. The requirement for language proficiency is established in law and is incorporated in personnel decisions related to job placement, promotion, retention, and pay. A Principled Approach to Language Assessment: Considerations for the U.S. Foreign Service Institute evaluates the different approaches that exist to assess foreign language proficiency that FSI could potentially use. This report considers the key assessment approaches in the research literature that are appropriate for language testing, including, but not limited to, assessments that use task-based or performance-based approaches, adaptive online test administration, and portfolios.

Second Language Educational Experiences for Adult Learners
Second Language Educational Experiences for Adult Learners

Author: John M. Norris

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2017-04-21

Total Pages: 319

ISBN-13: 1351863169

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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.

New Trends in Foreign Language Teaching
New Trends in Foreign Language Teaching

Author: Raúl Ruiz Cecilia

Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing

Published: 2019-01-15

Total Pages: 320

ISBN-13: 1527525473

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Language teaching approaches, methods and procedures are constantly undergoing reassessment. New ideas keep emerging as the growing complexity of the means of communication and the opportunities created by technology put language skills to new uses. In addition, the political, social and economic impact of globalisation, the new demands of the labour market that result from it, the pursuit of competitiveness, the challenges of intercultural communication and the diversification of culture have opened new perspectives on the central role that foreign languages have come to play in the development of contemporary societies. This book provides an insight into the latest developments in the field and discusses the new trends in foreign language teaching in four major areas, namely methods and approaches, teacher training, innovation in the classroom, and evaluation and assessment.

Handbook of Second Language Assessment
Handbook of Second Language Assessment

Author: Dina Tsagari

Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG

Published: 2016-03-07

Total Pages: 470

ISBN-13: 1501500864

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Second language assessment is ubiquitous. It has found its way from education into questions about access to professions and migration. This volume focuses on the main debates and research advances in second language assessment in the last fifty years or so, showing the influence of linguistics, politics, philosophy, psychology, sociology, and psychometrics. There are four parts which, when taken together, address the principles and practices of second language assessment while considering its impact on society. Read separately, each part addresses a different aspect of the field. Part I deals with the conceptual foundations of second language assessment with chapters on the purposes of assessment, and standards and frameworks, as well as matters of scoring, quality assurance, and test validation. Part II addresses the theory and practice of assessing different second language skills including aspects like intercultural competence and fluency. Part III examines the challenges and opportunities of second language assessment in a range of contexts. In addition to chapters on second language assessment on a national scale, there are chapters on learning-oriented assessment, as well as the uses of second language assessment in the workplace and for migration. Part IV examines a selection of important issues in the field that deserve attention. These include the alignment of language examinations to external frameworks, the increasing use of technology to both deliver and score second language tests, the responsibilities associated with assessing test takers with special needs, the concept of 'voice' in second language assessment, and assessment literacy for teachers and other test and score users.

Task-Based Language Education
Task-Based Language Education

Author: Kris van den Branden

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2006-10-05

Total Pages: 296

ISBN-13: 9780521689526

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Task-based language teaching (TBLT) has been attracting the attention of researchers, curriculum developers, teacher trainers and language teachers for many years. However, much of the available literature and research has been from a psycholinguistic perspective, driven by the desire to understand how people acquire a second language. Far less research has been carried out as to whether TBLT works for real teachers and real learners in a classroom environment. This book aims to offer a unique contribution by uniting a discussion of task-based pedagogical principles with descriptions of their application to real life language education problems. It provides an account of the many challenges and obstacles that the implementation of TBLT raises and discusses the different options for overcoming them. The book contains a substantial body of research from Flanders, where the implementation of TBLT has been a nationwide project for fifteen years in primary, secondary and adult education.