A Modular Approach to Testing English Language Skills

A Modular Approach to Testing English Language Skills

Author: Roger Hawkey

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 545

ISBN-13: 0521013321

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Documents the development of the Cambridge ESOL Certificates in English Language Skills (CELS), a suite of modular examinations first offered in 2002. As a context for how CELS was conceived, developed, constructed, validated and managed, the book traces the history of exams which have influenced CELS. The Royal Society of Arts (RSA), later UCLES (University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate) Communicative Use of English as a Foreign Language examinations (CUEFL) was one such influence, as were the Certificates in Communication Skills in English (CCSE), these exams being a development of the CUEFL. The University of Oxford Delegacy of Local Examinations (UODLE) examinations, taken over by UCLES in 1995, were a further influence on CELS. UODLE itself had worked in partnership with the Association of Recognised Language Schools (ARELS) Examinations Trust, the Oxford EFL reading and writing exams for many years offered in tandem with the ARELS Oral English exams.


Examining Speaking

Examining Speaking

Author: Lynda Taylor

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2011-08-25

Total Pages: 409

ISBN-13: 0521736706

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

An up-to-date review of the relevant literature on assessing speaking.


Examining Listening

Examining Listening

Author: Ardeshir Geranpayeh

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2013-03-27

Total Pages: 481

ISBN-13: 1107602637

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This volume examines the nature of second language listening proficiency and how it can be assessed. The book highlights the need for test developers to provide a clear explication of the ability constructs which underpin the tests they offer in the public domain. This is increasingly necessary if claims about the validity of test score interpretation and use are to be supported both logically and with empirical evidence. It operationalises a comprehensive test validation framework which adopts a socio-cognitive perspective. The framework embraces six core components, examining and then analysing Cambridge ESOL listening tasks from the following perspectives: Test Taker; Cognitive Validity; Context Validity; Scoring Validity; Criterion-related Validity; and Consequential Validity.


Measured Constructs

Measured Constructs

Author: Cyril J. Weir

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2013-05-23

Total Pages: 673

ISBN-13: 1107677696

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This volume establishes how English language constructs were measured in Cambridge English examinations over the period 1913 to 2012. An addition to the Studies in Language Testing series, this volume provides an overview of English language testing over the last century, with coverage of key theoretical and practical aspects of the assessment of reading, listening, writing and speaking skills. It includes examples of the Cambridge English exams, old and new, and is the first volume to describe in a systematic way the different theoretical influences which have shaped the development of the constructs underlying Cambridge English exams in the last 100 years.


The Concise Companion to Language Assessment

The Concise Companion to Language Assessment

Author: Antony John Kunnan

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2024-09-04

Total Pages: 725

ISBN-13: 1394179618

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The Concise Companion to Language Assessment provides a state-of-the-art overview of the crucial areas of language assessment, teaching, and learning. Edited by one of the foremost scholars in the field, The Concise Companion combines newly commissioned articles on innovations in assessment with a selection of chapters from The Companion to Language Assessment, the landmark four-volume reference work first published in 2013. Presented in eight themes, The Concise Companion addresses a broad range of language assessment methods, issues, and contexts. Forty-five chapters cover assessment conceptualization, development, research, and policy, as well as recent changes in language assessment technology, learning-oriented assessment, teacher-based assessment, teacher assessment literacy, plurilingual assessment, assessment for immigration, and more. Exploring the past, present, and future possibilities of the dynamic field, The Concise Companion to Language Assessment: Contains dedicated chapters on listening, speaking, reading writing, vocabulary, pronunciation, intercultural competence, and other language skills Describes fundamental assessment design and scoring guidelines, as well as advanced concepts in scenario-based assessment and automated performance scoring Provides insights on different assessment environments, such as classrooms, universities, employment, immigration, and healthcare Covers various qualitative and quantitative research methods, including introspective methods, classical reliability, and structural equation modeling Discusses the impacts of colonialism and discrimination on the history of language assessment Explores the use of AI in writing evaluation, plagiarism and cheating detection, and other assessment contexts Sure to become a standard text for the next generation of applied linguistics students, The Concise Companion to Language Assessment is an invaluable textbook for undergraduate and graduate courses in applied linguistics, language assessment, TESOL, second language acquisition, and language policy.


Examining FCE and CAE

Examining FCE and CAE

Author: Roger Hawkey

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2009-03-19

Total Pages: 449

ISBN-13: 0521736722

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This volume examines the historical development of the First Certificate in English (FCE) and the Certificate in Advanced English (CAE).


IELTS Washback in Context

IELTS Washback in Context

Author: Anthony Green

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2007-11-29

Total Pages: 15

ISBN-13: 052169292X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This volume investigates the washback of the IELTS Writing test on English for Academic Purposes provision.


Examining Writing

Examining Writing

Author: Stuart D. Shaw

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2007-07-05

Total Pages: 364

ISBN-13: 9780521692939

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Test developers need to provide a clear explication of the language ability constructs that underpin the tests they offer in the public domain; such an explication is essential for supporting claims about the validity - or usefulness - of test scores. This volume describes the theory and practice of Cambridge ESOL's approach to assessing second language writing ability. A comprehensive test validation framework is used to examine the tasks in Cambridge ESOL writing tests from a number of different validity perspectives that reflect the socio-cognitive nature of any assessment event. The authors show how an understanding and analysis of the framework and its components can assist test developers to operationalise their tests more effectively, especially in relation to the key criteria that differentiate one proficiency level from another. The book provides: an up-to-date review of relevant literature on assessing writing, an accessible and systematic description of the different proficiency levels in second language writing, a comprehensive and coherent basis for validating tests of writing. This volume is a rich source of information on all aspects of examining writing ability. As such, it will be of considerable interest to examination boards who wish to validate their own writing tests in a systematic and coherent manner, as well as to academic researchers and students in the field of language assessment more generally. Book jacket.


IELTS Collected Papers 2

IELTS Collected Papers 2

Author: Lynda B. Taylor

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2012-02-23

Total Pages: 601

ISBN-13: 1107602645

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This volume reports research that informs the development of reading and listening assessment in IELTS. This volume brings together a set of eight IELTS-related research studies - four on reading and four on listening - conducted between 2005 and 2010. Findings from these studies provide valuable evidence on the validity, reliability, impact and practicality of the IELTS test; they are also instrumental in highlighting aspects needing attention, and thus directly inform the continuing evolution of the IELTS reading and listening tests. The volume reviews and comments on the specific contribution of each study to the ongoing process of IELTS reading and listening test design and development.


Learning Oriented Assessment

Learning Oriented Assessment

Author: Neil Jones

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2016-05-19

Total Pages: 169

ISBN-13: 1316507882

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This volume outlines the general principles of Learning Oriented Assessment (LOA), placing it in the context of European language learning policy. The authors pose three key questions central to LOA: 'What is learning?' , 'What is to be learned?' and 'What is to be assessed?'. It focuses on the use of evidence, and how it can be collected and used to feed back into learning, overviews large-scale assessment as practised by Cambridge English and learning-oriented classroom assessment practices, and concludes with a look at implementing LOA in practice. With fresh insights into the role of assessment in supporting learning, this volume will be of considerable interest to assessment practitioners, teachers and academics, educational policy-makers and examination board personnel.