Testing the Untestable in Language Education

by Paran, Amos; Sercu, Lies

• ISBN13: 9781847692658
• ISBN10: 1847692656
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-06-07
• Publisher: Multilingual Matters

Summary

This book investigates the intersections between language learning and language assessment, and four specific areas within language learning: learner autonomy, intercultural competence, literature and literary competence, and the integration of content and language learning. The book is a valuable addition to the literature on what are seemingly untestable and unassessable facets of foreign language competence.

Author Biography

Amos Paran is Senior Lecturer at the Institute of Education, University of London, where he is Programme Leader of the MA TESOL. He has a special interest in master's level teaching by distance learning, and has also been involved in testing projects in a variety of different languages. His main research interests are reading in a foreign language, literature in language teaching, and distance education.
Lies Sercu is an Associate Professor of Linguistics at the University of Leuven. Her research interests concern the promotion of intercultural competence through foreign language education as well as SLA vocabulary acquisition from reading and writing texts in a foreign language. She has been involved in the development of language tests and blended learning environments for the professionalisation of language teachers. She has published widely in major international journals on intercultur competence and foreign vocabulary acquisition.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 More than Language: The Multiple Faces of Testing and Assessment in Language Learning and Teaching - Amos Paran

PART 1 INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE

Chapter 2 Assessing Intercultural Competence: More Questions than Answers - Lies Sercu

Chapter 3 Interculturally Savvy or Not? Developing and Assessing Intercultural Competence in the Context of Learning for Business - Kaisu Korhonen

Chapter 4 Eliciting The Intercultural in Foreign Language Education at School - Anthony J. Liddicoat and Angela Scarino

PART 2 AUTONOMY

Chapter 5 Measuring Autonomy: Should We Put Our Ability to the Test? - Phil Benson

Chapter 6 Assessment of Autonomy or Assessment for Autonomy? Evaluating Learner Autonomy for Formative Purposes - Terry Lamb

Chapter 7 Learners Reflecting on Learning: Evaluation versus Testing in Autonomous Language Learning - Leni Dam and Lienhard Legenhausen

PART 3 LITERATURE

Chapter 8 Between Scylla and Charybdis: The Dilemmas of Testing Language and Literature - Amos Paran

Chapter 9 Crossing The Bridge from Appreciative Reader to Reflective Writer: The Assessment of Creative Process - Jane Spiro

Chapter 10 The Taming of the Immeasurable: An Empirical Assessment of Language Awareness - Hui-wei Lin

PART 4 LANGUAGE AND CONTENT

Chapter 11 Assessing Language and Content: A Functional Perspective - Bernard Mohan, Constant Leung and Tammy Slater

Chapter 12 Teachers and Texts: Judging What ELLs Know From What They Say - Marylin Low

Chapter 13 Towards Systematic and Sustained Formative Assessment of Causal Explanations in Oral Interactions - Tammy Slater and Bernard Mohan