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摘要：This article begins by defining World Englishes (WEs) and the related paradigm of inner-, outer-, and expanding-circle English(es). The discussion then turns to the central concerns of the WEs and language testing (LT) communities with regard to how English tests can best be constructed to include various WEs by discussing (a) what language testers need to understand about WEs (i.e., that the English native speaker norm is no longer sacred and that three different perspectives on English diversity may prove useful in LT) and (b) what language testers need to convey to WEs advocates (i.e., that LT is already contributing to the understanding of linguistic variation, that LT is not ignoring WEs issues, and that LT is much more than the standardized international tests). The article ends with seven recommendations that should make the intersection of WEs and LT more productive. Adapted from the source document

摘要：Professor J. Charles Alderson is interviewed. Adapted from the source document

摘要：Despite the popularity of task-based language teaching (TBLT) in foreign language (FL) education at elementary school, it remains unclear how young learners' FL abilities can best be evaluated with tasks. The present study seeks to understand developmental differences in interactions among elementary-school students during task-based language assessment (TBLA) and aims to address the possibilities and limitations of introducing paired-TBLA among young FL learners. The participants were 32 fourth-grade students (ages 9-10) and 32 sixth-grade students (ages 11-12) and their teachers from a FL program where TBLT was mandated. The students were engaged in two sets of assessment tasks with their peers. It was found that the interaction patterns were different between the two grade levels. Compared with the sixth-grade dyads, the fourth-grade dyads showed less mutual topic development, used formulaic turn-taking more frequently, and had a harder time taking their partners' perspectives during the tasks. Consequently, a smaller variety of interactional functions were observed among the fourth graders. The potential for eliciting a wide range of interactional functions, which is a primary advantage of introducing paired assessment, may have limited application for younger dyads. The study also discusses the strategic roles that such interactional characteristics may play among younger learners. Adapted from the source document

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摘要：This article outlines the current state of and recent developments in the use of corpora for language assessment and considers future directions with a special focus on computational methodology. Because corpora began to make inroads into language assessment in the 1990s, test developers have increasingly used them as a reference resource to become well versed in terms of the linguistic characteristics of expert and novice speakers' usage and identify the test construct. In regard to developing and validating language tests, large representative corpora, learner corpora, and specialized corpora have been actively used, as these corpora have made it possible to systematically compare the linguistic features associated with expert users with those found in learner language. Recent advances in computational approaches to assessment can facilitate this comparison to a great extent using technologies in automated essay scoring and learner language analysis. As an emerging area in the field of language assessment, corpus-based research should extend to less explored areas including compilation and longitudinal analysis of developmental corpora, fine-grained microanalysis of learner's development, and assessment attuned to individual learners who use different linguistic varieties. Adapted from the source document

摘要：This study investigates the relationships between test takers' metacognitive and cognitive strategy use through a questionnaire and their test performance on an English as a Foreign Language reading test. A total of 593 Chinese college test takers responded to a 38-item metacognitive and cognitive strategy questionnaire and a 50-item reading test. The data were randomly split into two samples (N = 296 and N = 297). Based on relevant literature, three models (i.e., unitary, higher order, and correlated) of strategy use and test performance were hypothesized and tested to identify the baseline model. Further, cross-validation analyses were conducted. The results supported the invariance of factor loadings, measurement error variances, structural regression coefficients, and factor variances for the unitary model. It was found that college test takers' strategy use affected their lexico-grammatical reading ability significantly. Findings from this study provide empirical and validating evidence for Bachman and Palmer's (2010) model of strategic competence. Adapted from the source document

摘要：As part of the English-language proficiency requirements for pilots and air traffic controllers, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) published a rating scale designed to assess pilots' and air traffic controllers' aviation English proficiency. However, it is not clear how this scale was developed. As part of an attempt to address the need for validation, this paper presents a study involving focus group interviews with pilots. Ten pilots listened to performances of test takers taking a variety of aviation English tests. The pilots were asked to rate the acceptability of the pilot's language for (a) communicating with other pilots and (b) radiotelephony communications with air traffic control. The focus groups had two aims: (1) to establish the 'indigenous' assessment criteria pilots use when assessing the language ability of peers and (2) to establish what level is sufficient as the operational level. The results showed that the pilots focused on some but not all of the criteria on the ICAO scale. Whilst listening to the performances, they also often focused on the speakers' technical knowledge. The paper proposes a model of how industry professionals can be involved in the validation of an LSP rating scales. [Copyright The American University; published by Elsevier Ltd.]

摘要：Qian and Schedl's Depth of Vocabulary Knowledge Test was administered to 31 native-speaker undergraduates under an 'unconstrained' condition, in which the number of responses to headwords was unfixed, whereas a corresponding group (n = 36) completed the test under the original 'constrained' condition. Results revealed lower accuracy in the unconstrained condition and in paradigmatic versus syntagmatic responses. Native speakers failed to reach the 90% criterion on most unconstrained and many constrained items. Although certain modifications could improve such a test (e.g., eliminating psycholinguistically anomalous headwords, such as adjectives, or presenting responses to headwords discontinuously), two intransigent problems impede test validity. First, collocates in the mental lexicon differ in tightness and vary across dialects, sociolects, and age groups. Second, it is more serious that second-language Depth of Vocabulary Knowledge Tests are likely spot checks of metalinguistic knowledge rather than depth tests that reflect what learners would actually produce in spontaneous utterances. Adapted from the source document

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摘要：Self-assessment practices have become widespread in second language (L2) education, and while its proponents have long argued that such reflection enhances learner awareness of their abilities and promotes independent learning (Alderson, 2005; Chen, 2008; Little, 2007), others have questioned its value vis-a-vis other indicators of performance (Gipps, 1994; Ross, 1998). This article approaches learner self-assessment from a Vygotskian perspective, and specifically the proposal of the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD). According to this view, development is understood as transitioning from other-regulated to self-regulated functioning. Following Zuckerman (2003), engaging in reflective evaluation of performance is argued to be a critical feature of this process. Data from a study involving L2 learners of French participating in a Dynamic Assessment (Lantolf & Poehner, 2004) program are presented to explore how this development may occur and to examine challenges learners may experience as they endeavor to regulate not only their use of the L2 during completion of tasks but also while evaluating their performance. In keeping with the notion of the ZPD, it is argued that learner efforts to self-assess must be carefully mediated as they move from a cooperative to an independent mode of self-assessment. Adapted from the source document

摘要：In a recent state-of-the-art (SoA) article (Stoynoff 2009), I reviewed some of the trends in language assessment research and considered them in light of validation activities associated with four widely used international measures of L2 English ability. This Thinking Allowed article presents an opportunity to revisit the four broad areas of L2 assessment research (conceptualizations of the L2 construct, validation theory and practice, the application of technology to language assessment, and the consequences of assessment) discussed in the previous SoA and to propose tasks I believe will promote further advances in L2 assessment. Of course, the research tasks I suggest represent a personal stance and readers are encouraged to consider additional perspectives, including those expressed by Bachman (2000), Chalhoub-Deville & Deville (2005), McNamara & Roever (2006), Shaw & Weir (2007), and Stansfield (2008). Moreover, readers will find useful descriptions of current research approaches to investigating L2 assessments in Lumley & Brown (2005), Weir (2005a), Chapelle, Enright & Jamieson (2008), Lazaraton (2008), and Xi (2008). Adapted from the source document

摘要：Health literacy, defined as an individual's capacity to process health information in order to make appropriate health decisions, is the focus of increasing attention in medical fields due to growing awareness that suboptimal health literacy is associated with poorer health outcomes. To explore this issue, a number of instruments, reported to have high internal consistency and strong correlations with general literacy tests, have been developed. However, their validity as measures of the target construct is seldom explored using multiple sources of evidence. The current study, involving collaboration between health professionals and language specialists, set out to assess the validity of the Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy in Medicine (REALM), which describes itself as a 'reading recognition' test that measures ability to pronounce common medical and lay terms. Drawing on a sample of 310 respondents, including both native and non-native speakers of English, investigations were undertaken to probe the REALM's validity as a measure of understanding the selected terms and to consider associations between scores on this widely used test and those derived from other recognized health literacy tests. Results suggest that the REALM is underrepresenting the health literacy construct and that the test may also be biased against non-native speakers of English. The study points to an expanded role for language testers, working in collaboration with experts from medical disciplines, in developing and evaluating health literacy tools. Adapted from the source document

摘要：Language testing has seen unprecedented expansion during the first part of the 21st century. As a result there is an increasing need for the language testing profession to consider more precisely what it means by 'assessment literacy' and to articulate its role in the creation of new pedagogic materials and programs in language testing and assessment to meet the changing needs of teachers and other stakeholders for a new age. This article describes a research project in which a survey instrument was developed, piloted, and delivered on the Internet to elicit the assessment training needs of language teachers. The results were used to inform the design of new teaching materials and the further development of online resources that could be used to support program delivery. The project makes two significant contributions. First, it provides new empirically derived content for the concept of assessment literacy within which to frame materials development and teaching. Second, it uncovered methodological problems with existing survey techniques that may have impacted upon earlier studies, and solutions to these problems are suggested. Adapted from the source document

摘要：This study, which is part of a large-scale study of using objective measures to validate assessment rating scales and assessment tasks in a high-profile school-based assessment initiative in Hong Kong, examined how grammatical complexity measures relate to task type and analytic evaluations of students' speaking proficiency in a classroom-based assessment context. An in-depth analysis of oral performance on two different assessment tasks (i.e., monologic vs. interactive) from 30 English as a Second Language, Cantonese-mother-tongue, secondary school students was conducted using a range of measures of grammatical complexity derived from the previous second language (L2) speaking and writing studies. Results showed that the individual presentation task tended to promote not only a greater number of T-units, clauses, verb phrases, and words but also longer T-units and utterances, thus probably stretching learners more in terms of complexity of grammatical and lexical processing. Results also showed that complexity measures recommended as among the most useful complexity measures demonstrated no significant correlations with analytic ratings of learner speaking proficiency. These findings were then discussed in light of the complex, dynamic, and developmental nature of grammatical complexity as well as in light of a learner-, task-, and L2 form-sensitive account of L2 oral production. Adapted from the source document

摘要：This study explored whether American and Chinese English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers differ in their evaluations of student oral performance by examining the assessments of two groups of raters in an undergraduate speech competition. Each of the 21 contestants presented a 3-min prepared speech on a required topic, responded to a follow-up question, and gave a 1-min impromptu speech on a new topic. Three Chinese and three American EFL teachers rated the speech performances and recorded their comments for the individual contestants as well as for the contestants as a group. Immediately following the competition, the researcher interviewed the raters. The results revealed that American and Chinese EFL raters showed a high degree of agreement on the competition winners and the scores for the contestants. Qualitatively, however, the raters differed in their comments about the students' pronunciation, usage of English expressions, and speech delivery. The Chinese raters unanimously offered positive comments in these three areas, whereas the American raters gave varied and extensive critical comments. These results suggest a need for increased communication between Chinese and American EFL teachers, especially regarding their perceptions of what constitutes good English speech and their pedagogical priorities for oral English instruction. Adapted from the source document

摘要：This study focused on the interface between classroom assessment and learning motivation, in particular, whether and how classroom tests and grades motivated student effort. In a university in Taiwan, six English as a Foreign Language teacher interviews were conducted, and 744 student surveys, accompanied by 289 more detailed written opinions, were gathered and analyzed. It was found that teacher considerations in designing classroom tests and assigning nontest grades were associated with intentions to ensure student efforts. Students were generally alert to grade-related requirements but reacted differently. Many indicated the effectiveness of tests in inducing student effort but felt ambivalent about being pushed to study by tests and grades. Teachers should avoid actually demotivating students when their original aim was to motivate. Adapted from the source document

摘要：Few prior studies have examined degree of fidelity between raters' assessments of oral performances and objectively observable prosodic indices of accentedness. Prosodic indices of accentedness quantify trait-relevant variance, whereas rater background variables represent trait-irrelevant variance. The present study, therefore, investigated the extent to which raters' background characteristics and instrumentally measured prosodic indices of speakers' accentedness jointly influenced the rating of oral performances. Seventy U.S. undergraduate students rated the speaking and teaching proficiency of 11 international teaching assistants (ITAs). Using the PRAAT computer program, 5 min of continuous speech from each of the ITAs were instrumentally analyzed for a number of indices of speech rate, pausing, stress, and intonation. Dependent variables were undergraduates' ratings of ITA oral proficiency and instructional competence. Rater background variables such as the listener's native speaker status and experience as a language tutor explained 7-9% of the variance in oral performance ratings, whereas 18-19% was attributable to the prosody variables. These findings suggest that U.S. undergraduates are sensitive to trait-relevant indicators of ITA oral proficiency. At the same time, their speech evaluations are subject to substantial bias based on their own backgrounds. Adapted from the source document

摘要：Test accommodations have been proposed to help overcome the unfair challenges faced by English Language Learners (ELLs) due to their relatively low English proficiency. A test accommodation is regarded as effective when it improves the test performance of ELLs. However, this improvement raises the question of whether such accommodations give ELLs an unfair advantage. One criterion used in determining a test accommodation's fairness is that it should only remove the disadvantage that ELLs face in regard to their low language proficiency, without giving ELLs any additional advantages. This criterion is met when the test accommodation does not improve the test performance of the non-ELLs when the same accommodation is applied to them. To determine the fairness and, thus, the validity of test accommodations for ELLs, a meta-analysis using hierarchical linear modeling was conducted to compare the effects of test accommodations on the test performance of ELLs and on that of non-ELLs. The results indicated that test accommodations improved ELLs' test performance by about 0.156 standard deviation units but did not discernibly influence the test performance of non-ELLs. This meta-analysis, therefore, constitutes evidence to support the fairness and validity of providing test accommodations for ELLs. Adapted from the source document

摘要：The aim of this study was to apply the Rasch model to an analysis of the psychometric properties of the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-III Form A (PPVT-IIIA) items with struggling adult readers. The PPVT-IIIA was administered to 229 African American adults whose isolated word reading skills were between third and fifth grades. Conformity of the adults' performance on the PPVT-IIIA items was evaluated using the Winsteps software. Analysis of all PPVT-IIIA items combined did not fully support its use as a useful measure of receptive vocabulary for struggling adult readers who were African Americans. To achieve an adequate model fit, Items 73 through 156 were analyzed. The items analyzed showed adequate internal consistency reliability, unidimensionality, and freedom from differential item functioning for ability, gender, and age, with a minor modification. With an appropriate treatment of misfit items, the results supported the measurement properties, internal consistency reliability, unidimensionality of the PPVT-IIIA items, and measurement invariance of the test across subgroups of ability, age, and gender. Adapted from the source document