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This study employed communicative language education to assist a subset of a public school in Tondo, Manila, Philippines, especially the Junior High School Grade 7 students, in improving their Englishspeaking abilities. The researchers used the Direct Teaching Method to conduct a teaching and learning process (Pre-test). The students were then given a speaking test. Following the pre-test, the researchers started the teaching-learning process by teaching Communicative Language. After two months of using the communicative language education strategy, the researcher repeated the speaking test (posttest). Compiling the data and calculating the speaking test scores. The following statistical instruments were applied to the data collected for analysis and interpretation: t-Test: Two-Sample Assuming Equal Variances, Weighted Mean, Frequency and Percent Distribution, Standard Deviation, One-Way ANOVA [Single Factor], and the findings of the pre-test and post-test show a considerable improvement in the selected students' speaking ability. Task-based learning is excellent for cultivating language ability because it allows students to participate in natural conversation. The task-based approach gives learners a natural setting in which to utilize language. There are several opportunities for interaction while students try to finish an assignment. Such engagement is said to help with language development since it forces students to converse with one another and articulate their meaning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the relationship between a large-scale and high-stakes English test and test takers' learning behavior. Specifically, it explored whether and how the National Matriculation English Test (NMET) influenced test takers' extracurricular English learning activities under the Chinese Mainland educational context. Based on Bandura's triadic reciprocal determinism theory, this study proposed a distal mediation model and employed covariance-based Structural Equation Modeling to test the model. The data were collected via a cross-sectional survey with 470 test takers. The results showed that test takers' perceptions of the examination exerted direct and indirect effects on their extracurricular English learning activities, and that test takers' perceived self-efficacy for self-regulated learning and academic achievement were two important factors mediating the relationship between their perceptions of the test and extracurricular learning. Furthermore, test takers' perceptions of the exam-approaching have diverse moderating effects on different mediation effects. This study suggests that introducing the triadic reciprocal determinism theory helps understand how an examination influences learning. It also highlights the role of test takers' perceptions of an examination and their perceived self-efficacy in predicting a test's impact on learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

English, being a global language, has become the necessary tool for engineering students to get the best placement. Having understood the need for proficiency in English, students pay attention to master the skills once they get into professional colleges. While students from urban areas and with English medium background pick up the skills quickly, students with rural background lag behind. The lack of English language exposure makes rural students inexpressive and augments their inferiority complex. As a result, they become inattentive and spoil the teaching-learning atmosphere in the classroom. When language teachers pay special attention to such students, youngsters with rural background can participate in the learning process and get good placement. The responsibility of English language teachers is more as they have to complete the syllabus on time apart from developing the English proficiency of students. Based on the real class room experience of the author, this paper analyses how to develop the language proficiency of rural students on four aspects such as Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study aims to emphasize the effectiveness of using literature in the textbook of classes ix-x in Bangladesh. It reviews the arguments for using literature in the language classroom. It is found that literary texts provide wide scope to explore multi-dimensional use of the language in the classroom. The study seeks the preference of the learners' towards using literature based materials in their present text book. In the empirical study the data is collected from five different schools through questionnaire survey. To analyze the data Likert's scale is used. The major findings indicate that learners like to deal with literature based materials like short stories, poems and simplified versions of literary pieces. The study also finds that huge amount of group work and pair work that are provided by the present textbook of classes ix and x are not done in the classroom. In the last the study recommends some suggestions in order to make the teaching-learning process more effective in Bangladesh. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2008, the Ministry of Education of South Korea planned to develop a domestic, standardized language test called the National English Ability Test (NEAT) as part of sweeping reforms designed to democratize and improve the Korean education system. On many levels, NEAT was an innovative initiative. From a financial perspective, NEAT was designed to curb private spending on English education and to divert money from international standardized English tests. Educationally, NEAT was groundbreaking in that it introduced speaking and writing into English assessment and was meant to replace the English section on the College Scholastic Ability Test of Korea. In addition, NEAT was a two-track English test for high school students intended to meet the differing needs of students and colleges. After about five years, including a trialing period and a new presidential administration, plans for implementing NEAT were abandoned officially in 2013. The present paper examines the educational, sociopolitical, and economic factors that led to the rise and demise of NEAT from a critical language testing perspective. Following the tenets of critical language testing, this paper addresses the responsibility of the language testers to create an assessment that fairly measures test-takers' language proficiency. A review and an inductive interpretation of policy documents and recent NEAT research demonstrate the discrepancies among the original intentions of NEAT, the unintended outcomes, and overlooked issues of practicality. Findings also reveal that the two tracks of NEAT negatively branded both students and universities, deepening instead of alleviating the English divide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasingly international orientation of many higher education (HE) institutes and the growing role of English as an academic lingua franca have far-reaching implications for how we conceptualise universities and student mobility. In this paper, it is argued that the complexity and diversity of languages, communities and cultures present in many HE institutes mean we can no longer assume a connection between the language of instruction, a local host community and a national culture and language. This is particularly the case in English medium instruction programmes outside of Anglophones settings but also in international universities in Anglophone settings, both of which will be the focus of this paper. The term transcultural university is adopted to reflect this complexity and to move beyond nation-based conceptions of universities. In educating students for mobility in such environments, it is suggested that pedagogy needs to go beyond essentialist language, culture and nation correlations. Intercultural awareness is proposed as a crucial element in preparing students to negotiate the diversity and fluidity of communicative practices in transcultural universities in which mobile students need equally mobile communicative resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to propose a gradient of learnability as a criterion for setting priorities in pronunciation teaching. A total of 40 Korean subjects (mostly aged 12 year) were tested on their discrimination ability of English sounds before and after participating in a high variability phonetic training (HVPT) program for 4 weeks. This study shows highly promising results for pronunciation teaching with the HVPT method. First, lower level learners show greater improvements in phoneme discrimination ability compared to upper level learners. Second, consonants are better discriminated than vowels and greater improvements are seen with consonant contrasts than with vowels that have a lower functional load. Third, many of the sounds with high functional load have a high learnability. Fourth, greater improvements are seen with sounds that are poorly identified before the training than sounds that are well-identified. Fifth, young learners also benefit from the HVPT, much like highly motivated adult learners. A learnability gradient was established on the basis of the phoneme learnability index and the pairwise learnability index. On the basis of the constructed gradient of learnability and the concept of functional load, a set of priorities was provided for teaching English pronunciation to young Korean learners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

English has emerged as an international language and now it is a window to the world. Man has been using language as a tool of communication for centuries and it is the most widely used instrument. Today language is one of the most prized possessions of man. It acts as a repository of wisdom. As communication plays a vital role in the smooth functioning of an organization, the need to impart communication skills has assumed greater importance but it is still not free from ignorance, prejudice and superstition. Researches in this area have shown that 70% to 80% of the total working time of a professional is spent on communication. In India 64.14% is communicating in English. Thus the role of English in the professional world is still dominant and we have therefore focused our attention on the conventions of communication in English followed in India. To achieve success in one's career it is essential to acquire an ability to speak English effectively and fluently. The present paper will highlights the importance of English and how English can reduce the unemployability by learning communication skills. It also helps one to attain his dream profession through proficiency in English. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study investigated the role of learner-learner interaction in the development of speaking skills of 52 international postgraduate students who enrolled in an intensive English course at the language center at Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) after they failed in English Language Placement Test (ELPT) at the point of entry to the university. A quantitative research method was employed to examine the role of learner-learner interaction in the development of speaking skill of the language learners. The speaking skill of the participants was assessed before and immediately after the English course and, questionnaire was distributed among the participants to get a deeper insight about the role of learner-learner interaction in enhancing their speaking skill. The data gained were analysed through SPSS version 16.0 and were presented in the form of descriptive statistics which include percentages. Findings of the study indicated that learnerlearner interaction played a significant role in the classroom since students were able to improve their speaking skill in the classroom atmosphere. The analysis also confirmed notable concern over employing learner-learner interaction instructions in the developing of speaking skill. The pedagogical implications of the findings suggested the need to include communicative language teaching materials which help language learners practise language in the hope of improving their speaking abilities through the interactions that take place among language learners in the classroom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the growth of the private English language institutes offering preparation for high-stakes International English Language Testing System (IELTS) in Pakistan. In Pakistan, as elsewhere, IELTS has assumed great significance on account of its gate-keeping function in emigration, higher education abroad and professional registration. Demand and candidature grow daily. However, specific conditions that pertain in Pakistan, mainly political instability, and major disparities in wealth and development, have a particular effect on the role of IELTS in the country. The current study employs a qualitative approach and conducts an in-depth face-to-face survey of 20 IELTS preparation institutes of Pakistan. The survey was supplemented by informal conversational interviews with 20 IELTS test-preparers from two different institutes (one local and one international). The survey of the private English Language Teaching industry in Pakistan showed a radical expansion of IELTS preparation courses. Courses, although relatively expensive, are very short and most test-preparers enter them with lower English proficiency than is appropriate for IELTS. The test-preparers have high expectations from the course regarding improvement of their English proficiency which are generally not met. Disappointed test-takers hold some beliefs that their IELTS course and test will be of benefit to them in Pakistan. We argue that because public education is not meeting the demand for English, IELTS is now perceived as a route of English education and general certification, and a badge of middle class status if not actual material gain. These findings have implications for providers of state education in Pakistan. They need to address the lack ofpublicly funded English education and English qualifications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reports on the concerns and issues which 28 experienced and wellqualified teachers expressed during individual semi-structured interviews with the researcher. It describes and discusses the participants' views, pulling together themes representative of a wide range of perspectives on pronunciation teaching. Themes include: teacher anxiety about pronunciation and pronunciation teaching; external factors affecting pronunciation teaching such as curriculum and exam pressures, textbooks, and training received; approaches to teaching and error correction; activities and techniques; and issues related to literacy bias, listen-and-repeat, use of phonemic symbols and pronunciation goals and models. These findings, taken in conjunction with studies of teacher cognition in other contexts, serve to inform all those with an interest in English language teaching, whether they be researchers, teachers or teacher educators, curriculum designers or textbook writers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the resistant stances enacted by six recently-graduated, Hindi medium educated (HME) Indian women against the primacy accorded to English medium educated (EME) individuals in urban professional hiring practices. The data were collected in face-to-face, audio-recorded interviews by the researcher in the summer of 2013 from New Delhi. Aligning with Jaffe's () argument that a salient role of stance-based research is to theorize the relationship between stancetaking and sociocultural conditions and adopting a critical constructivist perspective (while withholding claims about participants' inner psychological states), this paper shows that within the postcolonial context of urban India, the liminal, hybrid, third spaces of participants' locations are discursively connected to the exigencies and inequalities characteristic of their local social structures. Analysis of participants' resistant stances demonstrates their complex, multi-layered, and context-specific characteristics elucidating the ways in which these stance performances are achieved by variously intertwining discourses about linguistic prejudices, nationalism, colonialism, gender and socioeconomic conditions. Specifically, these sociopolitical issues are related to (i) gender-based personal safety anxieties, (ii) neoliberal discourses about India's demographic dividend (i.e. the public celebration of the increase in the country's 'young' population), (iii) arguments about justice, citizenship and national language, (iv) discourses of colonialism and government apathy, (v) group rights, ethics and responsibilities, and (vi) an unvarnished shaming of the ubiquity of EME preference in local hiring practices. The paper argues that HME-associated linguistic exclusionary practices, whether driven by economic necessities or by biased linguistic ideologies, perpetuate and deepen existing class-based divides, fail the aspirational needs of a growing urban, youthful, and vernacular medium educated population while further complicating the challenges faced by women in a historically patriarchal society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Taiwan, English language learning in senior high school has predominantly focused on reading, with a heavy emphasis on memorising vocabulary and grammar rules. English listening has been marginalised and is not officially taught until the first year of university. In 2012, the Joint Board of College Recruitment Commission in Taiwan passed legislation that made the new Test of English Listening Comprehension (TELC) a requirement for university application and a part of the College Entrance Examination for senior high school students. The implementation of this new English listening test policy is likely to have unpredictable impacts on its major stakeholders, particularly the students. The present study explored the extent to which the TELC affected Taiwanese senior high school students’ language learning and their expectations about the teaching of listening in English classes. The findings revealed that the TELC had a general influence on the participants overall and that certain components of the TELC resulted in more significant differences in students’ perceived English listening proficiency than did their subject specialisation. These results suggest that the introduction of this new listening test might serve as leverage for change in the English language teaching in Taiwanese secondary schools in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The research aims at exploring that application of affective instruction in English as a foreign language class in China is conducive to students' cognitive development and target language acquisition. The study involves both quantitative approach depending on the statistical data and qualitative approach to analyze the investigation results. The subjects are 64 sophomores of English majors from School of Foreign Languages at a university in southwestern China. The instruments of the investigation are questionnaires and tests for English majors. The results of the experiments (Research subjects were required to finish questionnaires and testing papers in Sep. 2006 and Jan. 2007 respectively.) indicated that in the pretest the students from two classes are approximately well-matched concerning affective factors and English proficiency, while in the posttest there are changes of students' affective state between the students from the experimental class and the control class (t=3.405, P<0.001) and some differences of the two classes in English proficiency (t=3.239, P<0.01). Based on these research results, the conclusion is drawn that affective instruction contributes to cultivating students' positive affect, and positive affect in turn helps students enhance their target language acquisition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In response to the growing interest in evaluating young learners’ foreign language (FL) performance, this study aims to deepen our understanding of young learners’ developmental differences in interaction during task-based paired-language assessments. To examine age effects separately from the effect of general language proficiency, we analysed learners’ interaction in both their first language (L1) and FL. We observed the students as they engaged in an assessment consisting of a set of decision-making tasks with their peers. After each task, the students self-assessed their performance. We found differences in interactions across grade levels in both L1 and FL with respect to holistic interactional patterns, topic development, and turn-taking patterns. The students’ understanding of communicative interactive tasks also appeared to differ between grade levels, perhaps reflecting their experiential differences with communicative tasks in class. The paper concludes with implications for implementing task-based paired-language assessments for young learners. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Despite the call for using assessment to promote effective learning, most language teachers remain underprepared to conduct classroom-based formative assessment and interpret the summative assessment information for improving instruction as well as learning. Drawing upon a survey of programme and government documents, interviews, student assessment tasks, and teaching evaluation, this paper aims to explore the overall language assessment training landscape in five Hong Kong teacher education institutions against the backdrop of assessment reforms in primary/secondary school contexts. It specifically attempts to investigate the extent to which two assessment courses may facilitate and/or inhibit the development of pre-service teachers’ language assessment literacy in one teacher education institution. Findings indicate that language assessment training in Hong Kong remains inadequate and selected language assessment courses are still unable to bridge the theory-practice gap within the assessment reform context. Implications and recommendations for promoting language assessment literacy are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper explores the underlying construct of both the English proficiency test for pilot and air traffic controller radiotelephony communication developed and administered in Korea and the ICAO language proficiency testing policy on which the test in Korea is based. It does so by canvassing the opinions of Korean airline pilots and air traffic controllers through 400 questionnaire and 22 interview sources. Results reveal a lack of fit between the policy construct and the reality through which the goals and objectives of the policy are accomplished and strong disapproval of the ICAO’s espoused construct and the associated Korean English test from language users in the target domain. This study confirms the importance of eliciting views from such stakeholders (i.e., domain experts) who are well-placed to determine what really matters for communicative success in the context of concern. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article presents the results of an action research project focused on the development of competence in verbal and non-verbal communication skills in university teachers from different academic areas, which aim to improve these skills in the English language, as a complement to professional training and as a tool for improvement in the classroom. Our approach has been to use the same methodology and assessment tools, through the use of e-rubrics and audiovisual recordings. The results demonstrate that participants become aware of their learning objectives and academic progression through the use of e-rubrics and audiovisual recordings. This method has great potential for selfevaluation. Similarly, the use of rubrics for cooperative evaluation is used frequently, but not self-assessment in teachers, which promotes self-directed learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Jordan's labor market for educated youth is characterized by high levels of unemployment, long periods of job search, and firms complaining that youth often lack the appropriate interpersonal and work skills. Search and matching theory offers a potential explanation: if education systems are such that graduates find it difficult to signal competence and achievement through grades and the quality of their institution, then employers might have difficult matching with suitable candidates, resulting in high unemployment. We developed and tested a labor market screening and matching service in Amman, Jordan, which aimed to generate higher employment for educated youth by reducing these matching frictions. This paper examines the first step in this process, which involved testing unemployed, tertiary-educated, youth on mental ability, English proficiency, soft skills, Excel ability, and also measuring their big five personality traits. We show that these measures have predictive power for subsequent employment and for earnings conditional on employment, even after conditioning on major, university, and other controls. Psychometric testing therefore offers the potential to reduce information asymmetries that result in labor market matching frictions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cohesion is deemed to be an indispensible aspect of all written discourse and, hence, this study is intended to explore the employment of the cohesion subset of conjunctions by Sudanese final-year English majors at a large governmental university. The corpus comprises fifty argumentative and narrative essays, and Halliday and Hasan's (1976) taxonomy of conjunctions was utilized as a model for analysis. It was revealed that the corpus was replete with inappropriate conjunction use and it was difficult to dissociate these errors from the students' overall poor writing quality. Yet, on the whole, additives constituted half of the entire errors, followed by causals and adversatives. Concerning additives, and addition proved to be the most problematic, as students tended to transfer both the pervasive use of and and its multiple semantic functions in Arabic into the altogether different English discourse. Among causal conjunctions, because and so misuses together formed the bulk of errors, since the students were apt to confuse result and cause relations in English. Finally, but and although misuse accounted for two thirds of all adversatives errors, largely due to the students superimposing conventions of Arabic discourse, where double- marked subordination is permissible., on English where such a practice is regarded as erroneous. The analysis is accompanied by numerous examples to illustrate the (erroneous) employment of conjunctions in the corpus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to further the understanding of the relationship between two affective learner variables: language anxiety and motivation. The research sample was comprised of university EFL freshmen who were placed into different proficiency levels for required English classes. Results of the data analysis established that anxiety levels were significantly lower when students had a higher degree of motivation. The relation between anxiety and motivation was found to be stronger than that between language proficiency and motivation. Out of the three proficiency levels, the strongest association between anxiety and motivation was seen among advanced-level students. Learner attitude was also found to have a relatively stronger association with anxiety than the other motivational components for students at this proficiency level. The findings suggested that the combination of speaking anxiety and fear of negative evaluation acted as a primary source of language anxiety in the Taiwanese EFL classroom. However, the other anxiety subcomponent, general anxiety about English classes, was found to have the strongest connection with learner motivation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reports on a questionnaire-based investigation of writing strategies used by Singapore primary school pupils. A sample of 1,618 pupils from two local primary schools participated in the study. A number of one-way ANOVA analyses were run to measure the relationship between the participants' use of writing strategies and their English language proficiency. The findings show that Singapore upper primary school pupils used a wide range of writing strategies at a medium frequency. Planning, text-generating, revising, monitoring and evaluating, and resourcing strategies were found to be significantly correlated with the participants' English language results. However, local variations were also detected. Methodological limitations and recommendations for future research are then discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The following correlational study was designed to explore any possible relationship among Willingness to communicate (WTC), communication anxiety (CA), perceived competence (PC) and English language proficiency. The sample comprised of 80 EFL learners, both male and female, majoring in Masters' in English at Education University, Multan. Statistical procedure included Descriptive statistics and A Pearson Product-moment Correlation. All the correlations were found to be significant at 0.01 level (2-tailed). CA was observed as strongly and negatively correlated with WTC and EPT, suggesting that anxious students were relatively less willing to communicate in English language and they showed a tendency to perform poorly on English language proficiency test. These anxious students were also observed to rate themselves to be at a lower perceived competence level. The correlations among WTC, PC and EPT were positive and strong, indicating that the students more willing to communicate, were high achievers on EPT and held a high opinion of their own competence in English language. The study suggests that Pakistani EFL learners are hesitant speakers of English language in most of the social situations and there is a need to reduce their anxiety and enhance their confidence to improve their English language oral skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reading is one of the most integral academic skills in learning a foreign language. According to Anderson (2003), it is the interaction of four factors: the reader, the text, fluent reading and strategic reading. A large number of studies have indeed recognized the importance of the metacognitive reading strategies (MRSs) and text difficulty in reading comprehension. However, the effect of text difficulty on the learners' MRSs use has not been paid due attention in the literature. Accordingly, this study, employing a within-subject design, investigated the effects of text difficulty on MRSs use. Sixty Iranian intermediate EFL learners from two private institutes were asked to answer the Metacognitive Awareness of Reading Strategies Inventory questionnaire (Mokhtari & Reichard, 2002) at three different times, focusing on pre-intermediate (KET), intermediate (PET), and upper intermediate (FCE) texts. To get a better picture of the EFL learners' MRSs, an oral interview was also carried out on 10 participants. The results of the statistical analyses showed that text difficulty had significant effect on metacognitive reading strategy use with problem-solving strategies being affected most. The interview data revealed that the participants in this study benefited from various MRSs such as planning, summarizing and translating especially when the text was difficult. The implications of the study concern foreign language teaching, teacher training and curriculum design with regard to the selection of appropriate reading materials and methodology for EFL learners. Moreover, EFL instructors need to consider the difficulty level of reading materials so as to trigger the learners' metacognitive reading strategy use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Latinos in U.S.–Mexican borderlands encounter language barriers and clashing cultures. If this decade is to become one of transformation, it must grapple with theuncomfortablerealities of Latino students and other minorities of color. This article delineates the theoretical perspectives of the Nepantlera pedagogy, a pedagogy with an emphasis on social justice and human dignity. Paulo Freire's (2000) conscientization, Gloria Anzaldúa's (1999, 2002) path ofconocimientosand concept of Nepantla, and Mikhail Bakhtin's (1981) concepts of dialogism and ideological becoming frame this pedagogical pathway through praxis, identity formation, border epistemologies, language diversity, dialogue, and critical education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research Findings:Home literacy involvement (e.g., shared book reading) has been linked to enhanced cognitive development and school readiness during early childhood. Furthermore, precursory reading and math skills are key predictors of high school achievement. This study examined prospective relations between Mexican mothers’ English proficiency, their home literacy involvement, and their children's school readiness (i.e., preschool reading and math scores). A large, nationally representative sample of preschool-age Mexican American children (N = 826) was used to test a theoretically derived path analysis that demonstrated that mother-reported home literacy involvement mediated the relation between mother-reported English proficiency and children's reading achievement, but not math. Results were evident even after key family and child characteristics were controlled.Practice or Policy:Findings suggest that Mexican American children's early education and development may be enriched by family literacy programs that enhance their mothers’ English proficiency and increase the frequency of home literacy activities. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The present paper addresses the issue of metaphorical representation of transport terminological units. It is studied through the prism of Conceptual Metaphor Theory (Lakoff and Johnson 1980) and theory of attributional and relational metaphor (Gentner and Jeziorski 1993). The analysis is based on the study of relevant terminological dictionaries with the identification of the terms presented metaphorically through the source domain of the human and the human body. The author considers the terms in the English language and their Russian counterparts with the purpose of revealing coincidences or differences in metaphorical representation. The paper aims at discussing the motives, reasons for metaphorization through a certain source object as well as the benefit of such metaphorization in technical communication. The human body is expected to be a yielding source domain for metaphorical representation of transport terms with its universality: the processes taking place in the human organism as well as the functions performed by various body parts are transparent across the world thus making the domain a perfect source of metaphorization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Students who obtain senior certificates in the South African schooling system cannot be assumed to be adequately prepared to meet the demands of tertiary education. This study aims to determine the criterion-related validity of a mathematical proficiency test from the Academic Aptitude Test Battery (AAT-maths), an English language proficiency test (ELSA) and a learning potential test (LPCAT) as predictors of the academic performance of engineering bursary students at tertiary institutions. The findings indicate that these tests have significant criterion-related validity and can improve the likelihood of selecting the most promising bursary students. However, the findings point towards the possibility that the tests or the criterion measure are differentially valid for different race groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article questions how narrative writing is assessed, seeking to understand what we test, what we value, and why. It uses a single anomalous case that arose in the course of my recent PhD thesis to highlight the issues, asking if sufficient attention is being given to the value of emotional content in a piece of writing in comparison to its technical merit. In doing so, the nature and purpose of teaching narrative writing as a subject in EFL is questioned. Given the diversity of English-speaking cultures, has too little attention been given to the importance of narrative writing as a key subject area? Is there unrealized potential for integrating narrative writing into language acquisition? A new dialogue between academics and practitioners is called for to develop new approaches in understanding and enhancing our concepts of ‘narrative writing’. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

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This study traces the development of a vocabulary measure designed to assess multiple types of word knowledge. The assessment, which was administered in conjunction with a science unit about weather and the water cycle for third-and-fourth graders, included items for six knowledge types—recognition, definition, classification/example, context, application, and interrelatedness. The model that included the full range of items provided a better fit with the construct vocabulary knowledge than did the model that included only the definitional knowledge most often assessed in traditional measures. This study provides preliminary support for the feasibility of a multidimensional vocabulary assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the relations between reading fluency and comprehension among elementary school students ( N = 171) in Grades 2, 3, and 5, all of whom were designated as English language learners (ELL) at some point in their educational careers. Although the overall relation between reading fluency and comprehension ( r = .56) was consistent with previous research using non-ELL student samples, results also revealed a substantial number of students (55.5%) who exhibited a significant gap ( SD, 0.67 ) between their scores on reading fluency and comprehension assessments. In addition, the prevalence of students with fluency/comprehension gaps varied significantly across grade and English language proficiency levels. The results suggested that, although reading fluency and comprehension are significantly related for ELL students, practitioners should be cautious when making identification and instructional decisions for ELL students based solely on oral reading fluency data. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explored the effect of Iranian EFL learners' critical thinking abilities on their receptive English language proficiency skills. With this purpose in mind, the researchers administered the Persian version of Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal (WGCTA) and the Interchange Objective Placement Test (Lesley, Hansen, & Zukowski-Faust, 2005) to 96 Intermediate EFL learners, and correlated the scores obtained from the two tests to see whether there is any significant relationship between critical thinking and proficiency. Results from Pearson product-moment correlation showed significant correlations between WGCTA subscales and proficiency scores. Furthermore, while logical interpretation was the only important variable in predicting both reading and listening comprehension scores, a stepwise multiple regression consisting of Watson-Glaser subscales 1 (drawing inferences), 2 (recognizing assumptions), and 4 (logical interpretation) successfully predicted total proficiency test scores (R = .43). To see to what extent total scores for critical thinking may affect English language proficiency, three groups of High, Mid, and Low were formed based on critical thinking scores. The mean proficiency scores of the three groups were compared. One-way ANOVA indicated significant differences in the mean proficiency scores among the three groups. The results of the post-hoc Scheffe test revealed that there was a significant difference between the proficiency scores of the high creative group and those of the two other groups. The implications of the results were discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the system for testing the English language skills of the students in China. It states that the remainders of Chinese students' lives are determined by their English examination results, most especially the tests in college level. It says that almost all of the educational activities in the country are considered exam-oriented, with high-stakes tests. It mentions the two major types of high-stakes English tests in China, namely the entrance examinations and the leaving certificate/school completion examinations.

At a time when the number of internationally mobile students worldwide has been growing steadily, the US share of this market has been declining. Since, as it is often claimed, international students are the best ambassadors for their host countries, an effective recruitment strategy is to enhance their learning experience, with the expectation that others will hear about it. In a post 9/11 environment, we focus on the importance of non-discriminatory environments to bring about successful learning outcomes, which we construe as academic performance and perceived quality of educational experience. We hypothesise that student engagement acts as a mediator in this relationship. We also investigate the moderating effect of perceived English proficiency in the relationship between discrimination and engagement. We find that (1) perceived discrimination has a strong, negative impact on educational experience, (2) the mediation primarily occurs through active and collaborative learning and (3) perceived English proficiency dampens the negative effects of discrimination on engagement. Our findings have important implications for university administrators involved in recruitment efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates pragmatic transfer in persuasion strategies by Chinese learners of English. The subjects of the study include ten native English speakers, ten Chinese learners of English and ten native Chinese speakers. All of them are university students. The classification of persuasion strategies is mainly based on Hardin's classification of lexical and pragmatic realization of persuading speech act. The data is collected by means of a discourse complete test questionnaire The Chi-square test is used to compare frequencies of use of persuasion strategies by the Chinese learner of English group, the native English group and the native Chinese group. Results indicate that although all three groups use complaint strategy most frequently and opting out strategy least frequently, the Chinese learner of English group displays advice/suggestion/recommendation strategy more frequently than the native English group. The Chinese learner of English group also uses opinion-proving strategy less frequently than the native English group and never uses consolation/ condolence strategy. Such pragmatic transfer is transferred from Chinese culture and Chinese thinking pattern, which provides pedagogical implication for language teachers to develop Chinese students' English pragmatic competence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the theoretical framework upon which a democratic classroom is based, and the effects that a curriculum based on social justice has on English Language Learners (ELLs). Furthermore, it explores authentic means of assessing ELLs, in addition to other more traditional and standardized testing. In a social justice framework, all students should have access to the curriculum (Cunningham, 2001). This study analyzes how the use of rigorous curriculum, paired with targeted support for ELLs, may accelerate English development and academic proficiency. The study focuses on an English language development class, in which a rigorous language arts curriculum is adapted to the needs of ELLs. It also examines three case studies of ELLs placed in mainstream language arts classes. Findings from this study suggest that multiple measures of assessment can be utilized as a basis for placement of ELLs. In addition, ELLs may be well served in mainstream classrooms, with adequate support. A quantitative analysis of test scores at the beginning and at the end of the school year and a qualitative analysis of students' performance and attitude will support the use of instructional practices designed to meet the needs of ELLs within an environment of academic rigor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article provides a description of the 150-year history of the school-based English language assessment in Japan. The history is divided into four major periods. The periods in which the history is divided is according to the purpose of English language education that is set by the government. Included in these periods are the period when English was first introduced and taught mainly for elite classes, when English became part of the compulsory education, when English began to be regarded as the most effective means to communicate with foreign people, and when several innovative policies have been introduced into classroom measurement system.

The article discusses the issues and concerns of English language testing in China. The history of testing and examination in China can be traced to the imperial period. However, it is stated that the English language testing in China has much shorter history. These English tests are taken by Chinese English language learners. It is stated that those who passed the tests are successful in their academics and in their life in general. An overview of the tests and examinations of English designed and administered in China, as well as the current research in language testing done by Chinese researchers are presented in the article.

The article is a response by Mary Hilton to an article in the December 2007 issue of the "British Educational Research Journal" that critiqued an article of hers published in the December 2006 issue. The original article was a criticism by Hilton of the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) as a means of measuring literacy internationally. Hilton feels that the examination did not account for unidimensionality and that the tests were biased both linguistically and culturally against minority children or those with inadequate English language skills. Hilton also addresses criticisms she had expressed for the texts that were chosen for the test. The PIRLS results were, Hilton states, were exaggerated by the New Labour Party and were adopted into a political agenda.

The study investigates how 26 Taiwanese non-English-major freshmen responded to an English learning activity based on the notion of critical literacy. Implemented during the 2006 fall semester, this theme-based activity combined different types of learning input, including a classroom weblog, a Chinese news report on gender education, a song in English titled "If I Were a Man," classroom discussion of teenage roles in Taiwan, and an assignment in which students were required to write an alternative version of the song from the perspective of a student of the opposite sex. In order to examine how students reflected on this theme-based learning instruction as a social act, two research questions were formulated: how did the students respond to the activity designed from a critical literacy perspective? and (2) how did the students change their perceptions of language learning and teaching? Data included the instructor's journal entries, students' artifacts, students' reflection papers, and students'' classroom discussions. The present study shows that students in the classroom were situated in a social practice; they were provided many opportunities not only to learn the four basic skills of a language, but also to consider issues related to themselves and their society. This study suggests that educators should promote learning by providing opportunities for students to succeed through their multiple ways of knowing. Moreover, the investigation of the classroom activity based on the notion of critical literacy leads to theoretical and teaching implications for the implementation of critical literacy practices in Taiwan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on nontraditional assignment and assessment programs in the English language. To improve the quality of English writing programs, several educators recommended the participation of students in extracurricular activities. The students who participated in nontraditional assignments and assessments discovered various interesting answers which were beyond the reach of community college writing programs. Educators Thomas Angelo and Patricia Cross believed that students should participate with various organizations and instructors. Information on assessment process and the details of activities are presented including the interviews conducted by students to understand the group or community they had worked with. The students' assignments in service-learning and writing improved their skills and enriched their knowledge of social and cultural issues, including the importance of community work.

The article presents information on the use of drill-type exercises as a part of every beginning lesson in the teaching of English as a second language to help build in right practice and prevent the student from practicing mistakes. The way oral drill helps in avoid wrong practice this type of writing helps the students in the same way. In this type of writing the students abstract from the exercise itself the model or models which they need and in this way are prevented from practicing mistakes. These types of writing exercises which serve as written drill are sometimes called imitative or controlled writing. Preparing this kind of writing assignments require time and thought for teachers. Teachers can use the time they spend in correcting for preparing the writing exercises, since the students correct their own papers. Deceptively simple looking exercises this type of writing are not easy for beginning students regardless of age and academic background in their own language test.

This paper reviews the most important public English examination (matriculation exam) that students take at the end of their secondary education in Bangladesh. The examination is known as the Secondary School Certificate (SSC), which is taken at the end of Grade 10 in the mainstream education in the country. The score of SSC English examination is used as the gatekeeper at the higher secondary (2 years of higher secondary education after matriculation and before tertiary education) and university admission tests. Even though the significance of this English examination is huge from Bangladeshi social, cultural, or economic perspectives, it is highly criticized by the stakeholders and academicians alike. The exam is alleged to fall short to measure the communicative English proficiency of the test users. Accordingly, the reliability of the exam is questionable. However, there is almost no publication or academic paper evaluating the characteristics of the examination which could expand our understanding of the existing problems related to the test. Hence, this review of the SSC English examination examines and describes the features of the examination as it is used in the context from a scholarly point of view, which would constructively pave the way for future researchers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction to the journal is presented in which the editor discusses writing assessment of students in terms of their English language abilities, pedagogical priorities of elementary school teachers and meeting the K-12 writing learning standards.