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Language Assessment (language + assessment)

Distribution by Scientific Domains
Humanities and Social Sciences55%
Medical Sciences44%

Selected Abstracts

Using the Barnes Language Assessment with older ethnic minority groups

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF GERIATRIC PSYCHIATRY, Issue 4 2009
Victoria Ramsey
Abstract Objective There are many issues concerning the assessment of older people from ethnic minority groups, the most significant being the language barrier experienced by those whose English is an additional language (EAL). This study aimed to test the hypothesis that EAL participants would score less well than those with English as a first language (EFL) on the sub-tests of the Barnes Language Assessment (BLA), elucidate the reasons for any such differences and discuss the implications. Methods The Barnes Language Assessment (BLA) is an accurate tool providing information about expected patterns of language in different dementia syndromes. This study compares the performance of EAL participants with EFL participants. The BLA was administered to 144 participants, divided into sub-groups with respect to age, gender and educational background, none of whom had a working diagnosis of dementia. Results Results suggest that EAL speakers performed less well compared to EFL speakers when other variables were matched. Significantly better BLA scores, at the one percent level, were found in both EAL and EFL groups with higher educational achievement for eight of the 15 sub-tests. Conclusion Differences were found in performance on the BLA between EAL and EFL participants. The degree of difference between EAL and EFL speakers decreased as educational achievement rose. The consequences of these findings for service delivery and the problems of recruitment of older EAL participants are discussed. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]

If Language Is a Complex Adaptive System, What Is Language Assessment?

LANGUAGE LEARNING, Issue 2009
Robert J. Mislevy
Individuals' use of language in contexts emerges from second-to-second processes of activating and integrating traces of past experiences,an interactionist view compatible with the study of language as a complex adaptive system but quite different from the trait-based framework through which measurement specialists investigate validity, establish reliability, and ensure fairness of assessments. This article discusses assessment arguments from an interactionist perspective. We argue that the familiar concepts and methods of assessment that evolved under a trait perspective can be gainfully reconceived in terms of the finer-grained perspective of interactionism, and we illustrate how key ideas relate to familiar practices in language testing. [source]

From Theory to Practice: General Trends in Foreign Language Teaching Methodology and Their Influence on Language Assessment

LINGUISTICS & LANGUAGE COMPASS (ELECTRONIC), Issue 6 2007
Christine Campbell
In the late 1970s, language-learning theorists redefined ability in a second or foreign language, emphasizing its communicative aspects. The proficient linguist was one who could function effectively in the four skills of speaking, writing, reading comprehension, and listening comprehension in real-life, not contrived or artificial, contexts. This new paradigm led to change in language-teaching methodology; communicative language teaching became the prevailing approach. From that time through the present, developments in language-teaching methodology have both informed trends in language assessment and been influenced by them. One recent pivotal development has been the creation and implementation of the national standards for foreign language learning. The product of both theorists and practitioners, the standards broadened the concept of ability to include the capacity to perform in 11 standards that fall under five goal areas: communication, cultures, connections, comparisons, and communities. However, although the original standards describe the content of instruction, they do not specify performance standards for each of the 11 content standards or provide assessments. As a result, the profession has had to rise to the challenge of producing standards-based assessments in K-16. Select state and school district programs have devised model assessments; others are gradually following suit. With the standards as a catalyst, both teaching and testing will undoubtedly continue to evolve in a positive direction. [source]

Using Electronic Portfolios for Second Language Assessment

MODERN LANGUAGE JOURNAL, Issue 2009
PATRICIA W. CUMMINS
Portfolio assessment as developed in Europe presents a learner-empowering alternative to computer-based testing. The authors present the European Language Portfolio (ELP) and its American adaptations, LinguaFolio and the Global Language Portfolio, as tools to be used with the Common European Framework of Reference for languages and the American national standards, which reference the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages proficiency scale. The ELP's characteristic three-part format, consisting of a language passport, a language biography, and a dossier, builds on earlier research on portfolios and second language assessment. The portfolios' qualitative assessment complements other types of quantitative assessment measures. The authors also explore the unique affordances offered by electronic portfolios to connect teaching and learning to assessment, discuss the effectiveness of portfolios as an assessment tool, and point to future directions for e-portfolio research and development for language learning. [source]

Unilateral Intracarotid Amobarbital Procedure for Language Lateralization

EPILEPSIA, Issue 11 2005
Jörg Wellmer
Summary:,Purpose: The determination of language dominance as part of the presurgical workup of patients with pharmacoresistant epilepsies has experienced fundamental changes. With the introduction of noninvasive functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), the number of patients receiving intracarotid amobarbital procedures (IAPs) for assessment of language dominance has decreased considerably. However, recent studies show that because of methodologic limitations of fMRI, IAP remains an important tool for language lateralization. The current study examines whether unilateral instead of bilateral IAP is an adequate way to apply IAP with reduced invasiveness. Methods: We retrospectively examine the predictive value of unilateral IAP for the results of bilateral IAP based on a sample of 75 patients with various types of language dominance. Target parameters are the prediction of the language-dominant hemisphere and the identification of patients with atypical language dominance. For language assessment based on unilateral IAP, we introduce the measure hemispheric language capacity (HLC). Results: Unilateral IAP performed on the side of intended surgery quantifies language capacity contralateral to the intended surgery. It detects atypical (bilateral or right) language dominance in the majority of patients. Experience with a separate series of 107 patients requiring presurgical language lateralization shows that in >80%, bilateral IAPs are redundant. Conclusions: Unilateral IAP is principally sufficient for language lateralization in the presurgical evaluation of patients with pharmacoresistant epilepsies. Necessity of bilateral IAP is restricted to few indications (e.g., callosotomy). In times of noninvasive language lateralization, we propose unilateral IAP as the method of choice for the verification of doubtful (bilateral) fMRI activation patterns. [source]

Recurrent Wernicke's Aphasia: Migraine and Not Stroke!

HEADACHE, Issue 5 2009
Nishant Kumar Mishra MBBS
We report the clinical findings of a 40-year-old woman with recurrent migraine presenting with Wernicke's aphasia in accordance with the results of a standardized battery for language assessment (Boston Aphasia Diagnostic Examination). The patient had no evidence of parenchymal or vascular lesions on MRI and showed delta and theta slowing over the left posterior temporal leads on the EEG. Although the acute onset of a fluent aphasia suggested stroke as a likely etiology, the recurrence of aphasia as the initial symptom of migraine was related to cortical spreading depression and not to stroke. [source]

From Theory to Practice: General Trends in Foreign Language Teaching Methodology and Their Influence on Language Assessment

LINGUISTICS & LANGUAGE COMPASS (ELECTRONIC), Issue 6 2007
Christine Campbell
In the late 1970s, language-learning theorists redefined ability in a second or foreign language, emphasizing its communicative aspects. The proficient linguist was one who could function effectively in the four skills of speaking, writing, reading comprehension, and listening comprehension in real-life, not contrived or artificial, contexts. This new paradigm led to change in language-teaching methodology; communicative language teaching became the prevailing approach. From that time through the present, developments in language-teaching methodology have both informed trends in language assessment and been influenced by them. One recent pivotal development has been the creation and implementation of the national standards for foreign language learning. The product of both theorists and practitioners, the standards broadened the concept of ability to include the capacity to perform in 11 standards that fall under five goal areas: communication, cultures, connections, comparisons, and communities. However, although the original standards describe the content of instruction, they do not specify performance standards for each of the 11 content standards or provide assessments. As a result, the profession has had to rise to the challenge of producing standards-based assessments in K-16. Select state and school district programs have devised model assessments; others are gradually following suit. With the standards as a catalyst, both teaching and testing will undoubtedly continue to evolve in a positive direction. [source]

Using Electronic Portfolios for Second Language Assessment

MODERN LANGUAGE JOURNAL, Issue 2009
PATRICIA W. CUMMINS
Portfolio assessment as developed in Europe presents a learner-empowering alternative to computer-based testing. The authors present the European Language Portfolio (ELP) and its American adaptations, LinguaFolio and the Global Language Portfolio, as tools to be used with the Common European Framework of Reference for languages and the American national standards, which reference the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages proficiency scale. The ELP's characteristic three-part format, consisting of a language passport, a language biography, and a dossier, builds on earlier research on portfolios and second language assessment. The portfolios' qualitative assessment complements other types of quantitative assessment measures. The authors also explore the unique affordances offered by electronic portfolios to connect teaching and learning to assessment, discuss the effectiveness of portfolios as an assessment tool, and point to future directions for e-portfolio research and development for language learning. [source]