Carsten Roever

Validation of a Web-Based Test of ESL Pragmalinguistics.

Despite increasing interest in interlanguage pragmatics research, research on assessment of this crucial area of second language competence still lags behind assessment of other aspects of learners’ developing second language (L2) competence. This study describes the development and validation of a 36-item web-based test of ESL pragmalinguistics, measuring learners’ offline knowledge of implicatures and routines with multiple-choice questions, and their knowledge of speech acts with discourse completion tests. The test was delivered online to 267 ESL and EFL learners, ranging in proficiency from beginner to advanced. Evidence for construct validity was collected through correlational analyses and comparisons between groups. The effect of browser familiarity was found to be negligible, and learners generally performed as previous research would suggest: their knowledge of speech acts increased with proficiency, as did their knowledge of implicature. Their knowledge of routines, however, was strongly dependent on L2 exposure. Correlations between the sections and factor analysis confirmed that the routines, implicatures, and speech act sections are related but that each has some unique variance. The test was sufficiently reliable and practical, taking an hour to administer and little time to score. Limitations and future research directions are discussed.

Testing of second language pragmatics: Past and future

Testing of second language pragmatic competence is an underexplored but growing area of second language assessment. Tests have focused on assessing learners’ sociopragmatic and pragmalinguistic abilities but the speech act framework informing most current productive testing instruments in interlanguage pragmatics has been criticized for under-representing the construct. In particular, the assessment of learners’ ability to produce extended monologic and dialogic discourse is a missing component in existing assessments. This paper reviews existing tests and argues for a discursive re-orientation of pragmatics tests. Suggestions for tasks and scoring approaches to assess discursive abilities while maintaining practicality are provided, and the problematicity of native speaker benchmarking is discussed.

Test review: GEPT: General English Proficiency Test:

Length and administration: Test duration ranges from 1 hour 45 minutes at the Elementary level to 3 hours 50 minutes at the Superior level. All four levels below superior (Elementary, Intermediate, HighIntermediate, Advanced) are administered in two stages, with receptive skills tested first, and productive skills only assessed if test takers pass the receptive part.1 Tests for the three lower levels are administered twice a year, the Advanced level is tested once a year, and the Superior level is only tested on request by a sponsoring institution. The Elementary and Intermediate levels are administered at 18 locations throughout Taiwan, the High-Intermediate level in eight locations, and the Advanced level in two locations (Taipei only for the second stage).

A profile of Canadian pediatric occupational therapy practice

Purpose: This study established a current profile of Canadian pediatric occupational therapy practice in terms of theories/practice models, assessments, and interventions. Method: Respondents were 272 members of the Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists who indicated that pediatrics was their primary area of clinical practice. A purpose-designed survey was mailed to participants. Results: The response rate was adequate at 27.2% (n = 272/1,000). The primary client groups seen by pediatric therapists were developmental delay, learning disability, neurology, and those requiring rehabilitation. Sensory Integration and Client-Centred Practice were the most frequently utilized theories/practice models. The most commonly used assessments were the Developmental Test of Visual Motor Integration, Peabody Developmental Motor Scales, Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency, and the Sensory Profile. The most frequently used intervention techniques with pediatric clients were the instruction of parents/caregivers and children; assistive devices, adaptive equipment, and technology; activities of daily living/self-care skills; and environmental modification/access/structuring/adaptation. Conclusions: Pediatric occupational therapists mainly used theories/ practice models that focused on three areas: Client-Centred practice, practice-oriented theories, and several theories/practice models based on occupation. Interventions focused on teaching, activities unique to occupational therapy, and on the functional needs of the client.

A Comparison of Paediatric Occupational Therapy University Program Curricula in New Zealand, Australia, and Canada

Comparisons were made of the paediatric content of professional entry-level occupational therapy university program curricula in Australia, New Zealand, and Canada using an ex post facto survey methodology. The findings indicated that in Australia/New Zealand, paediatrics made up 20% of the total curriculum, but only 13% in Canada. Canadian reference materials were utilized less often in Canadian universities than in Australia/New Zealand. Theories taught most often in Australia/New Zealand were: Sensory Integration, Neurodevelopmental Therapy, Client-Centered Practice, Playfulness, and the Model of Human Occupation. In Canada, the most frequent theories were: Piagets Stages of Cognitive/Intellectual Development, Neurodevelopmental Therapy, Eriksons Eight Stages of Psychosocial Development and Sensory Integration. The most frequently taught paediatric assessment tools in both regions were the Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency and Miller Assessment for Preschoolers. Paediatric intervention methods taught to students in all three countries focused on activities of daily living/self-care, motor skills, perceptual and visual motor integration, and infant and child development.

Paediatric Occupational Therapy University Programme Curricula in the United Kingdom

The paediatric curriculum component of entry-level occupational therapy education programmes in the United Kingdom was examined and comparisons were made with the practice literature to determine if students were being taught current best practices. Questionnaires were mailed electronically to the identified paediatric faculty members of the 27 universities with an entry-level occupational therapy education programme in the United Kingdom. Ten completed questionnaires were returned, giving a response rate of 37%. The survey results indicated that paediatrics constituted less than 5% of the total curriculum content of the respondent university programmes. The theory, assessments and treatment approaches taught in the education programmes were similar to those used in clinical practice with children. Some gaps in what was taught to students were apparent, notably in the key paediatric area of visual perceptual dysfunction. The theory, assessments and intervention methods were not always taught as a cohesive stand-alone unit, so gaps occurred in the education programmes. This could lead to graduates using an eclectic approach or using personal conceptual frameworks based on postgraduate learning and work experience.

Testing ESL Sociopragmatics

In this book, the authors describe the development and validation of a web-based test of second language pragmatics for learners of English.

Multiple Requests in Arabic as a Second Language

Abstract Research in second language pragmatics is increasingly investigating the sequential organization of interaction and how it might be affected by second language learners’ developing proficiency. In this paper, we are focusing on a specific aspect of request organization, namely multiple requests. Through data from natural interaction and role plays, we found that multiple requests occurred in a single turn, either as an original request and its same-format reiteration bracketing accounts and explanations or as repetitions with a more complex and polite format. Multiple requests across turns served a repair function. We argue that same-turn multiple requests are recipient designed to increase the likelihood of acceptance. Higher-level learners of Arabic were more likely to produce multiple requests in the same turn than low-level learners whereas the latter exhibited more multiple requests across turns. The data collection method did not have a discernible effect on findings.

Testing implicature under operational conditions

Pragmatics as an overall construct is concerned with the influence of situational and social context on language use (Austin, 1962; Crystal, 1997; Mey, 2001), be it through the representation of objects and concepts by means of reference and deixis, the indexing of social relationships by means of politeness or honorifics, or the creation of implicature through the flouting of conversational maxims. While pragmatic knowledge and ability for use is an uncontroversial part of general L2 communicative cornpetence (Bachman, 1990; Bachrnan & Palmer, 1996), testing instruments for L2 pragmatics had been underrepresented in language test development until the mid-90s. Since then, several projects have been undertaken to develop tests of second language pragmatics (for overviews and critiques, see McNamara & Roever, 2006; Roever, 2011). The instruments developed so far have focused on the sociopragmatic appropriateness of speech acts (Ahn, 2005; Hudson, Detmer & Brown, 1995; Tada, 2005; Yamashita, 1996; Yoshitake, 1997; Liu, 2006), pragmalinguistic knowledge of implicature, routines and speech acts (Bouton, 1988, 1994, 1999; Roever, 1996, 2005, 2006), speech styles (Cook, 2001), and compliments (Walters, 2004, 2007). Some further testing instruments have been developed for acquisitional and psycholinguistic research studies in the area of speech acts (e.g., Bardovi-Harlig & Dornyei, 1998; Matsumura, 2001, 2003) and implicature (Taguchi, 2005, 2007, 2008).

Speaking in turns and sequences: Interactional competence as a target construct in testing speaking:

In the assessment of speaking, a psycholinguistically based speaking construct has predominated. In this paper, we argue for the integration of the construct of interactional competence (IC) in speaking assessments to broaden the range of defensible inferences from speaking tests. IC emphasizes the co-constructed nature of interaction and enables the rating of L2 users’ ability to deploy interactional tools that lead to shared understandings. Recent work on IC shows that levels of development can be distinguished, for example, in the sequential organization of social actions such as requests and refusals. This can in turn inform interactionally specific ratings. Furthermore, an IC perspective allows a fine-grained analysis of interactions between examiners and test takers to detect effects of examiner talk. Apparent misunderstandings or disfluencies by test takers can be examiner-induced with the test taker’s response actually demonstrating interactional ability rather than lack of proficiency. We argue that inclusion of IC as a construct in testing speaking opens new perspectives on oral proficiency and enhances the validity of speaking assessments.