Lia Plakans

Discourse Synthesis in Integrated Second Language Writing Assessment.

As integrated tasks become more common in assessing writing for academic purposes, it is necessary to investigate how test takers approach these tasks. The present study explores the processes of test takers undertaking reading-to-write tasks developed for a university English placement exam. Think-aloud protocols and interviews of university-level non-native writers of English were collected to capture the writers’ composing processes. These data were analysed to determine if the tasks elicited an academic writing process of discourse synthesis and to identify what language issues were present. The results revealed some writers use discourse synthesis subprocesses in composing responses to the reading-to-write tasks, with apparent d ifferences across writers. Language difficulties that emerged for writers were vocabulary knowledge and use, as well as stylistic concerns. The implications of the study suggest that reading-to-write tasks may elicit a discourse synthesis process that could be used for validity evidence in some contexts and lead to more appropriate placement into academic writing courses.

Does teachers' confidence with CALL equal innovative and integrated use?

This paper examines the relationship between confidence and CALL – specifically the use of audio and video technology among language teachers. Through logged usage of CALL, the authors tracked seven teachers at two large universities in the United States over a term. These teachers were also interviewed periodically in order to gain insight into their confidence with and use of CALL.  Upon data analysis, the authors identified the teachers as less confident, contextually confident and highly confident. Highly confident teachers used technology less often with less integration than the contextually confident teachers. Less confident teachers integrated CALL only in prescribed ways. The authors conclude that CALL teacher preparation may benefit from a focus on developing contextualized confidence within certain teaching domains or types of technology rather than expecting teachers to develop a high level of confidence with technology across domains.

Toward a Transparent Construct of Reading-to-Write Tasks: The Interface Between Discourse Features and Proficiency

As a growing number of testing programs use integrated writing tasks, more validation research is needed to inform stakeholders about score use and interpretation. The current study investigates the relationship between writing proficiency and discourse features in an integrated reading–writing task. At a Middle Eastern university, 136 undergraduate students completed a reading-based writing task. The essays were holistically scored by two raters and then classified into three proficiency levels. In addition, the essays were analyzed for a number of discourse features, including fluency, lexical sophistication, syntactic complexity, grammatical accuracy, verbatim source use, and direct and indirect source use. A one-way analysis of variance was employed to look into the relationship between writing proficiency and the discourse features of interest. The results yielded significant differences across proficiency levels for a number of discourse features. Nonetheless, follow-up comparisons indicated that the differences were greater between the lowest level and the two upper levels. As for the upper levels, no statistically significant differences were found between these two levels for most of the discourse features. The implications of the study suggest that the selected discourse features play a major role at lower levels, whereas other textual features, such as cohesion, content, and organization, are more critical at higher level writing. The results also support the need in a construct of integrated writing for the inclusion of reading proficiency and knowledge about discourse synthesis.

English Language Spread in Local Contexts: Turkey, Latvia and France

In the discussion of English language spread policies, scholars have taken various viewpoints. One approach concerns the diffusion-of-English and language ecology paradigms, which distinguish externally dominant English spread and resistance to this hegemony. Others have questioned this approach, and proposed that English language spread is not limited to external control, but that local forces also play a role in the spread. These perspectives challenge English language teachers and others to look at the impact of the local situation on the spread of English. This paper discusses English language spread in education at primary school level in Turkey, Latvia and France. The description is based on a review of research on English spread in these three countries as well as analysis of documents such as class enrolments, policy in education, constitutional legislation and reports by ministries of education. Despite some differences in policy in the three countries, they are all experiencing increases in the study of English in primary education. The paper concludes with findings on the applicability of the diffusion-of-English and language ecology perspectives on English language spread in local EFL contexts.

Integrated Second Language Writing Assessment: Why? What? How?

Integrated writing assessment has appeared in large-scale language tests as well as in classrooms focused on building academic language skills in a second language. Their increasing use is accompanied by research to explore the validity and usefulness of these tasks. This article reviews literature on integrated assessment via three questions asked in the assessment process: Why use integrated assessment? What does it tell us about writing? and How should we design such tasks?

Shaping a score: Complexity, accuracy, and fluency in integrated writing performances

The present study investigates integrated writing assessment performances with regard to the linguistic features of complexity, accuracy, and fluency (CAF). Given the increasing presence of integrated tasks in large-scale and classroom assessments, validity evidence is needed for the claim that their scores reflect targeted language abilities. Four hundred and eighty integrated writing essays from the Internet-based Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) were analyzed using CAF measures with correlation and regression to determine how well these linguistic features predict scores on reading–listening–writing tasks. The results indicate a cumulative impact on scores from these three features. Fluency was found to be the strongest predictor of integrated writing scores. Analysis of error type revealed that morphological errors contributed more to the regression statistic than syntactic or lexical errors. Complexity was significant but had the lowest correlation to score across all variables.

The Decision-Making Process in Language Program Placement: Test and Nontest Factors Interacting in Context

The use of tests has been targeted as a critical point in validity, which suggests that contexts for test use warrant closer investigation. This article describes a study of decision making during test use in the context of a university intensive English language program. Over a period of 2½ years, data were collected by audio-recording placement sessions in which the program director and an instructor made decisions based on a three-part placement exam, TOEFL scores, course grades, instructor evaluations, and other information. Analysis of the sessions revealed four major areas impacting test use and the decision-making process: (a) test performance and score factors, (b) student factors, (c) test user factors, and (d) program factors (i.e., number and size of levels, curriculum, textbooks). These four areas represent factors in the placement process that are clearly about tests (test performance and score) and factors that have less relation to tests or scores such as test users and programmatic factors. The test and nontest factors interacted in the placement process to navigate borderlines between levels, confirm placements, and adhere to programmatic constraints.

Topical knowledge in L2 speaking assessment: Comparing independent and integrated speaking test tasks:

Integrated speaking test tasks (integrated tasks) provide reading and/or listening input to serve as the basis for test-takers to formulate their oral responses. This study examined the influence of topical knowledge on integrated speaking test performance and compared independent speaking test performance and integrated speaking test performance in terms of how each was related to topical knowledge. The researchers derived four integrated tasks from TOEFL iBT preparation materials, developed four independent speaking test tasks (independent tasks), and validated four topical knowledge tests (TKTs) on a group of 421 EFL learners. For the main study, they invited another 352 students to respond to the TKTs and to perform two independent tasks and two integrated tasks. Half of the test takers took the independent tasks and integrated tasks on one topic combination while the other half took tasks on another topic combination. Data analysis, drawing on a series of path analyses, led to two major findings. First, topical knowledge significantly impacted integrated speaking test performance in both topic combinations. Second, the impact of topical knowledge on the two types of speaking test performances was topic dependent. Implications are proposed in light of these findings.