Robyn Louise Spence-Brown

The Eye of the Beholder: Authenticity in an Embedded Assessment Task.

Authenticity is now firmly established as a central concern in test design and test validation (Bachman, 1990). However, there is disagreement about what authenticity is and about the degree of authenticity that can realistically be achieved. This article explores the theoretical and practical issues surrounding authenticity in course-based assessment, drawing on data from a university-level Japanese language course in Australia. It examines a teaching and assessment activity based around interviewing native speakers outside the classroom, which was designed to optimize authenticity. Using tapes that students made of the interview for assessment and retrospective interviews, the study examines various dimensions of authenticity and reveals a wide diversity in individual experiences. The article argues that the addition of an assessment dimension fundamentally changes the nature of a task, and thus compromises authenticity. It further suggests that authenticity must be viewed in terms of the implementation of an activity, not its design, and examines the various factors that affect the degree of authenticity experienced by individual students. The implications of this diversity for the validity of the activity are discussed.

On Rocky Ground: Monolingual Educational Structures and Japanese Language Education in Australia

The low levels of language study in Australia are often attributed to the lack of motivation of students and deficiencies in the implementation of language programs. This chapter suggests that such problems are linked to deeper issues, and that the most powerful determinant of language learning rates is the nature of the general educational structures in which language education is embedded. Drawing on data from the most widely taught language in Australia, Japanese, it discusses structural determinants of program delivery and student choices, from primary to tertiary levels, and their impact. These diverse structures all reflect the monolingual educational ecology in Australia. The chapter argues that until language learning is taken seriously enough to prompt fundamental structural reforms, other efforts will only result in marginal improvements. More generally, it confirms the importance of looking beyond the specifics of languages education to the broader social and institutional ecologies in which they sit.

The Symbiosis of Japanese Studies and Japanese Language Teaching: A Language Teaching Perspective

The tensions and commonalities between language teaching and teaching about Japan have long been a subject for discussion by those involved in teaching Japanese. It has become something of a platitude that socio-cultural content is essential to the teaching of language, but there is still a need for discussion about what this should be, and how it should be combined with the teaching of linguistic skills. In many language courses the socio-cultural elements of the course are designed and taught in a much less coherent way than the linguistic elements, if they are included at all. In this paper I will argue from an applied linguistic viewpoint for the place of Japanese studies in language teaching, and also examine some of the factors that prevent us from integrating the study of Japan into our language courses. Finally, I will discuss the kind of materials and courses which need to be developed if we are to progress from talking about incorporating Japanese studies in language courses to actually doing so in meaningful ways.