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Washback Effect
Washback effect refers to the impact of testing on curriculum design, teaching practices, and learning behaviors. The influences of testing can be found in the choices of learners and teachers: teachers may teach directly for specific test preparation, or learners might focus on specific aspects of language learning found in assessments. Washback effect in testing is typically seen as either negative, or positive (sometimes referred to as ''washforward''). Washback may be considered harmful to more fluid approaches in language education where definitions of language ability may be limited; however, it may be considered beneficial when good teaching practices result. Washback can also be positive or negative in that it either maintains or hinders the accomplishment of educational goals. In positive washback, teaching the curriculum becomes the same as teaching to a specific test. Negative washback occurs in situations where there may be a mismatch between the stated goals of instruct ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scotch Whisky
Scotch whisky (; sco, Scots whisky/whiskie, whusk(e)y; often simply called whisky or Scotch) is malt whisky or grain whisky (or a blend of the two), made in Scotland. All Scotch whisky was originally made from malted barley. Commercial distilleries began introducing whisky made from wheat and rye in the late 18th century. , there were 141 whisky distilleries operating in Scotland. All Scotch whisky must be aged immediately after distillation in oak barrels for at least three years. Any age statement on a bottle of Scotch whisky, expressed in numerical form, must reflect the age of the youngest whisky used to produce that product. A whisky with an age statement is known as guaranteed-age whisky. A whisky without an age statement is known as a no age statement (NAS) whisky, the only guarantee being that all whisky contained in that bottle is at least three years old. The minimum bottling strength according to the regulation is 40% alcohol by volume. Scotch whisky is divided in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Language Assessment
Language assessment or language testing is a field of study under the umbrella of applied linguistics. Its main focus is the assessment of first, second or other language in the school, college, or university context; assessment of language use in the workplace; and assessment of language in the immigration, citizenship, and asylum contexts. The assessment may include listening, speaking, reading, writing, an integration of two or more of these skills, or other constructs of language ability. Equal weight may be placed on knowledge (understanding how the language works theoretically) and proficiency (ability to use the language practically), or greater weight may be given to one aspect or the other. History The history of language testing may have originated in the late nineteenth century testing of ESL at Cambridge and Oxford in England, but the earliest works in language assessment in the United States date back to the 1950s to the pioneering studies and test created by R ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Language Education
Language education – the process and practice of teaching a second or foreign language – is primarily a branch of applied linguistics, but can be an interdisciplinary field. There are four main learning categories for language education: communicative competencies, proficiencies, cross-cultural experiences, and multiple literacies. Need Increasing globalization has created a great need for people in the workforce who can communicate in multiple languages. Common languages are used in areas such as trade, tourism, diplomacy, technology, media, translation, interpretation and science. Many countries such as Korea (Kim Yeong-seo, 2009), Japan (Kubota, 1998) and China (Kirkpatrick & Zhichang, 2002) frame education policies to teach at least one foreign language at the primary and secondary school levels. However, some countries such as India, Singapore, Malaysia, Pakistan, and the Philippines use a second official language in their governments. According to GAO (2010), China ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Language Tests
The following is a non-exhaustive list of standardized tests that assess a person's language proficiency of a foreign/secondary language. Various types of such exams exist per many languages—some are organized at an international level even through national authoritative organizations, while others simply for specific limited business or study orientation. Afrikaans * Official ACTFL Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI) Akan-Twi * Official ACTFL Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI) Albanian * The Foreign Language Achievement Testing Service at Brigham Young University offer both BYU and non-BYU students the opportunity to test their ability in the language * ACTFL Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI) * University of Tirana offers its own levels A1-C2. Exams are held on the last Friday of every month, except July, August and December. American Sign Language * ASLPI American Sign Language Proficiency Interview *SLPI Sign Language Proficiency Interview Amharic * Official ACTFL Oral Pr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Applied Linguistics
Applied linguistics is an interdisciplinary field which identifies, investigates, and offers solutions to language-related real-life problems. Some of the academic fields related to applied linguistics are education, psychology, communication research, information science, natural language processing, anthropology, and sociology. Domain Applied linguistics is an interdisciplinary field. Major branches of applied linguistics include bilingualism and multilingualism, conversation analysis, contrastive linguistics, language assessment, literacies, discourse analysis, language pedagogy, second language acquisition, language planning and policy, interlinguistics, stylistics, language teacher education, forensic linguistics, and translation. Journals Major journals of the field include ''Research Methods in Applied Linguistics'', ''Annual Review of Applied Linguistics'', ''Applied Linguistics'', Studies in Second Language Acquisition, ''Applied Psycholinguistics'', ''Internat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Educational Evaluation Methods
Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. Various researchers emphasize the role of critical thinking in order to distinguish education from indoctrination. Some theorists require that education results in an improvement of the student while others prefer a value-neutral definition of the term. In a slightly different sense, education may also refer, not to the process, but to the product of this process: the mental states and dispositions possessed by educated people. Education originated as the transmission of cultural heritage from one generation to the next. Today, educational goals increasingly encompass new ideas such as the liberation of learners, skills needed for modern society, empathy, and complex vocational skills. Types of education are commonly divided into formal, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Impact Assessment
Policy Impact Assessments (IAs) are formal, evidence-based procedures that assess the economic, social, and environmental effects of public policy. They have been incorporated into policy making in the OECD countries and the European Commission. Key types of impact assessments include global assessments (global level), policy impact assessment (policy level), strategic environmental assessment (programme and plan level), and environmental impact assessment (project level). Impact assessments can focus on specific themes, such as social impact assessments and gender impact assessments. IAs can improve legislation by: * Informing policy makers about potential economic, social, and environmental ramifications * Improving transparency so that contributions to sustainability and "better regulation" are disclosed and special interest lobbying is discouraged * Increasing public participation in order to reflect a range of considerations, thereby improving the legitimacy of policies * Clar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Teaching To The Test
"Teaching to the test" is a colloquial term for any method of education whose curriculum is heavily focused on preparing students for a standardized test. Opponents of this practice argue that it forces teachers to limit curriculum to a set range of knowledge or skills in order to increase student performance on the mandated test. This produces an unhealthy focus on excessive repetition of simple, isolated skills ("drill and kill") and limits the teacher's ability to foster a holistic understanding of the subject matter. With high-stakes testing impeding over every decision teachers make, they are often forced to teach to the tests rather than to their students. This can drain instruction of passion and meaning as students are taught information from a bare-bones curriculum. This would be an incidence of Campbell's law, the general principle that a social indicator distorts the process it is intended to monitor. Furthermore, opponents argue, teachers who engage in it are typically ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Language Proficiency
Language proficiency is the ability of an individual to use language with a level of accuracy that transfers meaning in production and comprehension. There is no singular definition of language proficiency: while certain groups limit its scope to speaking ability, others extend it to cover both productive and receptive language skills and their effective application in varying practical contexts. However, this diversity has implications for its application in other language domains such as literacy, testing, endangered languages, language impairment, etc. There is little consistency as to how different organizations classify it. Native-level fluency is estimated to require a lexicon between 20,000 and 40,000 words, but basic conversational fluency might require as few as 3,000 words. Developing language proficiency Developing proficiency in any language begins with word learning. By the time they are 12 months old, children learn their first words and by the time they are 36 mont ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
List Of Language Proficiency Tests
The following is a non-exhaustive list of standardized tests that assess a person's language proficiency of a foreign/secondary language. Various types of such exams exist per many languages—some are organized at an international level even through national authoritative organizations, while others simply for specific limited business or study orientation. Afrikaans * Official ACTFL Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI) Akan-Twi * Official ACTFL Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI) Albanian * The Foreign Language Achievement Testing Service at Brigham Young University offer both BYU and non-BYU students the opportunity to test their ability in the language * ACTFL Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI) * University of Tirana offers its own levels A1-C2. Exams are held on the last Friday of every month, except July, August and December. American Sign Language * ASLPI American Sign Language Proficiency Interview *SLPI Sign Language Proficiency Interview Amharic * Official ACTFL Oral Profi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
IELTS
The International English Language Testing System (IELTS ), is an international standardized test of English language proficiency for non-native English language speakers. It is jointly managed by the British Council, IDP: IELTS Australia and Cambridge Assessment English, and was established in 1989. IELTS is one of the major English-language tests in the world. IELTS is accepted by most Australian, British, Canadian, European, Irish and New Zealand academic institutions, by over 3,000 academic institutions in the United States, and by various professional organisations across the world. IELTS is approved by UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) as a Secure English Language Test for visa applicants both outside and inside the UK. It also meets requirements for immigration to Australia, where Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) and Pearson Test of English Academic are also accepted, and New Zealand. In Canada, IELTS, TEF, or CELPIP are accepted by the immigration autho ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Language Education
Language education – the process and practice of teaching a second or foreign language – is primarily a branch of applied linguistics, but can be an interdisciplinary field. There are four main learning categories for language education: communicative competencies, proficiencies, cross-cultural experiences, and multiple literacies. Need Increasing globalization has created a great need for people in the workforce who can communicate in multiple languages. Common languages are used in areas such as trade, tourism, diplomacy, technology, media, translation, interpretation and science. Many countries such as Korea (Kim Yeong-seo, 2009), Japan (Kubota, 1998) and China (Kirkpatrick & Zhichang, 2002) frame education policies to teach at least one foreign language at the primary and secondary school levels. However, some countries such as India, Singapore, Malaysia, Pakistan, and the Philippines use a second official language in their governments. According to GAO (2010), China ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
