Edling Digest, Language Assessment in Korea

Mon Jul 13 19:26:31 UTC 2009

--- On Wed, 7/1/09, edling-request at lists.sis.utsa.edu <edling-request at lists.sis.utsa.edu> wrote:

From: edling-request at lists.sis.utsa.edu <edling-request at lists.sis.utsa.edu>
Subject: Edling Digest, Vol 21, Issue 11
To: edling at lists.sis.utsa.edu
Date: Wednesday, July 1, 2009, 1:55 AM

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Today's Topics:

   1. Australia: Language fund risks being lip service (Francis Hult)
   2. Australia: Report blasts bilingual policy changes (Francis Hult)
   3. CFP: Access and Fairness in Education Through Dynamic
      Assessment (Francis Hult)
   4. Language Assessment in Korea (Francis Hult)
   5. CRAL 2009: Figurative Language Learning and Use [CFP]
      (Almudena Fern?ndez)
   6. Botswana: French Embassy Donates Teaching Aids (Francis Hult)
   7. Teachers in the StarTalk Program create Chinese language
      games that engage students (Francis Hult)
   8. Sri Lanka: English as a lifeline skill (Francis Hult)

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Message: 1
Date: Mon, 29 Jun 2009 11:52:30 -0500
From: Francis Hult <francis.hult at utsa.edu>
Subject: [Edling] Australia: Language fund risks being lip service
To: <edling at lists.sis.utsa.edu>
Message-ID:
    <A9B2E1D7E2CAE34FB088BEFC63241A4B60BDC7 at diamonddt.UTSARR.NET>
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The Australian

Language fund risks being lip service

Australian Council of State School Organisations president Steve Carter said the centres would be of great benefit as long as past failures to promote languages were turned around. 

"There's not much point in putting money into infrastructure if it's not accompanied by the human resources to actually maximise those centres," Mr Carter said. 

"The two of them need to go hand in hand. So we would look forward to an additional resourcing into the training of specialist language teachers." Other education advocates said the language centres should be interactive classrooms, where students could engage via the internet with native speakers in other countries, rather than language rooms of the past. 

Full story:

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25697076-12332,00.html

------------------------------

Message: 2
Date: Mon, 29 Jun 2009 11:58:36 -0500
From: Francis Hult <francis.hult at utsa.edu>
Subject: [Edling] Australia: Report blasts bilingual policy changes
To: <edling at lists.sis.utsa.edu>
Message-ID:
    <A9B2E1D7E2CAE34FB088BEFC63241A4B60BDC9 at diamonddt.UTSARR.NET>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

Via lgpolicy...

Report blasts bilingual policy changes
Posted Fri Jun 26, 2009 12:37pm AEST
Updated Fri Jun 26, 2009 12:56pm AEST

A new report says planned changes to bilingual education will not
improve grades. (ABC TV)

 A new report on bilingual education for Indigenous students has
reignited debate on whether the Northern Territory should change its
policy. Under the Territory Government's controversial changes to
bilingual education, all students will learn in English only for the
first four hours of the day from next year.  A report released in
Canberra today by the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander Studies states there is no evidence to suggest the
policy will work.

It says research shows children will achieve better results learning
in their mother tongue in the early years of education.  "If children
are speaking another language when they come to school, they really
need to be taught in that language so that they can get up to the
level where they can absorb English and other lessons in English," the
author of the report, Patrick McConvell, said.

"If you just walk in and start speaking standard English to these
children, you're not going to get good results." But the Education
Department's chief executive, Gary Barnes, says he remains committed
to the new policy. "The earlier we can expose students to standard
English in oral and written form the better it will be," he said.

Indigenous leaders are calling for the policy to be immediately reversed.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/06/26/2609521.htm

------------------------------

Message: 3
Date: Mon, 29 Jun 2009 12:08:39 -0500
From: Francis Hult <francis.hult at utsa.edu>
Subject: [Edling] CFP: Access and Fairness in Education Through
    Dynamic    Assessment
To: <edling at lists.sis.utsa.edu>
Message-ID:
    <A9B2E1D7E2CAE34FB088BEFC63241A4B60BDCB at diamonddt.UTSARR.NET>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

Via AAAL...

CALL FOR PAPERS

Special Issue of:

Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy and Practice

Addressing Issues of Access and Fairness in Education Through Dynamic Assessment

Guest Editors: Matthew E. Poehner & Pauline Rea-Dickins

Assessment in Education is seeking submissions on the topic of Dynamic Assessment for a special edition entitled: Addressing Issues of Access and Fairness in Education Through Dynamic Assessment.  

Dynamic Assessment (DA) is rooted in the Sociocultural Theory of Mind elaborated by the Russian psychologist L.S. Vygotsky more than eighty years ago.  According to this view, human cognitive abilities emerge through participation in activities mediated by cultural artefacts and dialogic interaction with others.  A central tenet of this theory is that independent performance reveals only abilities that have already fully developed, and to understand abilities still in the process of forming one must offer mediating support when problems arise and note the individual's responsiveness.  This process affords the possibility to diagnose the underlying causes of poor performance and to intervene in the development of abilities.  From its inception, this interactive approach to simultaneously assessing and promoting development has held great potential for ameliorating the educational opportunity for all learners and particularly for populations who may be
 disadvantaged by more tra
 ditional forms of assessment.     

This special edition invites high quality original submissions that address theoretical or conceptual issues relevant to the use of DA in educational contexts, that describe new approaches to DA, or that report the application of DA procedures to new challenges and diverse populations.  Possible topic areas include but are limited to the following:

?         Standardized and open-ended or dialogic approaches to DA

?         Use of DA in formal as well as informal (including classroom) contexts

?         Applications of DA with special needs learners

?         Applications of DA with immigrant and minority learners

?         DA and the development of general cognitive abilities

?         DA and the development of abilities in particular content domains (e.g., maths, reading, foreign and second language, etc.)

?         DA procedures with young children through adult learners

?         Theorizing knowledge and abilities in DA

?         Conceptualizing performance and contributions in DA

?         Addressing psychometric critiques of DA

?         Computer-administered DA

?         Feasibility of implementing DA in educational settings

?         DA for summative and formative purposes

?         DA and high-stakes testing

?         Scoring/rating and reporting performance in DA

?         Ethical issues concerning DA in educational settings

Please send proposals to Matthew E. Poehner (mep158 at psu.edu) and Pauline Rea-Dickins (P.Rea-Dickins at bristol.ac.uk <mailto:P.Rea-Dickins at bristol.ac.uk> ).  Informal inquiries may be sent to the same addresses.  

Proposals should be approximately 1 page (A4 size) or roughly 500 words in length.  Please include the following information in your proposal:

?         Title of article

?         Author name(s), affiliation(s), and contact information

?         A summary of the article

?         A statement explaining how the article extends or departs from previous DA work (theoretical or empirical), including contributions to a general understanding of the potential of DA to address educational challenges, including issues of access and fairness. 

Note that if you have already prepared a longer version of your manuscript, this may be submitted in addition to your proposal.

Successful authors will be invited to submit full papers for peer review, following normal procedures.  The following timeline is anticipated:

Abstract deadline                                   30 Sept. 2009

Full paper submission deadline               1 March 2010

Comments from special issue editors      1 April 2010

Revised draft submission deadline           15 May 2010

Comments from external reviewers          30 June 2010 

Final draft submission deadline               1 August 2010 

Anticipated publication date                    November 2010

Assessment in Education provides a focus for scholarly output in the field of assessment.  The journal is explicitly international in focus and encourages contributions from a wide range of assessment systems and cultures.  The intention is to explore both commonalities and differences in policy and practice.  Assessment in Education is the official journal of the International Association for Educational Assessment (IAEA).  http://www.informaworld.com/aie <http://www.informaworld.com/aie> 

------------------------------

Message: 4
Date: Mon, 29 Jun 2009 12:12:04 -0500
From: Francis Hult <francis.hult at utsa.edu>
Subject: [Edling] Language Assessment in Korea
To: <edling at lists.sis.utsa.edu>
Message-ID:
    <A9B2E1D7E2CAE34FB088BEFC63241A4B60BDCC at diamonddt.UTSARR.NET>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

JoongAng Daily

Leave language education to teachers

The Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation recently completed the pilot program for the new English proficiency tests, under the guidelines announced earlier this year. No information is yet available as to the outcome of the initial run, how big a budget has been appropriated, and who will be held responsible if the government's plan to launch a national English testing system in 2012 fails.

This plan should be reconsidered unless it proves impossible to find a better solution to the present problems of English education in Korea. No matter how valid, reliable and discriminating the national English test may be, it would not be practical to invest time, energy, effort and money to develop a completely new system.

Full story:

http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2906579

------------------------------

Message: 5
Date: Tue, 30 Jun 2009 14:20:09 +0200
From: Almudena Fern?ndez <almudena.fernandez at unirioja.es>
Subject: [Edling] CRAL 2009: Figurative Language Learning and Use
    [CFP]
To: <edling at lists.sis.utsa.edu>
Message-ID: <86740DEBB1C64DB49F65362851E5B280 at ur66c18d80f940>
Content-Type: text/plain;    charset="iso-8859-1"

[We apologize for cross postings]

The Center for Research on the Applications of Language (CRAL), based at the University of La Rioja, Spain, solicits papers for the International Conference on Figurative Language Learning and Figurative Language Use: Theory and Applications. An International Conference in Honor of Professor Paul Meara, to be held on October 29-31, 2009, at the  University of La Rioja.

Call Deadline: September 1, 2009
Acceptance notification: September 10
Registration deadline: October 15
Date: October, 29-31, 2009

Further information: http://cral09.cilap.es/en/call-for-papers

Submissions: http://cral09.cilap.es/en/dashboard

For technical questions: webmaster at cilap.es

The Organizing Committee

------------------------------

Message: 6
Date: Tue, 30 Jun 2009 11:54:53 -0500
From: Francis Hult <francis.hult at utsa.edu>
Subject: [Edling] Botswana: French Embassy Donates Teaching Aids
To: <edling at lists.sis.utsa.edu>
Message-ID:
    <A9B2E1D7E2CAE34FB088BEFC63241A4B60BDDD at diamonddt.UTSARR.NET>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

Universtiy of Botswana

French Embassy Donates Teaching Aids

The University of Botswana was among the recipient of French teaching aids worth P150 000 presented at ceremony held at the University of Botswana Library Auditorium on June 9.  

The teaching materials were donated to the University of Botswana and secondary schools in Botswana who offer the French language by the French Embassy in association with the French Biblionef in Gaborone. 

Full story:

http://www.ub.bw/news.cfm?a=828

------------------------------

Message: 7
Date: Tue, 30 Jun 2009 11:56:43 -0500
From: Francis Hult <francis.hult at utsa.edu>
Subject: [Edling] Teachers in the StarTalk Program create Chinese
    language    games that engage students
To: <edling at lists.sis.utsa.edu>
Message-ID:
    <A9B2E1D7E2CAE34FB088BEFC63241A4B60BDDE at diamonddt.UTSARR.NET>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

Examiner.com

Teachers in the StarTalk Program create Chinese language games that engage students

Teachers participating in San Francisco State University's StarTalk Program this summer create Chinese language games that engage even the most reluctant student. StarTalk focuses on second language acquisition and best practices in the teaching of Chinese.

Teachers attended two weeks of workshops on instructional strategies, reading and literacy, storytelling, children's literature, Comic Life and podcasting.  The result was two days of practicum where teams of teachers presented their 50 minute lessons to a group of middle school students.

Full story:

http://www.examiner.com/x-12206-SF-Education-Games-Examiner~y2009m6d29-Teachers-in-the-StarTalk-Program-create-Chinese-language-games-that-engage-students

------------------------------

Message: 8
Date: Tue, 30 Jun 2009 11:59:31 -0500
From: Francis Hult <francis.hult at utsa.edu>
Subject: [Edling] Sri Lanka: English as a lifeline skill
To: <edling at lists.sis.utsa.edu>
Message-ID:
    <A9B2E1D7E2CAE34FB088BEFC63241A4B60BDDF at diamonddt.UTSARR.NET>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

Sri Lanka Guardian

English as a lifeline skill

English has become the main E-Com, Commercial and link language of many Nations due to availability, simplicity, clarity and sheer necessity due to colonisation as a result of Navel Power of the west and resulting exploration of the Globe. A Sinhala trader in Pettah is compelled to have a working knowledge of Tamil for his survival. Though originated in an Island the ownership is shared by the entire world today. English should be used as a servant vehicle for survival, propriety and education and business and not as a master or a social symbol and status. 

English teachers

Presidential Secretariat has continued initiative on the program English as a lifeline, by taking steps to train 219,864 English Teachers in 9472 schools with the help of Indian academics and the Department of Education led by Mr Sunimal Fernando Advisor to the President and Prof. Rajiva Wijesinha who has planned the English education with his Oxford academic brilliance and practical experience in Sri Lanka on the subject are pioneers of the project.

It is an ambitious program to train English teachers in 18 months and provide English education equally to the entire country. The barriers and obstructions were discussed openly and critically headed by the President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who gave clear and decisive directions to the officers present and involved in the program.

Full story:

http://www.srilankaguardian.org/2009/06/english-as-lifeline-skill.html

------------------------------

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