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<font size=3>Bernard et al.: Well, that's partly why I suggested
revisiting the BICS/CALP distinction. And while I agree that
assessments aren't the answer, they're likely to be part of the answer,
particularly since teachers and pupils are increasingly faced with often
poorly designed tests and unjustified interpretations of test
performance. The bottom line is understanding the nature of
language use in the educational context, it seems to me, and, as you
suggest, tests can be used to encourage teachers to discover the complex
language systems pupils already control.<br><br>
Cheers,<br>
Dan <br><br>
At 07:00 PM 12/15/2003 +0200, you wrote:<br>
</font><blockquote type=cite class=cite cite><font face="arial" size=2 color="#0000FF">Dan,
related, but in its labeling unfortunately encouraged the gap by
encouraging the belief that one is inherently (as opposed to socially)
better than the other. Nor am I convinced that assessment instruments are
the answer, unless by that you mean finding a way to encourage teachers
to to discover the complex language systems pupils already control, and
find a way to motivate them to expand this control to other parts of the
system (include e.g. writing).</font><font size=3><br>
</font><font face="arial" size=2 color="#0000FF">Bernard</font><font size=3><br>
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<dl>
<dd><font face="tahoma" size=2>-----Original Message-----<br>
<dd>From:</b> owner-edling@ccat.sas.upenn.edu
[<a href="mailto:owner-edling@ccat.sas.upenn.edu" eudora="autourl">mailto:owner-edling@ccat.sas.upenn.edu</a>]
On Behalf Of </b>Dan Douglas<br>
<dd>Sent:</b> Monday, December 15, 2003 6:42 PM<br>
<dd>To:</b> edling@ccat.sas.upenn.edu<br>
<dd>Subject:</b> Re: Defining issues in Ed Ling<br><br>
</font>
<dd><font size=3>Regarding the re-examination of basic concepts defining
educational linguistics, one such would be Cummins' BICS/CALP distinction
(which is related to what Bernard and others have already mentioned as
the "gap between school languages and home languages", I
think) We need a clearer understanding of precisely what we mean by
"school language" and "home language", and this would
underlie our need for up-to-date assessment instruments, particularly in
bi/multilingual contexts. <br><br>
<dd>Cheers,<br>
<dd>Dan <br><br>
<dd>At 09:55 PM 12/14/2003 -0500, you wrote:<br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite>
<dd>In a recent issue of Working Papers in Ed Linguistics (18,2), the
editors mull over proposed definitions of our field:<br><br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite>
<dd>Spolsky's vision of educational linguistics was that it would be a
field of (applied) linguistics, much like educational psychology or
educational sociology are fields of their disciplines proper, that
"start[s] with a specific problem and then looks to linguistics and
other relevant disciplines for their contribution to its solution"
(1978: 2). <br>
<dd> <br><br>
<dd>Following from a recent discussion about definition, I'm drawing up a
list of the top "problems" in our field. When you
consider educational linguistics overall, what problems, theoretical or
practical, most need to be tackled right now and why? Is there a
pressing need for a basic concept (such as communicative competence) to
be re-examined? What connections urgently need to be made?
<br>
<dd>The following is one example: I suspect that educational
linguistics could benefit from an integrated model of sociolinguistic and
cognitive approaches to SLA, not only to refine theory but for the sake
of solving specific teaching questions, such as what ways are available
to improve the grammatical accuracy of second language students'
writing? One such attempt is proposed by Dwight Atkinson
["Toward a Sociocognitive Approach to Second Language
Acquisition." <br>
<dd>The Modern Language Journal 86 (4): 525-545.]
</blockquote><br><br>
<dd>Leslie<br><br>
<br><br>
<br><br>
<br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite><br>
<dd> </blockquote></blockquote>
<dd>Professor, TESL/Applied Linguistics Program<br>
<dd>Co-editor, Language Testing<br>
</i>
<dd>English Department<br>
<dd>Iowa State University<br>
<dd>Ames, IA 50011, USA<br>
<dd>Phone: (515) 294-9365<br>
<dd>Fax: (515) 294-6814<br>
</font></blockquote>
<x-sigsep><p></x-sigsep>
</dl><font size=3>Professor, TESL/Applied Linguistics Program<br>
Co-editor, <i>Language Testing<br>
</i>English Department<br>
Iowa State University<br>
Ames, IA 50011, USA<br>
Phone: (515) 294-9365<br>
Fax: (515) 294-6814<br>
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