30.2261, FYI: The Assessment of L2 Written English across MENA

Thu May 30 22:14:30 UTC 2019

LINGUIST List: Vol-30-2261. Thu May 30 2019. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 30.2261, FYI: The Assessment of L2 Written English across MENA

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Date: Thu, 30 May 2019 18:07:11
From: Lee McCallum [lm489 at exeter.ac.uk]
Subject: The Assessment of L2 Written English across MENA

2nd Call for Chapters:

The Assessment of L2 Written English across the MENA Region: A Synthesis of
Practice. 

Editors: Lee McCallum and Christine Coombe

Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

The status, demand and use of English across the MENA region has continued to
grow as English takes on an increasingly important role in professional
contexts. In light of this increase, there has been a subsequent need to
ensure citizens in the MENA region have a recognisable and often
professionally accredited level of English language proficiency. In line with
this need, there has also been an increasing need for citizens to have a level
of written English proficiency that allows them to communicate in writing at
local, regional and international levels. This need for written proficiency in
English is also being considered through a more critical lens as the ability
to write well in English impacts on the academic and professional success of
MENA region citizens who seek out study opportunities where English is often
either the medium of instruction or English is a key part of the curriculum.
The assessment of written English proficiency therefore has a considerable
role to play in determining current levels of success and further continued
success in education and the opportunities it brings to citizens both
regionally and internationally.

The assessment of written English proficiency across the MENA region on the
surface may appear homogenous as the countries that make up the region by and
large share a common first language in Arabic and have historically similar
backgrounds. However, there remain several unfounded intricacies between the
countries in the region in terms of populations, wealth distribution, economic
activities and cultural beliefs, all which impact on the status of the English
language and the status, use and desire for written English proficiency. It is
our belief in presenting this book that these intricacies need to be
uncovered, better understood and most importantly illuminated on a platform
where the assessment of writing across the region can be firmly established.
In presenting a synthesis of the assessment practices across the region, we
endeavour to not only illuminate these differences but also focus on a range
of different educational settings, some of which do not currently receive
exposure to the same extent that tertiary level research and practice has done
previously. 
We therefore invite chapter submissions that detail the practice of assessing
writing in contexts from across the MENA region. 

This includes the following countries:
Algeria, Bahrain, Djibouti, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait,
Lebanon, Libya, Malta, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia,
Turkey, United Arab Emirates, West Bank and Gaza, and Yemen.

In doing so, we also provide flexible guidance on topic coverage:

Part 1: Test design, administration and the connection to teaching curriculum

This part of the book offers contributors the opportunity to submit chapters
on the following topics: 

- Methods of assessing writing (e.g. directly and indirectly assessing
writing).
- Test design criteria and evaluation (e.g. adhering to reliability and
validity and considering test design criteria such as practicality, timeliness
and its connection to teaching curriculum learning outcomes).
- Contributions may also consider different types of test administration (e.g.
timed tasks, free writing and the provision of computer-based testing). 
- How contemporary areas of debate on World Englishes and using English as a
Lingua Franca present opportunities and obstacles to test design and
connections to teaching curricula.

Part 2: The reader and writer connection: Exploring grading criteria and
practices

- Types of grading rubrics (e.g. holistic, analytical and primary trait) and
their respective advantages and disadvantages of use in a specific assessment
context.
- Grading practices (e.g. reliability of grading criteria and validity
connections to assessment tasks).
- Grading criteria that sets out clear standards of attainment (e.g. weighted
attention paid to different aspects of written language proficiency).

Part 3: The provision and negotiation of feedback: Student and teacher
responses 

- Types of feedback (written, oral, online, face-to-face) and teacher and
student preferences
- Variation in teacher and peer feedback comments and focus areas. 
- Student uptake of feedback. 

Part 4: Research methods used to capture the assessment and development of
writing 

- Contributions may choose to capture the existing trends of writing
assessment research across a particular context or across a particular level
of assessment.
- Contributions may consider capturing how the research methods used to
capture writing proficiency and assessment may develop in the future.
- Contributions may consider how the practice of conducting assessment
research may be made more rigorous and how best practice can be applied. 

All chapter topics will be evaluated for suitability upon receipt. 

Conventions for chapter submission:

Chapter length: 6,000-8,000 words including tables, figures, appendices and
references. Chapters should follow APA style, 6th edition as detailed at: 
https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_style_introduct
ion.html

In addition, the following guidelines also set parameters for submitted
chapters:

- Title: 10-15 words 
- Abstract: 150-200 words 
- Keywords: 3-5 

The structure of an empirical chapter should include the following elements:

Introduction     
Theoretical framework   
Research problem     
Research questions 
Methodology
Results and Discussion
Implications of the findings for the context     
Conclusion 
Appendices (if relevant)
References 

The structure of theoretical chapters will be evaluated on an individual
basis.

**In this second call for chapters, we are especially encouraging submissions
from writing contexts that cover: Bahrain, Egypt, Oman, Qatar, Jordan, Kuwait
and Lebanon to better balance the content of the book**

Publication timeline
Expressions of interest: June 2019
Full chapter submission: July 2019 – August 2019
Completion of review process: September 2019 – December 2019
Chapter feedback sent to authors: January 2020
Revised chapter submission: 28 February 2020
Final manuscript submitted to Palgrave Macmillan: 13 April 2020
Expected publication release: December 2020

Expressions of interest/chapter submissions should be sent to
lm489 at exeter.ac.uk and ccoombe at hct.ac.ae

Linguistic Field(s): Applied Linguistics
                     General Linguistics
                     Language Acquisition
                     Writing Systems

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