Defining issues in Ed Ling

[Bernard Spolsky]

Dan
Tests, I suppose, but rather careful observation and sustained interaction
to see how the tests are selective..
Bernard Spolsky   spolsb at mail.biu.ac.il 

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-edling at ccat.sas.upenn.edu
[mailto:owner-edling at ccat.sas.upenn.edu] On Behalf Of Dan Douglas
Sent: Monday, December 15, 2003 8:42 PM
To: edling at ccat.sas.upenn.edu
Subject: RE: Defining issues in Ed Ling


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.

Cheers,
Dan 

At 07:00 PM 12/15/2003 +0200, you wrote:


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).
Bernard


-----Original Message-----


From: owner-edling at ccat.sas.upenn.edu
[mailto:owner-edling at ccat.sas.upenn.edu] On Behalf Of Dan Douglas


Sent: Monday, December 15, 2003 6:42 PM


To: edling at ccat.sas.upenn.edu


Subject: Re: Defining issues in Ed Ling



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.  



Cheers,


Dan 



At 09:55 PM 12/14/2003 -0500, you wrote:



In a recent issue of Working Papers in Ed Linguistics (18,2), the editors
mull over proposed definitions of our field:




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).  




  

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?  


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."  


The Modern Language Journal 86 (4): 525-545.]  



Leslie










 

Professor, TESL/Applied Linguistics Program


Co-editor, Language Testing


English Department


Iowa State University


Ames, IA 50011, USA


Phone: (515) 294-9365


Fax: (515) 294-6814





Professor, TESL/Applied Linguistics Program
Co-editor, Language Testing
English Department
Iowa State University
Ames, IA 50011, USA
Phone: (515) 294-9365
Fax: (515) 294-6814


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