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Full-Text Articles in Education

What Information From Pisa Is Useful For Teachers? How Can Pisa Help Our Students To Become More Proficient?, Juliette Mendelovits, Dara Searle, Tom Lumley Dec 2008

What Information From Pisa Is Useful For Teachers? How Can Pisa Help Our Students To Become More Proficient?, Juliette Mendelovits, Dara Searle, Tom Lumley

Dr Tom Lumley

A frequent objection to large-scale testing programs, both national and international, is that they are used as an instrument of control, rather than as a means of providing information to effect change. Moreover, concerns about large-scale testing often take the form of objection to the specific characteristics of the assessments as being prescriptive and proscriptive, leading to a narrowing of the curriculum and the spectre of 'teaching to the test' to the exclusion of more important educational content. Taking PISA reading literacy as its focus, this paper proposes, on the contrary, that a coherent assessment system is valuable in so …


The Effect Of Test-Taker Sex, Audience And Topic On Task Performance In Tape-Mediated Assessment Of Speaking, Tom Lumley, Barry O'Sullivan Oct 2001

The Effect Of Test-Taker Sex, Audience And Topic On Task Performance In Tape-Mediated Assessment Of Speaking, Tom Lumley, Barry O'Sullivan

Dr Tom Lumley

There is growing interest in the effect on candidate performance of characteristics of the interlocutor in tests of speaking. A range of variables associated with the interlocutor may cause systematic variation in linguistic performance, and consequently in scores awarded. This paper hypothesises that there may be effects on performance attributable to an interaction of these variables; in the present study, the task topic, the sex of the person presenting the topic and the sex of the candidate. This investigated in the context of a tape-mediated test of speaking, where no interlocutor is actually present; instead, stimulus material is presented by …


Linguistic And Cultural Norms In Language Testing : A Case Study, Annie Brown, Tom Lumley Dec 1997

Linguistic And Cultural Norms In Language Testing : A Case Study, Annie Brown, Tom Lumley

Dr Tom Lumley

Users of English in Asia may not have the same need to aspire to a ' standard' form of English. It may be more appropriate for them to develop a communicative competence employing the sociolinguistic and cultural norms of the region. Taking such an approach in the development of tests of English proficiency involves rethinking basic assumptions. This paper considers these issues in the context of a test of English proficiency developed for use with English teachers in Indonesia


The Judgements Of Language-Trained Raters And Doctors In A Test Of English For Health Professionals, Tom Lumley Dec 1994

The Judgements Of Language-Trained Raters And Doctors In A Test Of English For Health Professionals, Tom Lumley

Dr Tom Lumley

Research to date has produced conflicting findings concerning the relative harshness and other characteristics of language- trained raters versus 'naive' native speaker or occupational expert raters. This question is considered in the context of a recent standard- setting project carried out for the Occupational English Test, an occupation specific test of English for overseas- trained health professionals. 20 audio recordings of role plays from recent administrations of the tests were each rated by 10 trained ESL raters and 10 medical practitioners. Broad similarities in judgements indicate reliance on ESL-trained raters can be justified.


A New Approach To Standard-Setting In Language Assessment, Tom Lumley, B Lynch, T Mcnamara Dec 1993

A New Approach To Standard-Setting In Language Assessment, Tom Lumley, B Lynch, T Mcnamara

Dr Tom Lumley

In this paper the authors consider a standard setting exercise involving the Occupational English Test, a specific purpose test of English as a second language for health professionals. The Australian test is used as part of the screening of immigrant and refugee health professionals prior to the resumption of their professional careers in their new country of residence.


Reading Comprehension Sub-Skills: Teachers' Perceptions Of Content In An Eap Test, Tom Lumley Dec 1992

Reading Comprehension Sub-Skills: Teachers' Perceptions Of Content In An Eap Test, Tom Lumley

Dr Tom Lumley

This study examines the place of sub skills in English as second language (ESL) syllabus and test design, with particular attention to the enduring influence of Munby (1978). Rasch analysis of item difficulty and the use of Rasch Item Response Theory (IRT) are discussed.


Mapping Abilities And Skill Levels Using Rasch Techniques, Annie Brown, Catherine Elder, Tom Lumley, Tim Mcnamara, Joy Mcqueen Dec 1991

Mapping Abilities And Skill Levels Using Rasch Techniques, Annie Brown, Catherine Elder, Tom Lumley, Tim Mcnamara, Joy Mcqueen

Dr Tom Lumley

The ongoing interest in investigating the use of Item Response Theory (IRT) methods, involving the Rasch model, in language testing research and the development of language tests has encouraged the authors to explore the nature of this approach and to introduce some research on its validation.


The Nllia Esl Development Project And Assessment In The Curriculum, Tom Lumley, Penny Mckay Dec 1991

The Nllia Esl Development Project And Assessment In The Curriculum, Tom Lumley, Penny Mckay

Dr Tom Lumley

This article outlines the ESL Development or the ESL Profiles Project, abbreviated terms for the National Languages and Literacy Institute of Australia (NLLIA) ESL Development Project: Language and Literacy in Schools. A brief introduction to the project and two of its principal components: the ESL Bandscales and the Exemplar Assessment Activities with accompanying Observation Guides for each macro-skill, are included in this article.