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Full-Text Articles in Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural 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 Sep 2013

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

Juliette Mendelovits

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 …


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 …


Torch Plus : Tests Of Reading Comprehension Plus, Tom Lumley, Andrew Stephanou Dec 2005

Torch Plus : Tests Of Reading Comprehension Plus, Tom Lumley, Andrew Stephanou

Dr Tom Lumley

A set of reading tests designed to assist teachers of students from Year 3 to Year 10 in their assessment of students' reading comprehension skills.


The Effect Of Test-Taker Gender, Audience And Topic On Task Performance In Tape-Mediated Assessment Of Speaking., Tom Lumley, Barry O'Sullivan Dec 2004

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

Dr Tom Lumley

Performance in tests of spoken language can be influenced by a wide range of features of both task and participants. This article hypothesises that there may be effects on performance attributable to an interaction of variables such as the task topic, the gender of the person presenting the topic and the gender of the candidate. In contrast to previous studies, which have examined speaking tests involving face-to-face interaction, this study considered the issue in a tape-mediated test delivered in a language laboratory, with no interlocutor present, but where stimulus material is presented by one or more speakers, one of whom …


Malawi Teachers' Knowledge Of And Attitudes Towards Standardized Tests, Leah Kaira Jan 2002

Malawi Teachers' Knowledge Of And Attitudes Towards Standardized Tests, Leah Kaira

Master's Capstone Projects

Standardized tests play a great role in education. In Malawi, results of these tests are used to make: critical decisions about individuals, hence the need for students to be well prepared. Students' performance can be influenced by their teachers' attitude toward and knowledge of standardized tests. This survey was designed to establish Malawian teachers· knowledge of standardized tests and their attitude towards these tests. While the teachers displayed positive attitudes, it was found that they would benefit from more knowledge about standardized tests.


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 …


Conflicting Perspectives On The Role Of Test Preparation In Relation To Learning, Tom Lumley, Bernadette Stoneman Dec 1999

Conflicting Perspectives On The Role Of Test Preparation In Relation To Learning, Tom Lumley, Bernadette Stoneman

Dr Tom Lumley

Reports on the development of a learning package for a newly introduced test in Hong Kong, the Graduating Students' Language Proficiency Assessment (GSLPA)-English. Examines reactions of teachers and students to the learning package during piloting of the materials.


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


Specific-Purpose Language Performance Tests : Task And Interaction, Tom Lumley, Annie Brown Dec 1995

Specific-Purpose Language Performance Tests : Task And Interaction, Tom Lumley, Annie Brown

Dr Tom Lumley

Oral performance tests designed to assess candidates' ability to function in a particular professional role typically involve role plays which simulate aspects of professional interaction between a candidate, in his/her professional role, and an interlocutor, in the role of client or consumer of the professional services. This paper reports on an investigation into the role which expert professional informants can play in providing post hoc content validation of tasks used in this kind of occupation-specific test, focusing on both the content of the tasks and the behaviour of the interlocutors. The study draws on data from the oral interaction component …


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.