This book introduces the theoretical and empirical bases for the definition of language learning level in functional 'Can Do' terms for the English Profile Programme, setting out the ambitions of the Programme and presenting emerging findings. The English Profile Programme is an elaboration of the performance level descriptions of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) that is concerned specifically with the English language. The CEFR has become influential in building a shared understanding of performance levels for foreign language learners. However, there is a considerable gap between the broad descriptions of levels provided, which covers a range of languages and learning contexts, and the level of detail required for applications such as syllabus or test design, which this volume addresses. With its combination of theoretical insights and practical advice, this is a useful work for academics, policy-makers, curriculum designers, textbook writers, postgraduate students and examination board staff.
This volume establishes how English language constructs were measured in Cambridge English examinations over the period 1913 to 2012. An addition to the Studies in Language Testing series, this volume provides an overview of English language testing over the last century, with coverage of key theoretical and practical aspects of the assessment of reading, listening, writing and speaking skills. It includes examples of the Cambridge English exams, old and new, and is the first volume to describe in a systematic way the different theoretical influences which have shaped the development of the constructs underlying Cambridge English exams in the last 100 years.
An updated edition of the key reference work in the area of second and foreign language vocabulary studies. This book provides a detailed survey of research and theory on the teaching and learning of vocabulary with the aim of providing pedagogical suggestions for both teachers and learners. It contains descriptions of numerous vocabulary learning strategies which are justified and supported by reference to experimental research, case studies, and teaching experience. It also describes what vocabulary learners need to know to be effective language users. This title shows that by taking a systematic approach to vocabulary learning, teachers can make the best use of class time and help learners get the best return for their learning effort.
This volume brings together a set of ten IELTS-related research studies - four on Speaking and six on Writing - conducted between 1995 and 2001. The ten studies were funded under the auspices of the British Council/IELTS Australia Joint-funded Research Program which promotes research activity among IELTS test stakeholders around the world. Findings from the studies provided valuable evidence on the validity, reliability, impact and practicality of the IELTS test; they were also instrumental in highlighting aspects needing attention, and so directly informed the revised design and implementation of the IELTS Speaking and Writing Modules introduced in 2001 and 2005. The volume reviews and comments on the specific contribution of each study to the ongoing process of IELTS speaking and writing test development; it also evaluates the range of research methodologies used in the projects and discusses their usefulness for researchers working in the broader field of performance assessment.
The papers in this volume represent the views of a range of experts in a variety of language-related disciplines on the role which context plays in language learning and language understanding. The authors provide various theoretical constructs which help impose order on the apparent chaos of contextual factors which may have an influence on the production and comprehension of speech events. They focus on a variety of types of context, including the context established by different speech communities, interpersonal contexts, the classroom context, and the context provided by the linguistic code itself. The papers illustrate how the treatment of context varies across the disciplines of linguistics, historical stylistics, applied linguistics, and psycholinguistics. Each paper is prefaced by an editorial introduction to help the reader trace out common themes and points of conflict.
Responsibility for planning language teaching programmes now carries with it a strong element of accountability. Evaluation of the whole process of course design, development and implementation is therefore a necessary area of activity for course designers, language planners and researchers. Evaluating Second Language Education is divided into three parts: Part One presents a review of the literature showing how the field got to where it is. Part Two contains a series of eight original case-studies which illustrate the strengths and limitations of qualitative and quantitative approaches. Part Three contains practical advice on how to design and execute evaluations in the field. It is a valuable resource both for those already engaged in evaluation and for those in training.
In recent years the concept of 'register' has been increasingly replaced by emphasis on the analysis of genre, which relates work in sociolinguistics, text linguistics and discourse analysis to the study of specialist areas of language. This book is a clear, authoritative guide to this complex area. He provides a survey of approaches to varieties of language, and considers these in relation to communication and task-based language learning. Swales outlines an approach to the analysis of genre, and then proceeds to consider examples of different genres and how they can be made accessible through genre analysis. This is important reading for all those working in teaching English for academic purposes and also of interest to those working in post-secondary writing and composition due to relevant issues in writing across the curriculum.
A renewed interest in grammar, from pedagogical and research perspectives, has created the need for new approaches to assessing the grammatical ability of language learners. This book presents a comprehensive framework of second language grammatical knowledge and uses this as a base to help readers create their own assessment tools to test students' grammar.
An engaging, advanced-level introduction to the emerging field of discourse studies of identity, with particular reference to academic contexts. Disciplinary Identities uses findings from corpus research to present fascinating insights into the relationship between author identity and disciplinarity in academic writing. Ken Hyland draws on a number of sources to explore how authors convey aspects of their identities within the constraints placed upon them by their disciplines' rhetorical conventions. He promotes corpus methods as important tools in identity research, demonstrating the effectiveness of keyword and collocation analysis in highlighting both the norms of a particular genre and an author's idiosyncratic choices. Also available separately as a paperback.
This volume explores the use of summary tasks as an effective means of assessing reading comprehension ability. It reports on a series of empirical studies that investigated the development and trialling of text-removed summary completion tasks and discusses the correlation of these tasks with results from independent measures to validate text-removed summary completion as a measure of reading comprehension ability.
Describes 20 years of work at Cambridge English to develop multilingual assessment frameworks. Multilingual Frameworks covers the development of the ALTE Framework and 'Can Do' project; work on the Common European Framework of Reference and the linking of the Cambridge English exam levels to it; Asset Languages - a major educational initiative for UK schools; and the European Survey on Language Competences. It proposes a model for the validity of assessment within a multilingual framework, and while illustrating the constraints which determined the approach taken to each project, makes clear recommendations on methodological good practice. It looks forward to the further extension of assessment frameworks to encompass a model for multilingual education.
This book brings together contributions from various researchers, providing an overview of narrative research approaches and demonstrating how these work in practice. A broad range of approaches are covered, from well-established and well-known thematic analysis (particularly of 'big stories'), to the more recent sociolinguistic discourse analysis of 'small stories', and the innovative analysis and presentation of visual and performance data such as drawings and drama. This overview includes not just an illustration of narrative research, but the methodological processes which underpin it, relating these to relevant narrative theory. The book, therefore, is both a how-to-do narrative research text and a presentation of narrative studies, providing case study examples and ideas for further research.
The only book available dedicated to the theory and practice of replication research in Second Language Acquisition and Applied Linguistics. A replication study repeats a previous study to discover if its findings are reliable and/or can be generalised to other circumstances. This edited volume brings together a number of experts who argue in favour of a more central role for replication research in Second Language Acquisition and Applied Linguistics. The book provides a theoretical argument to support this view, as well as practical examples and model replication studies. It includes advice on how best to set up and execute replication research, and how to write up the findings for presentation to a journal. A paperback version is available separately.
This critical volume, provides an in-depth analysis of second language reading's multiple dimensions. The paperback edition describes the complexity of reading and explains how reading differs in a first and second language. The book is broad in scope, covering all major aspects of the reading process and synthesizing all current reading research. The author provides a cross-linguistic orientation, explaining how first and second languages can mutually facilitate one another. This important volume offers strategies for enhancing literary acquisition, second-language learning and bilingual processing, and will serve as a valuable guide for graduate students, professors, researchers and foreign language teachers.
This book introduces the theoretical and empirical bases for the definition of language learning level in functional 'Can Do' terms for the English Profile Programme, setting out the ambitions of the Programme and presenting emerging findings. The English Profile Programme is an elaboration of the performance level descriptions of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) that is concerned specifically with the English language. The CEFR has become influential in building a shared understanding of performance levels for foreign language learners. However, there is a considerable gap between the broad descriptions of levels provided, which covers a range of languages and learning contexts, and the level of detail required for applications such as syllabus or test design, which this volume addresses. With its combination of theoretical insights and practical advice, this is a useful work for academics, policy-makers, curriculum designers, textbook writers, postgraduate students and examination board staff.
This volume establishes how English language constructs were measured in Cambridge English examinations over the period 1913 to 2012. An addition to the Studies in Language Testing series, this volume provides an overview of English language testing over the last century, with coverage of key theoretical and practical aspects of the assessment of reading, listening, writing and speaking skills. It includes examples of the Cambridge English exams, old and new, and is the first volume to describe in a systematic way the different theoretical influences which have shaped the development of the constructs underlying Cambridge English exams in the last 100 years.
An updated edition of the key reference work in the area of second and foreign language vocabulary studies. This book provides a detailed survey of research and theory on the teaching and learning of vocabulary with the aim of providing pedagogical suggestions for both teachers and learners. It contains descriptions of numerous vocabulary learning strategies which are justified and supported by reference to experimental research, case studies, and teaching experience. It also describes what vocabulary learners need to know to be effective language users. This title shows that by taking a systematic approach to vocabulary learning, teachers can make the best use of class time and help learners get the best return for their learning effort.
This volume brings together a set of ten IELTS-related research studies - four on Speaking and six on Writing - conducted between 1995 and 2001. The ten studies were funded under the auspices of the British Council/IELTS Australia Joint-funded Research Program which promotes research activity among IELTS test stakeholders around the world. Findings from the studies provided valuable evidence on the validity, reliability, impact and practicality of the IELTS test; they were also instrumental in highlighting aspects needing attention, and so directly informed the revised design and implementation of the IELTS Speaking and Writing Modules introduced in 2001 and 2005. The volume reviews and comments on the specific contribution of each study to the ongoing process of IELTS speaking and writing test development; it also evaluates the range of research methodologies used in the projects and discusses their usefulness for researchers working in the broader field of performance assessment.
The papers in this volume represent the views of a range of experts in a variety of language-related disciplines on the role which context plays in language learning and language understanding. The authors provide various theoretical constructs which help impose order on the apparent chaos of contextual factors which may have an influence on the production and comprehension of speech events. They focus on a variety of types of context, including the context established by different speech communities, interpersonal contexts, the classroom context, and the context provided by the linguistic code itself. The papers illustrate how the treatment of context varies across the disciplines of linguistics, historical stylistics, applied linguistics, and psycholinguistics. Each paper is prefaced by an editorial introduction to help the reader trace out common themes and points of conflict.
Responsibility for planning language teaching programmes now carries with it a strong element of accountability. Evaluation of the whole process of course design, development and implementation is therefore a necessary area of activity for course designers, language planners and researchers. Evaluating Second Language Education is divided into three parts: Part One presents a review of the literature showing how the field got to where it is. Part Two contains a series of eight original case-studies which illustrate the strengths and limitations of qualitative and quantitative approaches. Part Three contains practical advice on how to design and execute evaluations in the field. It is a valuable resource both for those already engaged in evaluation and for those in training.
In recent years the concept of 'register' has been increasingly replaced by emphasis on the analysis of genre, which relates work in sociolinguistics, text linguistics and discourse analysis to the study of specialist areas of language. This book is a clear, authoritative guide to this complex area. He provides a survey of approaches to varieties of language, and considers these in relation to communication and task-based language learning. Swales outlines an approach to the analysis of genre, and then proceeds to consider examples of different genres and how they can be made accessible through genre analysis. This is important reading for all those working in teaching English for academic purposes and also of interest to those working in post-secondary writing and composition due to relevant issues in writing across the curriculum.
A renewed interest in grammar, from pedagogical and research perspectives, has created the need for new approaches to assessing the grammatical ability of language learners. This book presents a comprehensive framework of second language grammatical knowledge and uses this as a base to help readers create their own assessment tools to test students' grammar.
An engaging, advanced-level introduction to the emerging field of discourse studies of identity, with particular reference to academic contexts. Disciplinary Identities uses findings from corpus research to present fascinating insights into the relationship between author identity and disciplinarity in academic writing. Ken Hyland draws on a number of sources to explore how authors convey aspects of their identities within the constraints placed upon them by their disciplines' rhetorical conventions. He promotes corpus methods as important tools in identity research, demonstrating the effectiveness of keyword and collocation analysis in highlighting both the norms of a particular genre and an author's idiosyncratic choices. Also available separately as a paperback.
This volume explores the use of summary tasks as an effective means of assessing reading comprehension ability. It reports on a series of empirical studies that investigated the development and trialling of text-removed summary completion tasks and discusses the correlation of these tasks with results from independent measures to validate text-removed summary completion as a measure of reading comprehension ability.
Describes 20 years of work at Cambridge English to develop multilingual assessment frameworks. Multilingual Frameworks covers the development of the ALTE Framework and 'Can Do' project; work on the Common European Framework of Reference and the linking of the Cambridge English exam levels to it; Asset Languages - a major educational initiative for UK schools; and the European Survey on Language Competences. It proposes a model for the validity of assessment within a multilingual framework, and while illustrating the constraints which determined the approach taken to each project, makes clear recommendations on methodological good practice. It looks forward to the further extension of assessment frameworks to encompass a model for multilingual education.
This book brings together contributions from various researchers, providing an overview of narrative research approaches and demonstrating how these work in practice. A broad range of approaches are covered, from well-established and well-known thematic analysis (particularly of 'big stories'), to the more recent sociolinguistic discourse analysis of 'small stories', and the innovative analysis and presentation of visual and performance data such as drawings and drama. This overview includes not just an illustration of narrative research, but the methodological processes which underpin it, relating these to relevant narrative theory. The book, therefore, is both a how-to-do narrative research text and a presentation of narrative studies, providing case study examples and ideas for further research.
The only book available dedicated to the theory and practice of replication research in Second Language Acquisition and Applied Linguistics. A replication study repeats a previous study to discover if its findings are reliable and/or can be generalised to other circumstances. This edited volume brings together a number of experts who argue in favour of a more central role for replication research in Second Language Acquisition and Applied Linguistics. The book provides a theoretical argument to support this view, as well as practical examples and model replication studies. It includes advice on how best to set up and execute replication research, and how to write up the findings for presentation to a journal. A paperback version is available separately.
This critical volume, provides an in-depth analysis of second language reading's multiple dimensions. The paperback edition describes the complexity of reading and explains how reading differs in a first and second language. The book is broad in scope, covering all major aspects of the reading process and synthesizing all current reading research. The author provides a cross-linguistic orientation, explaining how first and second languages can mutually facilitate one another. This important volume offers strategies for enhancing literary acquisition, second-language learning and bilingual processing, and will serve as a valuable guide for graduate students, professors, researchers and foreign language teachers.