Purpose: Although there exists a substantial body of research discussing the efficient implementation of classroom-based assessment (CBA), there is a dearth of knowledge regarding its application within the context of English as a Second Language (ESL) education in Malaysia. The current study aimed to investigate the ESL teachers' practices in…

Motivating students towards language learning includes embedding meaningful themes, communicative tasks, and authentic assessments. When voice and choice are held as essential qualities of the task, students invest in the resources to make meaning and express their own thoughts, thus moving us away from traditional assessments that emphasize…

This large-scale study used a survey to collect data on K-12 world language classrooms in Massachusetts public schools, focusing on core instructional practices, curriculum, and assessment. The study resulted in 383 individual teacher completed responses, representing 188 districts, which was analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results indicate…

Drawing on Glenn Fulcher's extensive work in performance-based language assessment of speaking, this paper explores the assessment of L2 speaking ability in local language testing contexts. For that purpose, I review Fulcher's influential work that highlights the relationship between the speaking construct, the task, the performance, and the…

In this study, issues of validity and reliability of a wide range of instruments used to measure technological pedagogical content knowledge level of English teachers were discussed. To this end, the search in the databases of ERIC, ScienceDirect, Scopus, EBSCOhost, and Web of Science was conducted. As a result of applying a set of criteria to…

With the increased emphasis in communicative language learning and task-based language teaching, classroom assessment increasingly includes performance-based assessments (e.g., essays, speeches, projects, presentations), which require careful planning and can be challenging to implement and assess. The ability to design and use well-designed…

The United States is formally represented around the world by approximately 14,000 Foreign Service officers and other personnel in the U.S. Department of State. Roughly one-third of them are required to be proficient in the local languages of the countries to which they are posted. To achieve this language proficiency for its staff, the State…

The 2017 Central States Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages was held at the Palmer House Hilton in downtown Chicago. The theme focused on moving students from knowing about the language to becoming proficient in the language. The conference boasted 328 sessions and workshops. This report contains conference articles that focus on…

This research aims at examining the reactions of tertiary EFL teachers towards the use of performance-based language assessment. The study employed a mixed-method research methodology. For the quantitative method, 36 teachers responded to a questionnaire survey. In addition, four teachers participated in the in-depth interviews which were…

The purposes of this study were to investigate the effects of rater training in an L2 performance assessment and to examine the eligibility of L2 users of English as raters in L2 performance assessment. Rater training was conducted in order for raters to clearly understand the criteria, the evaluation items, and the evaluation procedure. In this…

Several issues make standardized assessment of ELLs a challenge and the information provided by these assessments unreliable. However, as educators, they do need to know how students are doing, what gains they are making, where gaps in their understanding exist, and what types of instructional strategies and topics need to be introduced to…

Despite the growing interest in teaching second language (L2) pragmatics, the issue of assessment of learners' pragmatic skills, particularly in the context of the classroom, seems to be less prominently discussed, even though the assessment is an integral part of the instruction. This qualitative case study aims to demonstrate an…

As teachers implement performance-based assessments into their language classrooms, they must provide students with a clear, objective description of their performance and translate this performance into an objective grade. To make the judgment valid and more reliable, a scoring scale referred to as a rubric or scoring rubric can be used. Both…

This document examines the concepts of validity, reliability, and appropriateness from a language testing perspective as they apply to the following four assessment issues raised by the National Reporting System (NRS): (1) What type of language assessment seems to be required by the NRS: proficiency or achievement?; (2) Knowing that the NRS…

This article reports on "Beyond the OPI: Integrated Performance Assessment (IPA) Design Project," a three-year (1997-2000) research initiative sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education International Research and Studies Program. The primary goal of the project was to develop an integrated skills assessment prototype that would measure…