This study aimed to answer an ongoing validity question related to the use of nonstandard English accents in international tests of English proficiency and associated issues of test fairness. More specifically, we examined (1) the extent to which different or shared English accents had an impact on listeners' performances on the Duolingo listening…

The role of English as a medium of communication among diverse linguacultural users has resulted in a significant rise in the number of new Englishes. Using a semi-structured interview for data collection, this qualitative study investigates the perceptions of six foreign English lecturers at four universities in Thailand towards Thai English and…

Teachers' language attitudes play a key role in their decision-making, evaluation, and behaviour in the classroom. This is as true in a monolingual environment as it is in a bilingual or multilingual linguistic situation, but it is fair to assume that the two different linguistic environments are associated with the dominance of different…

Purpose: Using data from children who spoke various nonmainstream dialects of English and who were classified as either children with specific language impairment (SLI) or typically developing (TD) children, we examined children's marking of infinitival TO by their dialect and clinical status. Method: The data came from 180 kindergartners (91…

This study examined the use of non-standard English features in 16-year-old students' writing in the UK. Adopting a diachronic approach to the investigation of students' written production, the study sought to identify changes in students' use of non-standard English over the course of a decade, specifically from 2004 to 2014. It involved an…

Introduction: In recent years, the number of test-takers of international tests of English has grown at an exponential rate. Those whose first language is not English, i.e. non-native English speakers (NNES), constitute the predominant majority of these test-takers, largely based in non-Anglophone contexts. Thus, the state of whether the…

Indigenous learners of English as an Additional Language or Dialect (EAL/D) have historically not been the central focus of TESOL expertise here in Australia, or overseas. Despite moves towards inclusion increasing over the last two decades, there is an ongoing tendency for Indigenous EAL/D learners to remain on the periphery of current TESOL…

This paper addresses potentially problematic classroom episodes in which someone foregrounds a social division that is normally taken for granted. It illustrates the way in which linguistic ethnography can unpack the layered processes that collide in the breaking of silence, showing how linguistic form and practice, individual positioning, local…

The widening participation agenda has important implications for those in English-medium higher education institutions responsible for the provision of English language support. Importantly, given the diverse nature of the "non-traditional" student cohort that is the focus of this agenda, that section of the student population…

The two authors conducted a small empirical study to attempt to find support for--or evidence against--the view that international tests of English language proficiency are unfair to speakers of non-standards forms of English, since these tests privilege standard forms. We explore the question of whose norms should be imposed in these tests, and…

Australian Aboriginal children typically receive communication assessment services from Standard Australian English (SAE) speaking non-Aboriginal speech-language pathologists (SLPs). Educational assessments, including intelligence testing, are also primarily conducted by non-Aboriginal educational professionals. While the current paper will show…

Three measures often used with handicapped children (the Berry-Talbott Comprehension of Grammar, the Grammatic Closure subtest of the Illinois Test of Psycholinguistic Abilities, and the Grammatic Completion subtest of the Test of Language Development) are discussed in terms of test reliability, scoring procedures, format, and types of scores.…

The role and significance of speech-language pathology (SLP) is not often considered in studies of language planning. SLP has tended to be considered more as an issue for health policy than for language policy. However, the health focus of SLP does interact with language planning especially in education where SLP assessments have implications for…

This speech-communication examination is a "dyadic" test in which students, issued a set of cards to be marked according to directions, are assigned partners with whom they communicate and respond to in turn. This latest version of dyadic tests has been administered in rural and urban public schools in Hawaii, to speakers of nonstandard…

The "Standard Written English" test newly added to the Scholastic Aptitude Test is reactionalry, unscholarly, and potentially discriminatory. (JH)