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…

This study uses a complexity-accuracy-lexis-fluency (CALF) framework to explore performance on 2 speaking tasks: a narrative picture-based task and an interactive decision-making task. A preliminary aim is to compare performance on the 2 tasks, using a wide range of CALF measures to explore where scores are similar and where they are different.…

A broad view of assessment development and design procedures portrays existing theories and methodologies as not fully representative of the knowledge, skills, and abilities students need to perform in the 21st century. Acknowledgement of these inadequacies has led to developments in assessment research attempting to meet contemporary expectations…

Using a contemporary short story by the award-winning German writer Roman Ehrlich as a case study, in this paper we will offer ideas for engaging students at CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference for languages) B1+ and B2 level in German in reading as well as encouraging them in creative writing tasks through formative assessment and…

The study analyzed the directives in the English major examinations collated from Batangas State University. It covered the instructors extent of use of examination types. At the end of the study, a set of guidelines in the construction of directions was proposed. The descriptive method of research was utilized with the questionnaire as the main…

Framed with concepts from the literature on educational innovations, the present study explored postsecondary students' and instructors' evaluative comments about ACTFL's Integrated Performance Assessment (IPA). In the research on the IPA to date, few scholars have explored these key stakeholders' perceptions of the framework, and a robust…

A follow-up to the "ACTFL Integrated Performance Assessment Manual" published in 2003. This book provides readers with expanded guidelines for how to design integrated performance assessment (IPA) tasks to inform the backward design of a unit. Suggestions on how to provide effective feedback and how to improve learner performance are…

The phrasing of task instructions can facilitate or hinder the learning process. In this study, three groups of participants (N = 526) performed a foreign vocabulary memorization task, with modified instructions for each group. The instructions were either learning oriented, encouraging participants to improve their abilities; outcome oriented,…

This article presents a descriptive and Co-Constructive Approach to feedback related to performance in the interpersonal mode of communication on the Integrated Performance Assessment (IPA). The goal of this research study was to describe the discursive features of effective IPA feedback. To this end, critical discourse analysis of a feedback…

This article report on the development and use of an analytical framework intended to map the language demands encountered by English learners as they engage in science performance assessments. Grounded in functional and interactional views of language and language use, the authors--two science education researchers and a language…

We report on the development and use of an analytical framework designed to articulate the language demands English learners (ELs) encounter on performance assessments such as those used in inquiry-based science classrooms. The Science Assessment Language Demands (SALD) Framework, grounded in functional and interactional views of language and…

The main purpose of this research is 1) to establish a framework for the test development and the constructs of writing performance test, 2) to implement a developed writing performance assessment, and 3) to examine the degree of reliability and validity of the assessment tasks and rating scales. Construct-based processing approach to testing…

The purpose of this document is to establish the statewide policy for the participation of students in the Utah Performance Assessment System for Students (U-PASS). The central elements of this policy are: (1) Rules for inclusion in the statewide assessment program (U-PASS); (2) Limited allowances for exempting or excusing students from…

Ensuring that language tests for adult English language learners are appropriate, valid, and reliable is a challenge. Performance-based assessments are complex to develop and implement. Yet, because the focus of assessment, both in the National Reporting System for Adult Education (NRS) descriptors and in the Department of Education's definition…

An attempt is made is this paper to examine the validity of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) scale through a comparison of the scaling of speaking tasks and speech performances by the scale and by a Rasch analysis of judgments made by "naive" persons. The results of the multi-faceted Rasch analysis seem…