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title: Individualizing the Assessment of Language Abilities
Multilingual Matters (Series) ; 59
author: Jong, John H. A. L. de
publisher: Multilingual Matters
isbn10 | asin: 1853590665
print isbn13: 9781853590665
ebook isbn13: 9780585171630
language: English
subject Language and languages--Ability testing, Individualized
instruction.
publication date: 1990
lcc: P53.4.I53 1990eb
ddc: 418/.0076
subject: Language and languages--Ability testing, Individualized
instruction.
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Page i
Individualizing the Assessment of Language Abilities
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Page ii
Multilingual Matters
Age in Second Language Acquisition
BIRGIT HARLEY
Bicultural and Trilingual Education
MICHAEL BYRAM and JOHAN LEMAN (eds.)
Communication and Simulation
D. CROOKALL and D. SAUNDERS (eds.)
Cultural Studies in Foreign Language Education
MICHAEL BYRAM
Current Trends in European Second Language Acquisition Research
HANS W. DECHERT (ed.)
Dialect and Education: Some European Perspectives
J. CHESHIRE, V. EDWARDS, H. MUNSTERMANN, B. WELTENS (eds.)
Introspection in Second Language Research
C. FAERCH and G. KASPAR (eds.)
Key Issues in Bilingualism and Bilingual Education
COLIN BAKER
Language Acquisition: The Age Factor
D. M. SINGLETON
Language in Education in Africa
CASMIR M. RUBAGUMYA (ed.)
Language and Education in Multilingual Settings
BERNARD SPOLSKY (ed.)
Language Planning and Education in Australasia and the South Pacific
R. B. BALDAUF and A. LUKE (eds.)
Marriage Across Frontiers
A. BARBARA
Methods in Dialectology
ALAN R. THOMAS (ed.)
Minority Education: From Shame to Struggle
T. SKUTNABB-KANGAS and J. CUMMINS (eds.)
The Moving Experience: A Practical Guide to Psychological Survival
G. MELTZER and E. GRANDJEAN
Modelling and Assessing Second Language Acquisition
K. HYLTENSTAM and M. PIENEMANN (eds.)
The Role of the First Language in Second Language Learning
HÅKAN RINGBOM
Second Language Acquistion - Foreign Language Learning
B. VanPATTEN and J. F. LEE (eds.)
Special Language: From Humans Thinking to Thinking Machines
C. LAUREN and M. NORDMAN (eds.)
Teaching and Learning English Worldwide
J. BRITTON, R. E. SHAFER and K. WATSON (eds.)
Variation in Second Language Acquisition (Vol. I and II)
S. GASS, C. MADDEN, D. PRESTON and L. SELINKER (eds.)
Please contact us for the latest book information:
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Page iii
MULTILINGUAL MATTERS 59
Series Editor: Derrick Sharp
Individualizing the Assessment of Language Abilities
Edited by
John H. A. L. de Jong and
Douglas K. Stevenson
MULTILINGUAL MATTERS LTD
Clevedon - Philadelphia
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Page iv
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Individualizing the Assessment of Language Abilities
Edited by John H. A. L. de Jong and Douglas K. Stevenson
p.cm. (Multilingual Matters: 59)
Bibliography: p.
Includes indexes
1. Language and languagesability testing
2. Individualized instruction
I. Jong, John H. A. L. de, 1947- . II. Stevenson, Douglas Keith, 1944- .
III. Series: Multilingual Matters (Series): 59
P53.4.153 1990
418'0076-dc20
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Individualizing the Assessment of Language Abilities (Multilingual Matters: 59)
1. Children. Language skills. Assessment
I. Jong, John H. A. L. de. II. Stevenson, Douglas K.
401'.9
ISBN 1-85359-067-3
ISBN 1-85359-066-5 (pbk)
Multilingual Matters Ltd
Bank House, 8a Hill Road,
Clevedon, Avon BS21 7HH,
England
&
1900 Frost Road, Suite 101
Bristol, PA 19007
USA
Copyright © 1990 John H. A. L. de Jong, Douglas K. Stevenson and the authors of individual chapters
All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced in any form or by any means without permission in
writing from the publisher
Index compiled by Meg Davies (Society of Indexers)
Typeset by SB Datagraphics
Printed and bound in Great Britain by WBC Print Ltd., Bridgend
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Page v
CONTENTS
Preface ix
Foreword xi
Section I: Theoretical Considerations On Individualized Assessment
1 3
Social Aspects of Individual Assessment
Bernard Spolsky
2 16
Response to Spolsky
Arthur Hughes
3 20
Learner-Centred Testing through Computers: Institutional Issues in
Individual Assessment
J. Charles Alderson
4 28
Response to Alderson
Paul Tuffin
5 38
National Issues in Individual Assessment: The Consideration of
Specialization Bias in University Language Screening Tests
Grant Henning
6 51
Response to Henning: Limits of Language Testing
Graeme D. Kennedy
7 56
Psychometric Aspects of Individual Assessment
Geofferey N. Masters
8 71
Response to Masters: Linguistic Theory and Psychometric Models
John H.A.L. de Jong
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Page vi
Section II: Language Teaching And Individualized Assessment
9 83
Individual Learning Styles in Classroom Second Language
Development
Rod Ellis
10 97
Comprehension of Sentences and of Intersentential Relations by
11- to 15-Year-Old Pupils
Denis Levasseur And Michel Pagé
11 108
Discourse Organization in Oral and Written Language: Critical
Contrasts for Literacy and Schooling
Rosalind Horowitz
12 127
Indeterminacy in First and Second Languages: Theoretical and
Methodological Issues
Antonella Sorace
13 154
An Experiment in Individualization Using Technological Support
Norma Norrish
14 166
Discrete Focus vs. Global Tests: Performance on Selected Verb
Structures
Harry L. Gradman And Edith Hanania
Section III: Individualization And Assessment Procedures
15 179
Operationalising Uncertainty in Language Testing: An Argument
in Favour of Content Validity
Alan Davies
16 196
Minority Languages and Mainstream Culture: Problems of Equity
and Assessment
Mary Kalantzis, Diana Slade, And Bill Cope
17 214
The Role of Prior Knowledge and Language Proficiency as
Predictors of Reading Comprehension among Undergraduates
Tan Soon Hock
18 225
The Language Testing Interview: A Reappraisal
Gillian Perrett
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Page vii
19 239
Directions in Testing for Specific Purposes
Gill Westaway, J. Charles Alderson And Caroline M. Clapham
List of Contributors 257
Index 263
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Page vii
19 239
Directions in Testing for Specific Purposes
Gill Westaway, J. Charles Alderson And Caroline M. Clapham
List of Contributors 257
Index 263
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Page ix
PREFACE
The 15 chapters in this volume were chosen from among the several hundred papers which were presented at the
1987 AILA World Congress in Sydney, Australia. The first four chapters are complemented by responses,
making a total of 19 contributions. This collection reflectsand responds tothe growing international interest in the
theme of individualization. More specifically, it brings forward many of the current issues, problems, and hopes
of the movement towards individualizing the assessment of language abilities.
Independence and internationalism are two of the most noteworthy markers of this movement. It is not tied to
any particular school or "brand" of linguistics, or any single approach or trend in language teaching. Nor does it
presume any one testing method or measure. Similarly, the interest in individualization does not have a
nationalistic slant, or a geographical center. Rather, the interest is as apparent in Malaysia and Montreal as it is
in Melbourne, and colleagues working in Edinburgh, Jerusalem, or San Antonio find much in common.
These chapters sample and represent this great diversity in professional interests and origins. As a result, they are
of interest to the classroom teacher as well as the linguist and the teacher of teachers, to those concerned with
large-scale assessment, as well as those concerned about that one individual who, when taking a test, always
takes it personally.
The editors would like to express their appreciation to the two dozen contributors, first, for allowing their papers
to be included in this volume, and secondly, for complying with the rather stringent time requirements which
allowed this volume to appear so that what is of current interest, remains current. We would also like to thank
the publisher, Multilingual Matters, for their immediate, and firm support in bringing together contributions
which otherwise would only have been available piecemeal. Editorial policy has been to interfere as little as
possible with each contributor's presentation style, and academic accent. Even consistent spelling variation
among the contributions, being normal and natural, has been maintained. In the same spirit, addresses have been
provided in the List of Contributors.
THE EDITORS
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