language skills & assessment

Prepared by: Nasrin Eftekhari Instructor: Dr. Mahdavi

Language Skills & Assessment (Schmitt )

What is Listening ? It is important to note that listening is not merely an auditory

version of reading.

Among the unique features of listening are the following:

ephemeral, one-shot nature.

a rich prosody (stress, intonation, rhythm, loudness and more)

natural fast speech, such as assimilation, making it markedly different from written language, for example, /g∂mmt/ for government.

The frequent need to process and respond almost immediately.

what is speaking :

the notion of spoken language in use, drawing on insights from discourse analysis which make it clear that language is used to negotiate and achieve meaning in social contexts .

‘Speaking’ is so much part of daily life that we tend to take it for granted

We speak in order to carry out various social activities.

What is Reading? processing at the:

phonological,

morphological,

syntactic,

semantic

discourse levels

goal setting, text-summary building,

interpretive elaborating from knowledge resources

monitoring and assessment of goal achievement

adjusting processing to enhance comprehension

repairing comprehension processing as needed

intense processing-time constraints

What is Writing ? not just a representation of speech,

manifestations of language users’ knowledge, perspective and communicative competence

relationship among the elements of writing (relational aspect)

use of various strategies for developing and communicating ideas (strategic aspect)

use of available discursive repertoire (textual aspect)

What is Language assessment ?

Act of collecting information

Making judgments about a language learners knowledge of a language and ability to use it

Require for specific purpose

Educational assessment:

Providing diagnostic information and

Motivate learners

‘Assessment for communication’ (informing certification and selection)

‘Assessment for accountability’ (publicly demonstrating achievement of outcomes)

Issues in Listening :

Models of listening: Communication theory model

Information processing model

Social / contextual model

Situated action model

Types of listening :One-way listening

Two-way listening

Process of listening :Bottom up processing

Top-down processing Listening skills Listening strategies

Models of listening:

How people manage to make sense of what they hear.

Communication theory model:

Make telecommunications systems more efficient

‘transmission’, ‘signal’, ‘reception’ and ‘noise’

Information processing model:

are the concepts of input, processing and output, with the

human being seen as a limited processor, so that when doing

complex tasks, we have to devote more attention to one

aspect of the task and less to another.

Social / contextual model:

In the social/contextual model, in contrast to communications theory and information processing, we are seen as participants in and creators of meaning, and meanings are achieved in the interactional space between us and not just inside our individual heads.

Situated action model :

Evolutionary psychologists argue that humans spend much

of their time trying to understand in order to do things

(‘situated action’), rather than to archive information in

memory, as information processing approaches assume.

Types of listening :

One-way listening:

transactional function of language

has strongly influenced the teaching of listening to L2

E.g.watching a film or television or listening to the radio

Two-way listening:

‘listening-and-speaking

involves dialogue or discussion

Process of listening:

‘bottom-up’

‘top-down’ processing

Bottom up processing:

Bottom-up processing involves piecing together

the parts of what is being heard in a linear

fashion, one by one, in sequence. This used to

be seen as a complete and accurate description

of successful listening.

Top-down processing:

is holistic, going from whole to part, and

focused on interpretation of meaning rather

than recognition of sounds, words, and

sentences.

Listening skills

ENABLING SKILLS Perception1. Recognizing prominence within utterances,

including: Discriminating sounds in words, especially

phonemic contrastsDiscriminating strong and weak forms, phonetic

change at word boundariesIdentifying use of stress and pitch (information

units, emphasis, etc.)

Interpretation2. Formulating content sense of an utterance,

including:Deducing the meaning of unfamiliar wordsInferring implicit informationInferring links between propositionsENACTING SKILLS

3. Formulating a conceptual framework linking utterances, including:

Recognizing discourse markers (clarifying, contrasting)

Constructing a theme over a stretch of discourse Predicting contentIdentifying elements that help you to form an

overall schema Maintaining and updating the context

4. Interpreting (possible) speaker intentions, including:

Identifying an ‘interpersonal frame’ speaker-to-hearer

Monitoring changes in prosody and establishing

(in)consistencies

Noting contradictions, inadequate information,

ambiguities

Differentiating between fact and opinion

ENACTING SKILLS

Making an appropriate response (based on 1–4 above),

including:

Selecting key points for the current task

Transcoding information into written form (for example,

notes)

Identifying which points need clarification

Integrating information with that from other sources

Providing appropriate feedback to the speaker

Listening strategies :

Refer to the table on page 187

Issues in Speaking :

Genres of speaking Generic structure Exchange Turn taking & turn types Topic management

Issues in Reading :Automaticity & word recognition L2 word recognition differences

across L1sVocabulary How much L2 lexis is needed? The role of context in guessing of

word meaning in L2 reading Dictionary use & L2 reading

Reading rate

Language threshold

The role of background knowledge in reading

Knowledge of text structure & discourse cues

Metacognitive & reading strategies

Extensive reading / impact of exposure to print

Issues in Writing :

There are aspects of writing: Relational aspects of writing Strategic aspects of writing Textual aspects of writing

Issues in Language assessment Construct definition

Ability / performance constructs

Specific / general purpose constructs

Construct perspective & specificity

Test methods

Validation

Test analysis

Item difficulty

Correlation

Issues in language assessment & language teaching:

Washback

Alternative assessment

Observation

Portfolios

Self-assessment

Outcomes-based assessment

Implication for pedagogy; Listening

Difficulty factors in listening Authenticity of text & task Strategy instruction Skills training

Implication for pedagogy; Speaking

Should speaking activities focus on text or sentences?

How can a discourse-based approach be applied in classroom practice?

Should we use only authentic text? What procedures are there specifically

for pronunciation teaching?

Elicited mechanical production

Ear training for second language

Sound for meaning contrasts

Cognitive analysis

Whole brain activities, communication activities

and games

Learning strategies

Implication for pedagogy; Reading

The need to develop reading fluency and word

recognition automaticity.

The need to develop a large recognition vocabulary.

The importance of discourse structure and the

instructional benefits of using graphic representations.

The need for language awareness and attention to

language (structure) and genre form (meta-linguistic

knowledge).

The importance of meta-cognitive

awareness and strategic reading.

The importance of specific reading

strategies to support word learning and

reading to learn goals.

The need for extensive reading.

The importance of motivation.

The benefits of integrated skills instruction

and content-based instruction.

The need for a supportive (classroom and

institutional) environment for reading.

Implication for pedagogy; Writing

Controlled composition

The paragraph pattern

The process approach

Genre-based approach

Issues that transcend traditions