Practical Guide to Assessing English Language Learners

Coombe, Christine; Folse, Keith; Hubley, Nancy

ISBN 10: 0472032011 / ISBN 13: 9780472032013

Published by The University of Michigan Press, 2007

About this Item

A guide to language testing and assessment. It provides useful insights into the practice and terminology of assessment. It focuses on providing the cornerstones of good assessments - usefulness, validity, reliability, practicality, washback, authenticity, transparency, and security - and techniques for testing. Series: Michigan Teacher Training. Num Pages: 232 pages, illustrations. BIC Classification: 2AB; EBA; JNKD. Category: (LS) English as a second language; (P) Professional & Vocational. Dimension: 254 x 178 x 14. Weight in Grams: 476. . 2007. Paperback. . . . . Books ship from the US and Ireland.

Seller Inventory # V9780472032013

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Practical Guide to Assessing English Language Learners
• Publisher: The University of Michigan Press
• Publication Date: 2007
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0472032011
• ISBN 13: 9780472032013
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

For many teachers of English language learners, the field of assessment is foreign territory. Assessment has its own culture, traditions, and terminology. This training guide is intended to help classroom teachers become more comfortable creating and using assessments. A Practical Guide to Assessing English Language Learners provides helpful insights into the practice and terminology of assessment. The text focuses on providing the cornerstones of good assessments—usefulness, validity, reliability, practicality, washback, authenticity, transparency, and security—and techniques for testing. It devotes a chapter to the assessment of each of the four main skill areas (reading, writing, listening, and speaking), and also covers placement testing, such as using TOEFLŪ and MELAB, diagnostic testing, evaluation, and instructional decision-making with regard to testing.

Tips to improve students’ test-taking strategies are offered, and each chapter ends with a helpful list of Ten Things to Remember, as well as informative case studies featuring two teachers and their assessment decisions. Incorporating its own principles, A Practical Guide to Assessing English Language Learners opens with a short quiz for the reader called Are You Testwise? that quickly determines how each teacher will benefit from this indispensable guide.

About the Author

Christine Coombe teaches at Dubai Men's College. Keith Folse leads the MATESOL program, University of Central Florida. Nancy Hubley is an independent consultant and materials writer.