Testing the Untestable in Language Education (New Perspectives on Language and Education)

ISBN 10: 1847692664 / ISBN 13: 9781847692665

Published by Multilingual Matters, 2010

About this Item

Seller Inventory # 6529275

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Testing the Untestable in Language Education (New Perspectives on Language and Education)
• Publisher: Multilingual Matters
• Publication Date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1847692664
• ISBN 13: 9781847692665
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

The testing and assessment of language competence continues to be a much debated issue in foreign language teaching and research. This book is the first one to address the testing of four important dimensions of foreign language education which have been left largely unconsidered: learner autonomy, intercultural competence, literature and literary competence, and the integration of content and language learning. Each area is considered through a theoretical framework, followed by two empirical studies, raising questions of importance to all language teachers: How can one test literary competence? Can intercultural competence be measured? What about the integrated assessment of content-and-language in CLIL and teaching? Is progress in autonomous learning skill gaugeable? The book constitutes essential reading for anyone interested in the testing and assessment of seemingly largely untestable aspects of foreign language competence.

About the Authors

Amos Paran is Professor Emeritus of TESOL at the UCL Institute of Education, UK. He has a background as a secondary EFL teacher and in writing supplementary skills books, coursebooks and exam practice materials for a range of contexts and publishers. He has published academic work on topics including using literature in language teaching, distance learning, and reading in an L2.

Lies Sercu is an Associate Professor of Linguistics at the University of Leuven. Her research interests concern the promotion of intercultural competence through foreign language education as well as SLA vocabulary acquisition from reading and writing texts in a foreign language. She has been involved in the development of language tests and blended learning environments for the professionalisation of language teachers. She has widely published in major international journals on intercultural competence and foreign vocabulary acquisition.