Guest Speakers
Keynote speech 1
Learning-Oriented Language Assessment: Assessment in Transition
Anthony Green
The director of CRELLA and Professor of Language Assessment at the University of Bedfordshire (UK)
Anthony Green is the Director of CRELLA and Professor of Language Assessment at the University of Bedfordshire (UK). He served as the President of the International Language Testing Association (ILTA) in 2015-16 and is an Expert Member of both the European Association for Language Testing and Assessment (EALTA) and the Association of Language Testers in Europe (ALTE). His work has been widely published and his books include Exploring Language Assessment and Testing (Routledge), Language Functions Revisited and IELTS Washback in Context (both Cambridge University Press).
As well as leading major global projects researching many aspects of language assessment, he has extensive experience as a teacher, materials writer and teacher trainer and has worked in all areas of practical test development and delivery including as a test designer, item writer and examiner for tests of speaking and writing skills. His main research interests include learning-oriented language assessment, the impacts of assessment on teaching and learning and the assessment of L2 literacy skills.
Abstract
Over recent years, the focus of language assessment has shifted from the relatively narrow and technical (the validity of inferences drawn from assessment results: the value of assessments to score users) towards the relatively broad and ethical (the qualities of usefulness: the value of assessments to a wider constituency of learners, teachers, and policy makers, and to society at large). In line with this development, the current interest in learning-oriented language assessment (LOLA) reflects the belief that the organizations responsible for large-scale language tests can and should do more to promote effective language learning among those preparing to take their tests.
Bringing about intended forms of impact involves more than the re-design of an assessment and the provision of descriptive score reports. Account must also be taken of the ways in which teachers, learners and others understand the demands of the assessment and incorporate these into their practices. Testing agencies can take a variety of steps to explain to teachers and other stakeholders the design and results of their tests (and the principles informing these). Such measures play an important role in promoting intended (beneficial) impacts and preventing, or at least mitigating unintended (negative) impacts.
Materials that support teachers in preparing learners to take tests (such as descriptions of the test, preparation materials and teacher training resources) play a key role in communicating the test providers’ intentions. In this presentation, I discuss the nature of support offered to teachers and learners preparing for major national and international tests and the extent to which these materials reflect learning-oriented assessment principles of task authenticity, learner engagement and feedback within a coherent systemic theory of action, reconciling formative and summative assessment functions to the benefit of learning.
Keynote speech 2
Designing performance feedback for formative assessment of summary writing as part of L2 academic writing instruction in Japan
Yasuyo Sawaki
Professor of Faculty of Education and
Integrated Arts and Sciences and Deputy
Director of the Global Education Center,
Waseda University
Yasuyo SAWAKI (Professor of Faculty of Education and Integrated Arts and Sciences and Deputy Director of the Global Education Center, Waseda University) teaches various undergraduate- and graduate-level courses in language assessment, applied linguistics, and academic English at Waseda University in Tokyo, Japan. Her research interests include diagnostic English language assessment and feedback, source-based writing, and validation of large-scale English language assessments. Sawaki is Second Vice President of AALA and currently serves on the Japan Language Testing Association Board, the Editorial Advisory Boards of the Language Testing and Language Assessment Quarterly journals, and the TOEFL Committee of Examiners (COE).
Abstract
Summary writing, an activity to succinctly represent the gist of a source material(s) in writing, is a task that second-language (L2) learners frequently encounter in the academic domain. While building academic reading and writing skills for summarization is essential in preparing students for English medium instruction, doing so in L2 academic writing courses is often challenging due to the complex interplay of multiple linguistic skills involved in summarization. This suggests the critical importance of the provision of fine-grained feedback to learners, as discussed by previous L2 assessment researchers from various perspectives (e.g., Alderson, 2005; Doe, 2015; Jang & Wagner, 2013; Kunnan & Jang, 2009; Lantolf & Poehner, 2011; Turner & Purpura, 2016). Such performance feedback could help learners understand assessment criteria, their strengths and weaknesses, as well as steps required to achieve their learning goals.
In this session, the presenter will provide an overview of an online module for formative assessment of summary writing performance currently being developed for university-level academic writing instruction in Japan. In this module, students learn strategies for summary writing and assessment criteria, practice writing summaries with scaffolding, engage in self- and peer assessment, and receive various types of performance feedback while and after completing summary writing tasks. This session focuses specifically on results of a pilot study of this module, which explored stakeholder perceptions of the appropriateness of the feedback to be presented to the learner as a score report upon completion of a summary writing task. The presenter will first discuss the design principles of this formative assessment tool from the perspectives of Bachman and Palmer’s (2010) Assessment Use Argument (AUA) and learning-oriented assessment (LOA; Purpura & Turner, 2019; Turner & Purpura, 2016). Results of preliminary quantitative and qualitative analyses of pilot study data from 107 undergraduate students and six instructors in an academic writing course at a private university in Tokyo will then be presented with a focus on these key stakeholder groups’ views on the clarity and usefulness of the feedback on student summary writing performance. Results of this study will be discussed in relation to ways in which such performance feedback could be utilized to promote learning in L2 academic writing courses as well as future research directions for exploring how actionable performance feedback could be designed for formative purposes.
