1st Edition

From Testing to Assessment English An International Language

By Clifford Hill, Kate Parry Copyright 1986
    296 Pages
    by Routledge

    296 Pages
    by Routledge

    From Testing to Assessment: English as an International Language provides a critical review of conventional and alternative approaches to the assessment of English literacy skills in various parts of the world. It presents empirical studies conducted in three major settings: in countries such as Japan and Brazil where English functions as the language of international commernce; in multilingual countries such as Nigeria and Zimbabwe where English is the national language of education and government; and in such countries as Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States where English is the dominant language.

    The book opens with a discussion of language assessment in relation to debates about the nature of literacy; it concludes with a discussion of policy implications, which is grounded in literacy theory as well as in practical constraints such as available human and material resources.

    List of Contributors
    Acknowledgements

    Introduction
    Part I: Theoretical Considerations
    1. Models of literacy: the nature of reading tests, Clifford Hill and Kate Parry

    Part II: Reading Tests
    2. The Test of Enlgish as a Foreign Language: developing items for reading comprehension, Bonny Norton Peirce
    3. An entrance test to Japanese universities: social and historical context, John E. Ingulsrud
    4. The test and the text: readers in a Nigerian secondary school, Kate Parry
    5. Adult education in the United States: adapting material for reading tests, Clifford Hill and Laurie Anderson

    Part III: Literacy Assessment
    6. English education in Zimbabwe: testing communicative competence, Kate Allen
    7. English for academic purposes in Brazil: the use of summary tasks, Andrew Cohen
    8. An adult learner in Canada: watching assessmen take place, Patrick Cummins and Stan Jones
    9. Assessing adult literacy in the United Kingdom: the Progress Profile, Deryn Holland and Brian Street

    Part IV: Policy Implications
    10. Assessing English language and literacy around the world, Clifford Hill and Kate Parry

    Bibliography
    Index

    Biography

    Clifford Hill, Kate Parry