The goal of this short-form article is to provide an overview of the opportunities and benefits for faculty and students who are considering the implementation of Virtual Exchange (VE) learning experiences to globalize the curriculum and their classrooms. The essay describes the benefits of students developing global competence, improving…

Leadership education seeks to develop leadership knowledge and skills for a universal student body. Challenges arise in English-speaking classes when student populations are comprised entirely of nonnative speakers. Activities accommodating multimodal concepts of learning may better facilitate knowledge acquisition and provide context in light of…

This chapter examines practical issues regarding Virtual Exchanges (VEs) for educational purposes in the university context and covers language use, cultural differences, time management, teacher collaboration, technology-related issues, assessment, and context specific factors. It charts the establishment of three academic collaborations between…

The following paper presents two stages of an action research project involving two oral proficiency courses held in the virtual world Second Life. Course 1 was conducted during the Autumn of 2007. Based on the experiences of this course, we redesigned many aspects of it in order to improve student activity in terms of oral participation and gave…

This study analyzes the use of role-play as an elicitation device for the evaluation of a nonnative speaker's oral language. In this analysis of role-play as a methodology to generate data for assessment purposes, the study examines the role that interlocutors play in two types of interactions. It raises questions about the validity and…

A discussion of the simulated oral proficiency interview (SOPI), a type of semi-direct speaking test that models the format of the oral proficiency interview (OPI), describes its development and research and examines its usefulness. The test used for discussion is a tape-recorded test consisting of six parts, scored by a trained rater using the…

State revenue currently flows to California school districts through so many channels that it is difficult to determine why some districts receive more funding than others. Each revenue program also has its own restrictions on the use of funds, reducing the latitude of school districts to use state funds most effectively. An alternative,…

In its recent report, the Governor's Committee on Education Excellence proposes a major restructuring of California's school finance system, replacing most of the separate programs through which revenue now flows from the state to local school districts with a base program and a targeted program. The base program would serve the educational needs…

The simulated oral proficiency interview (SOPI) is a semi-direct speaking test that models the format of the oral proficiency interview (OPI). The OPI is a method of assessing general speaking proficiency in a second language. The SOPI is a tape-recorded test consisting of six parts: simple personal background questions posed in a simulated…

Two procedures were developed to determine whether examinees in a given test center were affected by a testing irregularity on the Listening Comprehension section of the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). One approach employed analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) on Listening Comprehension (Section 1) means using scores on Structure and…

A study found that trained standardized patients could provide a reliable assessment of English proficiency of foreign medical graduates by comparison with a standardized language test, but further research is needed to determine whether it is necessary to provide a clinical context for language assessment. (MSE)

Second language tests claiming to assess communicative competence are widespread, despite the vague nature of the construct. Sociolinguistic or intercultural competence is gradually gaining attention in the classroom, but testing has not kept pace, partly because of difficulty in defining the related skills. An opinion is that speech act theory…

An intensive 3-week training program in medical communications skills for foreign native medical graduates (FNMG) is described. The program incorporates language and acculturation training via medically relevant, situational dialogues and role playing; training in medical interviewing skills with patient simulations; instruction in…