In the high-stakes accountability English educational system, decisions made by government and agencies about curriculum, pedagogy and assessment drive school planning and actions. This paper analyses the drivers for the recent change to French German and Spanish GCSEs and highlights particular areas of the new specification which may damage the…

Background: A project has recently been proposed by the National Education Examinations Authority, P. R. China, to develop a national framework of reference for English language education, provisionally called China Standards of English (CSE). In this article, we argue for the necessity of developing the framework of reference in China and…

The current focus across the U.S. on student college and career readiness standards makes clear that both instruction and assessment of academic English will continue to be important for school-age English learner (EL) students. This article presents an overview and summary of key literature on academic language (usually academic English);…

This paper argues for the re-integration of academic development (AD) and a academic language and learning (ALL) practitioners in Australian higher education. This argument is made as universities aim to develop internationally recognised, inter-disciplinary and standards-based curricula against the backdrop of international comparative education…

In keeping with the theme of the International Language Testing Association/Language Testing Research Colloquium Conference in 2008, "Focusing on the Core: Justifying the Use of Language Assessments to Stakeholders," I define "stakeholder-friendly tests," "defensible testing," and "testing-context analysis."…

This article argues that recent changes in both users and uses of English have become so far-reaching that a major rethink of English language teaching (ELT) goals is called for. It goes on to claim, however, that this will first require a substantial overhaul of English language testing, given that teachers and learners alike will be reluctant to…

The use of language proficiency rating scales in Australian school language programs is discussed, focusing primarily on the Australian Second Language Proficiency Ratings (ASLPR), the only direct instrument developed in Australia that is in widespread use and that has been extensively tested. It is also the only one developed for use with a…

The American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages' Proficiency Guidelines have implications for balancing the curriculum, building functional development, choosing instructional materials and teaching methods, developing distinct language modalities, assigning level designations, utilizing cultural instruction, and advancing student…

A systems approach is used to show how changes in the design of English training programs for training international teaching assistants (ITA) have affected curriculum design. The approach is described, and three phases of curriculum development are outlined: initial design, ongoing reform, and radical renewal. The history of ITA program design…

A preliminary, descriptive overview of the students and their progress in the first year of a new French immersion program looks at the 1982-83 grade 8 cohort of 40 students, most of whom had come from the standard core French program in grades 6 and 7, and compares their progress in other subjects with two grade 8 classes in another school. Data…

The report summarizes an assessment of the extent to which Manitoba schools are meeting the learning objectives for speaking and writing skills specified for senior (secondary) levels 1 and 4 in the basic French curriculum for the province. For each level and skill area, a random sample of students representing urban and rural school populations…

The report, entirely in French, summarizes an assessment of the extent to which Manitoba schools are meeting the learning objectives for speaking and writing skills specified for senior (secondary) levels 1 and 4 in the basic French curriculum for the province. For each level and skill area, a random sample of students representing urban and rural…

The report, entirely in French, details an assessment of the extent to which Manitoba schools are meeting the learning objectives for speaking and writing skills specified for senior (secondary) levels 1 and 4 in the basic French curriculum for the province. For each level and skill area, a random sample of students representing urban and rural…

"Informed math self-placement," a program implemented at American River College in Sacramento, California, to determine students' readiness for college-level math, has been in place for three years. This case study describes the development and implementation of math self-placement at American River. Math self-placement consists of a…

The Threshold Project examined the nature of the language and learning difficulties that black Standard Three (Std 3, or grade 5) children in South Africa experience when they change from their mother tongue to English as a medium of instruction and learning, a policy known as "delayed immersion." This report focuses on the first major…