The distinguishing feature of dynamic assessment (DA) is the dialectical integration of assessment and instruction. However, how to design the targeted instruction or mediation has been relatively underexplored. To address this gap, this study proposes the attribute-based mediation model (AMM), an English-as-a-foreign-language listening mediation…

Comprehensibility has emerged as a useful and intuitive means of globally evaluating second language (L2) speakers in many research and instructional contexts. In most cases, L2 speakers' comprehensibility is assessed by external listeners who do not engage in extensive communication with the speakers, even though the degree to which a speaker is…

This study proposed a set of measures for assessing noun phrase (NP) complexity in second language (L2) Chinese writing and compared the predictive power of these measures for L2 Chinese writing quality to that of a set of syntactic complexity measures based on the topic-comment unit (TC-unit). Our data consisted of 101 narratives written by…

This study uses a complexity-accuracy-lexis-fluency (CALF) framework to explore performance on 2 speaking tasks: a narrative picture-based task and an interactive decision-making task. A preliminary aim is to compare performance on the 2 tasks, using a wide range of CALF measures to explore where scores are similar and where they are different.…

Because scaffolded feedback is a key component of dynamic assessment (DA) and is present in some forms of corrective feedback (CF), it can be unclear how the 2 frameworks differ. Further complicating the distinction, many second language (L2) DA studies have focused on how a teacher provides mediation as a series of prompts, usually in reaction to…

This article summarizes some of the main issues, concerns, and debates that have ensued over the years in the field of L2 assessment and shows how past concerns have shaped contemporary L2 assessment research and practice. The article first describes what L2 assessment is and what it entails, arguing that notions of L2 assessment have been…

Achievement of advanced literacy as a goal of foreign language (FL) study within the available amount of time requires that FL departments construct a well-articulated program and optimize student learning at each stage of the curriculum. One essential element of such optimization is the development of assessment procedures to place students into…

While Grosse and Voght (1991) set out a well-considered overview of LSP and identified areas in need of development, they limited their observations on the topic of assessment to a short section devoted to what they called the "proficiency movement." While it is true that they really did not have a lot to report on at the time they wrote their…

This study investigated the bi-directionality of language transfer (first language [L1] to second language [L2] and L2 to L1) at the pragmatic level with a focus on the speech act of request. The L2 participants were Chinese English as a foreign language (EFL) learners at the intermediate and advanced levels. Data were collected via discourse…

Portfolio assessment as developed in Europe presents a learner-empowering alternative to computer-based testing. The authors present the European Language Portfolio (ELP) and its American adaptations, LinguaFolio and the Global Language Portfolio, as tools to be used with the Common European Framework of Reference for languages and the American…

Within the framework of sociocultural theory, learning is conceptualized as participation rather than acquisition (Donato, 2000). Given the governing metaphor of changing participation as learning (Young & Miller, 2004), an important contribution conversation analysis can make to the study of second language acquisition is to detail the…

Data from a study on second-language reading comprehension show that assessment task type, language of assessment, and target language experience uniformly affect learners' ability to demonstrate their reading comprehension. A literature review is included. (Contains 57 references.) (LB)

Reviews issues relevant to the assessment of a listening comprehension construct and proposes a framework that specifies the person, competence, text, and item domains and components of assessment. Specifications focus on identification of the factors that relate to the purpose, object, and agent of assessment. (41 references) (JP)

Explored an alternative approach to short essay writing on language assessment tasks. Thirty-nine intermediate learners of French performed two essay writing tasks: writing directly in French and writing in the first language and then translating into French. Two-thirds of students did better on the direct writing task across all rating scales;…

Identified issues for change in the national foreign language (FL) education agenda: evaluating language competency; articulating instruction across educational levels; increasing the range of languages taught and studied; achieving higher levels of language skills; promoting language competency and use among adults; expanding research and…