The following interview was conducted with Catherine Elder in spring of 2020, at the beginning of the pandemic. Cathie has had a varied career in language testing, including work at universities in Australia and New Zealand and at the Language Testing Resource Center in Melbourne. In this interview, Cathie shares some highlights of her somewhat…

This study investigates how figurative language is processed by learners of a second language (L2). With an experiment testing L2 comprehension of figurative expressions in three categories, each combining shared and unshared first language (L1) and L2 lexical representations and conceptual representations in a different way, the study…

In this article, the author demonstrates how a Bourdieusian analysis of poetic transcriptions offers great potential for helping teachers and students to understand how they are responding to state policy mandates in schools. Specifically, the author uses Bourdieu's concepts of field, capital, and habitus to analyze two poetic transcriptions,…

In a developing nation like Turkey, the English language plays a significant role in educational and socioeconomic mobility. English is acquired and taught as a foreign language (EFL) primarily in the classrooms. However, the ways in which English language is represented in classroom instruction have been hardly examined and understood. With that,…

A study investigated the comparability of second language (L2) listening comprehension tests by examining the effects of varying text type and assessment task on student performance. Student target language experience was an additional variable considered. Subjects were 107 beginning and 64 advanced-intermediate college-level Spanish second…

While the concept of language awareness by language exploration and the use of performance objectives and testing seem mutually contradictory, they may not be. Where the processes of language learning are concerned, the two approaches may have important points of contact. In curriculum, the two complement rather than threaten each other. Both help…

A program designed to improve the oral second language skills of high school students in second-year Spanish is reported. Initial analysis attributed the students' low level of oral Spanish skills to lack of motivation and insufficient practice of oral language. Three major interventions were implemented: incorporation of more oral practice of…

Shows that underlying first language (L1) and second language (L2) lexical similarities between typologically unrelated languages can benefit L2 vocabulary learning. The article's comparison of the use of motion verbs in English by Chinese- and Japanese-speaking learners indicates an advantage for Chinese speakers, whose L1 lexicalizes motion in a…

Ten principles based on the interactive nature of language learning and teaching include the following: (1) the student is the language learner; (2) language learning and teaching are shaped by student needs and objectives in particular circumstances; (3) language learning and teaching are based on normal uses of language, with communication of…

Foreign language (FL) needs is a new interdisciplinary area of research developing between applied linguistics, sociolinguistics, and educational planning and evaluation. FL needs consist of the demands, wishes, and expectations of the whole society, its groups and individuals, reflecting the relationship of their contemporary and future existence…

Problems associated with criterion-referenced language testing are discussed in the context of both standardized proficiency testing and classroom assessment. First, different interpretations of criterion-referencing are examined. A range of approaches for defining criteria and performance levels in second language assessment are outlined, and…

A selection of essays on foreign language planning at the national level contains articles on the language planning process, language choice, teacher education, testing and assessment, and transnational planning. Essays include the following: "Foreign Language Teaching Policy: Some Planning Issues" (Theo J. M. van Els); "Foreign…

The 14 conference papers and discussion transcripts in this volume were arranged to suggest both an outline of the state of the art of foreign language testing and a practical guide for test writers and users. The first two papers (T.R. Hopkins, Language Testing of North American Indians; and E.J. Briere, Testing ESL Among Navajo Children) deal…

The introduction to this handbook for teachers and administrators in bilingual education programs states: "Half of the children in the world are bilingual, and approximately one fourth of the people in the United States can communicate in more than one language. About ten percent of our population speaks a language other than English natively. For…

This monograph attempts to integrate experience and research findings in several related disciplines and bring them to bear on the problem of how to make language programs in schools simultaneously accommodate the needs of both the language curriculum and the general curriculum. It addresses four issues: (1) how specific languages, in all their…