AAAL/ILTA JOINT SESSION: New voices in applied linguistics and language testing

Organizers:
Larry Selinker (New York University, larry.selinker@nyu.edu)
Fred Davidson (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, fgd@uiuc.edu)

Saturday, March 22, 2003, 9:00 AM-12:30 PM invited colloquium
Room: Commonwealth South

Session Summary: This colloquium promotes 'new voices' in the developing area of the intersection of applied linguistics (AL) and language testing (LT). To facilitate the process, each speaker is sponsored by a more senior person in the field. The content focus this year is on how research epistemology and belief systems influence the intersection of LT and several areas of AL.

Holistic and analytic rating processes and products in an EFL writing context
Khaled Barkaoui (University of Carthage (Tunisia) & University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, barkaoui@uiuc.edu)
Sponsor: Fred Davidson (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, fgd@uiuc.edu)
Motivated by a desire to improve local assessment practice, this study involves target users and triangulates research methods to enhance validity and change implementation. A common metric (Cumming et al., 2002) coordinates perspectives and findings. Hence, the study is a theoretical and practical application of a global literature-based model to local problems.

Using genuine learner performance data for the assessment of language ability
Volker Hegelheimer (Iowa State University, volkerh@iastate.edu)
Sponsor: Dan Douglas (Iowa State University, dandoug@iastate.edu)
As web-based and web-enhanced computer technology provides more widely available tools for language learning and teaching, existing technologies such as screen capturing applications should be used to expand the current belief system for continuous performance assessment. The strategic use of computerized data gathering capabilities can more accurately inform second language teachers, testers, and researchers.

Language testing and interlanguage: The case of Lebanese learners' interlanguage(s)
May Shikhani (University of Balamand (Lebanon), mes@balamand.edu.lb)
Sponsor: Larry Selinker (New York University, ls110@nyu.edu)
This paper considers various interfaces/links between LT/SLA as they apply to a general problem in a particular target language use situation: beliefs related to noted discrepancies between standardized test scores and local placement of students in terms of the interlanguages they produce in the respective levels they are placed at.

Understanding L2 knowledge at the interface of testing and SLA
Jaehak Chang (Teachers College, Columbia University, jc434@columbia.edu)
Sponsors: ZhaoHong Han (Teachers College, Columbia University, han@tc.columbia.edu) & James Purpura (Teachers College Columbia University, jp248@columbia.edu)
The study draws on Keenan & Comrie's (1977) NPAH and models of L2 knowledge in developing a language test to assess L2 learners' knowledge of English relative clauses. The resultant design of the test provides for an understanding both of the scope of learner knowledge and of its developmental complexity.