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Still Deluded by Artifices? The Role of the Common European Framework of Reference in Facilitating Test Score Interpretation
Get PDFThe introduction of the CEFR was welcomed by researchers and practitioners in language education, given its potential for increasing transparency of test results and the meaningfulness of test scores. In this paper, I reflect on Glenn Fulcher’s (2004, 2016) critical take on the use of the CEFR in the context of mapping (linking or aligning) test scores to the CEFR proficiency levels and the implications for score interpretation and use. I argue that although mapping test scores to the CEFR levels can enhance score interpretation, the field of language assessment needs to address misinterpretations of score mapping as sufficient evidence of quality of test design or comparability of scores of different tests
A Need for an Aptitude Test for Young Learners in Catalan: The Case of the Modern Language Aptitude Test – Elementary in Catalan
Get PDFYoung learners’ language aptitude is understudied due to a lack of tests covering this period of life. Young learners, in contrast with adults, are still acquiring their L1. Consequently, a language-dependent aptitude test should be carefully designed for it to be valid. An additional challenge is found when the young learners who are to take the test are bilingual, as is the case of the Catalan/Spanish community in Catalonia. This chapter aims at explaining the process to translate and adapt the Modern Language Aptitude Test – Elementary in Spanish (MLAT-ES - Stansfield et al., 2005) into Catalan (MLAT-EC – Suárez, 2010) so as to obtain a valid aptitude measure across grades. The results show that despite the linguistic proximity between Catalan and Spanish, several issues had to be considered, not only linguistic and cultural but also the learners' age range for the test is addressed to
Exploring Student-directed Translanguaging in the English-centric Classroom
Get PDFTranslanguaging has been suggested as a pedagogical practice for bilingual students in which they use two languages alternately in the classroom (Williams, 1996) and it contributes to students' language learning with the use of two languages to make meaning (Baker, 2011). The main goal of this study is to investigate preparatory class students' attitudes towards translanguaging and their translanguaging practices. To do this, a mixed-method research design was selected and applied to 28 preparatory class B1 level students chosen through the nonrandom sampling method. The quantitative data were collected from students through a questionnaire asking about students’ attitudes towards English-only policy, students’ translanguaging attitudes, and practices. Besides, to collect the qualitative data, online reading classes were observed for eight weeks. Moreover, focus group interviews with 4 lower and 4 higher achieving students were conducted in order to get a deeper understanding of students’ perceptions of translanguaging. The findings gathered from the questionnaire revealed that preparatory class students have positive attitudes towards translanguaging. In addition, the qualitative findings obtained from online reading class observation indicated that students most frequently use translanguaging practices to express their initial evaluations of the text, mention their comprehension, paraphrase, ask for help, show their critical thinking skills, discuss a topic about the related text, put forward their predictions about the content. Furthermore, the findings of focus group interviews showed that both low and high achievers have negative perceptions of translanguaging. To encourage students in the use of translanguaging in a foreign language learning class, students' positive attitudes should be supported, their negative perceptions should not be underestimated and negative perceptions of translanguaging should be tried to be changed into positive ones so that students can benefit from translanguaging
A Review of Scientific Papers on the (Tele) Work of Postgraduate Professors
Get PDFBefore the implementation of compulsory remote work due to the Covid-19 pandemic, postgraduate professors already exercised telework in their homes, informally. Thus, the objective is to analyze the scientific production of telework or work of postgraduate professors. A systematic review of articles in the SCOPUS, Web of Science, and Scielo databases and of theses and dissertations in the Brazilian Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations was carried out. We sought to classify the research found by themes and identify the content of the results that researchers found. There was a significant amount of work on the evaluation of postgraduate studies or professors, in search of improvements. Problems were noted in the professor's work in relation to the lack of training for teaching, university environment with few resources, complex activities and in a quantity that extrapolates the time of service, evaluation by results that causes negative consequences in the performance of activities as in the personal life of the professor. Telework was found in different contexts, such as ubiquitous work and the digital age, distance education, pleasure and suffering at work, and as a dimension that addresses teaching work. Since professors have already experimented with teleworking and compulsory remote work, they are subject to the positivities and negativities that it can cause, which may or may not facilitate the improvement of the problems pointed out. The research contributes to the human resources management area, by seeking to understand how professors-researchers have used this modality outside universities and potential research gaps, such as identification of control of professors’ telework since it is subjective and complex; more precise identification of the profile of professors who telework and what type; how teleworking affects the issues raised by research on professors' work; and, how was the experience of compulsory remote work during the pandemic
Investigating Turkish Pre-service English Language Teachers’ Virtual Teaching Dispositions
Get PDFThe current study sought to investigate Turkish pre-service English language (EL) teachers’ virtual teaching dispositions (i.e., social, pedagogical, expert/cognitive, and virtual/technical presences) and the extent they are related to gender, age, and teaching status variables. The participants were 84 pre-service EL teachers drawn from a Turkish university, and data were collected through Welch and Napoleon’s (2014) virtual teaching disposition scale (VTDS). The results indicated a significant difference between the scores of male and female pre-service EL teachers in both social and virtual/technical presences. However, the participants did not exhibit a significant difference between pedagogical and expert/cognitive presences. Consequently, a one-way ANOVA was run to explore the role of the age variable on the participants’ virtual teaching disposition, with the results revealing a significant difference for only the pedagogical presence and expert/cognitive presence among the participants, whose ages ranged from 18 to 20, those aged 20-23, and those over the age of 24. Finally, the results revealed a significant difference between the scores in the expert/cognitive presence of the participants who teach English and those who do not. However, no significant difference was identified between the mean scores of the two groups in social presence, virtual/technical presence, or expert/cognitive presence
International Students’ Social Integration Experiences During Their Higher Education in Europe
Get PDFThe increase in academic mobility in Europe has inspired many to contribute to the special literature regarding internationalization. This contribution is quite timely, as the need to understand the ties between higher education and internationalization is great. Considering that mobility has predominantly occurred in Western Europe, special attention must be focused on Eastern Europe’s Higher Educational endeavors. This study focuses on the Central European country of Hungary, and therein more specifically on its second largest city, Debrecen. The University of Debrecen currently hosts around 7000 international students, and every year this number increases. With such promising and ever-increasing numbers, it is a constant mission of the university to research and report on the life experiences of its international students, regarding their academic, social, and cultural aspects. In this present study the focus will be the social aspect of students whose nationality is represented by more than one hundred persons at the university. Content analysis was employed to analyze structured interviews to identify categories. The findings reveal four main categories to be relevant in their social adaptation: (1) the university, (2) networks students build, (3) language barriers, and (4) healthcare
Strategic Solution of Ecological Problems in the Industrial Environment
Get PDFThe strategic business of industrial companies, observed on a global level, conceives of insufficient commitment of management to the environmental situation, which is influenced by an increasing number of harmful factors in the environment. Bearing in mind that the world's population is growing faster, according to the data, it is estimated that by 2050, that number will exceed the figure of more than 9 billion. This means that with the increase of the population, the consumption of a large amount of natural resources also increases. Surveys of statistical data in the field of environmental protection in the world show that if the world's natural resources are evenly distributed, in 2050, people will have at their disposal about 25% of resources per capita. Accordingly, it is important in the industrial environment to include experts from various fields: biologists, medical workers, ecologists and experts who can purposefully, based on their profession, contribute to the preservation of the planet, clean water and air. From the strategic aspect, in companies, this is solved within the framework of faster development of management awareness, which should be focused on understanding and greater understanding of the concept of "environmental protection". This means preserving an important industrial and living system, which should contain a set of measures that will protect the entire business space, the human environment as well as the entire biosphere from harmful influences. The importance and obligation of the management is, accordingly, to be ready at any time to eliminate or reduce the harmful changes that have occurred to the healthy environment, which have occurred as a result of the operation of their industrial plant. The paper presents strategic approaches to research of important performances of the development of the situation with the resulting environmental problems as a consequence of industrial production in the environment
An Exploratory Empirical Research on Hope for Learning English as a Foreign Language
Get PDFThere is a dearth of research on hope in studies of second or foreign (L2) language learning. Therefore, the present research contributes conceptually to a deep understanding of hope for learning English as a foreign language and the ways it may be developed. To do so, an exploratory mixed-methods design was employed. Using in-depth interviews, qualitative data was collected from the advanced-level adult Iranian EFL learners. Grounded-based analysis of the data led to the emergence of forty-seven items tied to seven main components as well as inter-relationships between them. In the quantitative phase, a 47-item questionnaire of hope for learning EFL was designed and then piloted. Next, to test the validity of the piloting phase findings, the refined 46-item questionnaire of hope for learning EFL was administered to a convenience sample of EFL learners (n=330). Statistical analyses of the testing data confirmed that forty-six items are linked to seven broad underlying components of hope for learning EFL. The main factors building the construct of hope for learning EFL were confirmed. Moreover, core factor, interconnections between the identified components were developed and validated. The findings can provide invaluable clues as to the development of educational interventionist programs in the future
Integrating Critical Thinking into Digital Connectivism Theory: Omani Pre-service Teacher Development
Get PDFThe current study implements digital connectivism theory within an English language teaching (ELT) program—specifically for pre-service teachers—in order to evaluate teachers’ ability to generate teaching activities with Bloom’s taxonomy. Connectivism theory emphasizes the principle of connecting students in a network of cognitive processes which in turn can allow the transfer of information; yet it is unclear what students do if they were asked to evaluate, synthesize and analyse (the three higher order skills of Bloom's taxonomy) in connectivism learning approach. The methodology of the study is a case study conducted by means of clustered sampling on 54 teachers, who collaborated in 18 groups and were distributed between ten schools in one district of Oman. The participants were involved in critical thinking training, generating reflections, group discussions, and filling in a checklist. The results indicate a strong need for conceptualizing the principles of connectivism theory to provide a guideline for teachers and students. It is then concluded that the concept of mental “knowledge” is expanded when integrating connectivism and Bloom’s taxonomy in the ELT field. The study proposes pedagogical implications for ELT programs
Glenn Fulcher’s Thirty-Five Years of Contribution to Language Testing and Assessment: A Systematic Review
Get PDFThe present systematic review examines Glenn Fulcher’s contributions, works, philosophy, and research in language testing and assessment. The data includes his published articles, book chapters, books and interviews (except the one in this special issue) relevant to language testing and assessment from 1987 to March 2022. This study is conducted in two stages: From the sources, Ali Panahi and Hassan Mohebbi derived 127 commonly used main themes, 43 statistical and instrumental concepts, and 14 domains to create a framework for the analysis. We discovered that his research interests were wide-ranging. However, there was a focus on assessing speaking, rating scale design, validity, language assessment literacy and pedagogy, and the broader understanding of the role of assessment from a philosophical and societal perspective. Our analysis provides an overall understanding of the main themes, key concepts and major implications of Glenn Fulcher’s work. In the second stage of the study, Glenn presents his personal discussion and reflection of this systematic review