Assessing Spoken Language Ability: A Many-Facet Rasch Analysis

2017 ◽  
pp. 23-48 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sahbi Hidri
Keyword(s):  
Rasch Analysis ◽  
Spoken Language ◽  
Language Ability

Parenting Stress, Self-Efficacy, and Involvement: Effects on Spoken Language Ability Three Years After Cochlear Implantation

2021 ◽  
Vol 42 (10S) ◽  
pp. S11-S18
Author(s):  
Ivette Cejas ◽  
Christine M. Mitchell ◽  
David H. Barker ◽  
Christina Sarangoulis ◽  
Laurie S. Eisenberg ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Parenting Stress ◽  
Cochlear Implantation ◽  
Self Efficacy ◽  
Spoken Language ◽  
Language Ability

Discussion on Scoring Issues in Second Signed or Spoken Language Assessment

2021 ◽  
pp. 329-332
Author(s):  
Tobias Haug ◽  
Ute Knoch ◽  
Wolfgang Mann
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Nonverbal Communication ◽  
Rasch Analysis ◽  
Language Assessment ◽  
Spoken Language ◽  
Rater Training ◽  
Signed Language ◽  
Language Assessments ◽  
New Research

This chapter is a joint discussion of key items related to scoring issues related to signed and spoken language assessment that were discussed in Chapters 9.1 and 9.2. One aspect of signed language assessment that has the potential to stimulate new research in spoken second language (L2) assessment is the scoring of nonverbal speaker behaviors. This aspect is rarely represented in the scoring criteria of spoken assessments and in many cases not even available to raters during the scoring process. The authors argue, therefore, for a broadening of the construct of spoken language assessment to also include elements of nonverbal communication in the scoring descriptors. Additionally, the importance of rater training for signed language assessments, application of Rasch analysis to investigate possible reasons of disagreement between raters, and the need to conduct research on rasting scales are discussed.

Validating automated speaking tests

2010 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 355-377 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jared Bernstein ◽  
Alistair Van Moere ◽  
Jian Cheng
Keyword(s):  
Concurrent Validity ◽  
Spoken Language ◽  
Language Ability ◽  
Strongly Correlated ◽  
Stable Relationship ◽  
Language Tests ◽  
Interactive Nature ◽  
Fully Automatic ◽  
Oral Proficiency Interviews ◽  
Arabic And English

This paper presents evidence that supports the valid use of scores from fully automatic tests of spoken language ability to indicate a person’s effectiveness in spoken communication. The paper reviews the constructs, scoring, and the concurrent validity evidence of ‘facility-in-L2’ tests, a family of automated spoken language tests in Spanish, Dutch, Arabic, and English. The facility-in-L2 tests are designed to measure receptive and productive language ability as test-takers engage in a succession of tasks with meaningful language. Concurrent validity studies indicate that scores from the automated tests are strongly correlated with the scores from oral proficiency interviews. In separate studies with learners from each of the four languages the automated tests predict scores from the live interview tests as well as those tests predict themselves in a test-retest protocol (r = 0.77 to 0.92). Although it might be assumed that the interactive nature of the oral interview elicits performances that manifest a distinct construct, the closeness of the results suggests that the constructs underlying the two approaches to oral assessment have a stable relationship across languages.

scholarly journals Assessing learners’ needs for practising spoken Icelandic L2 with the mobile app TALAÐU!

2021 ◽  
pp. 267-272
Author(s):  
Fanny Sissoko ◽  
Branislav Bédi
Keyword(s):  
Learning Styles ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Spoken Language ◽  
Mobile App ◽  
Language Ability ◽  
Innovative Strategy ◽  
Language And Culture ◽  
Study Approach ◽  
Stage Of Development ◽  
Culture Environment

This article presents results from a human-centred approach study to designing a mobile app TALAÐU!, which aims at assisting learners of Icelandic as a second language (L2) with spoken language practice. The main goal of the app would be to encourage learners to have real-life conversations with Icelandic speakers by accomplishing conversational missions. In the first stage of development, a qualitative deep-method needs study in the form of interviews was conducted with 19 migrants from 14 different countries, who permanently live in Iceland. Results indicated that learners have five core needs for practising spoken language: connection, confidence, clarity, growth, and convenience. Based on different learning styles and confidence in speaking rather than language ability, three main learner profiles were indicated: ‘diving in’, ‘learning with caution’ and ‘dipping a toe’. Both the learners’ needs and the profiles would drive the design of the learning app to personalise and maximise the learner experience with practising spoken L2. This human-centred study approach suggests an innovative strategy in designing a learning app for practising L2 in a specific language and culture environment.

Construct in Assessments of Spoken Language

2021 ◽  
pp. 233-250
Author(s):  
Susy Macqueen
Keyword(s):  
Language Use ◽  
Language Assessment ◽  
Spoken Language ◽  
Language Ability ◽  
Complex Dynamic ◽  
Holistic View ◽  
Development Experience ◽  
Dynamic Phenomena

Language assessment constructs conjoin two complex, dynamic phenomena: collective patterns of language use and individual language ability. Assessment constructs emerge from “spheres of activity” across multiple, overlapping dimensions, denoted in this chapter as theoretical, operationalized, stated, and perceived constructs. While theoretical constructs are assumptions about what causes differences in scores, the operationalized construct is what actually emerges in the interaction between the assessee and the assessment infrastructure. Stated constructs are descriptions of what the assessment claims to assess, and perceived constructs are the ways these statements are interpreted. Interrogating the congruence of these dimensions has the potential to provide a holistic view of the development, experience, use, and impact of assessment constructs across diverse stakeholder worlds.

Rapid Gains in Speed of Verbal Processing by Infants in the 2nd Year

1998 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 228-231 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Fernald ◽  
John P. Pinto ◽  
Daniel Swingley ◽  
Amy Weinberg ◽  
Gerald W. McRoberts
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movements ◽  
Target Word ◽  
Speech Production ◽  
Time Course ◽  
Spoken Language ◽  
Spoken Word ◽  
Language Ability ◽  
Verbal Processing ◽  
Efficient Performance ◽  
Correct Picture

Infants improve substantially in language ability during their 2nd year. Research on the early development of speech production shows that vocabulary begins to expand rapidly around the age of 18 months. During this period, infants also make impressive gains in understanding spoken language. We examined the time course of word recognition in infants ages 15 to 24 months, tracking their eye movements as they looked at pictures in response to familiar spoken words. The speed and efficiency of verbal processing increased dramatically over the 2nd year. Although 15-month-old infants did not orient to the correct picture until after the target word was spoken, 24-month-olds were significantly faster, shifting their gaze to the correct picture before the end of the spoken word. By 2 years of age, children are progressing toward the highly efficient performance of adults, making decisions about words based on incomplete acoustic information.

What Do We Want Them To Be When They Grow Up?

2010 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-31
Author(s):  
Lyn Robertson
Keyword(s):  
Hearing Loss ◽  
Social Development ◽  
Young Women ◽  
Hearing Aids ◽  
Test Scores ◽  
Spoken Language ◽  
Language Therapy ◽  
Profound Hearing Loss ◽  
Children With Hearing Loss ◽  
Learning To Listen

Abstract Learning to listen and speak are well-established preludes for reading, writing, and succeeding in mainstream educational settings. Intangibles beyond the ubiquitous test scores that typically serve as markers for progress in children with hearing loss are embedded in descriptions of the educational and social development of four young women. All were diagnosed with severe-to-profound or profound hearing loss as toddlers, and all were fitted with hearing aids and given listening and spoken language therapy. Compiling stories across the life span provides insights into what we can be doing in the lives of young children with hearing loss.

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