Learn more about the special event occurring at the 2009 AAAL Conference to commemorate CAL's 50th Anniversary.
       
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About CALPast CAL PresentationsAmerican Association for Applied Linguistics (AAAL) 2009 ConferenceDenver Marriott Tech Center Saturday, March 21, 2009A Structural Equation Model of the Effects of Motivational Orientations and Beliefs on Learners' Strategy Use Presenter: Chengbin Yin Sunday, March 22, 2009Accountability and Assessment in Adult ESL Education Presenters include Dorry Kenyon
Invited Colloquium Learn more about this colloquium. (32 KB, PDF)
Developing an oral assessment protocol and rating rubric for applicants to the English for Heritage Language Speakers (EHLS) program This poster presentation described the development of a telephone interview protocol used in the English for Heritage Language Speakers (EHLS) program. The EHLS program gives native speakers of languages other than English the opportunity to achieve professional proficiency in English and thus increase their marketability with the U.S. government. To complete the program successfully, participants must have advanced proficiency in English at entry. Previously, each program applicant submitted a detailed written application, selected applicants then participated in English language testing, and then final selections were made for the program. For the 2009 application process, a 15-minute telephone interview of each applicant was added to the procedure in order to increase the information available to inform the selection of provisionally accepted candidates. An interview protocol and corresponding rating rubric were developed to elicit and assess a candidates language. This poster session described how the protocol and rubric were developed; discussed issues that were identified; and provided an informal evaluation of the efficacy of such an assessment tool. The research questions asked concerned the relationship between the phone interview ratings and the fact of being selected for further testing (through formal OPIs), the subsequent OPI scores, and the fact of final selection into the program. It was hypothesized that the ratings of the phone protocol would generally predict applicants further success in the selection process. The research findings seemed to support the initial hypothesis; however, data analysis also uncovered additional considerations to be taken into account for future uses of the protocol and rubric. Presenters include Genesis Ingersoll, Natalia Jacobson, and Anne Donovan
The discourse of assessments: Identifying grammatical features of standardized science tests that influence accessibility for linguistically diverse learners Presenters include Laura Wright, Jim Bauman, David MacGregor Monday, March 23, 2009Distinctive Forms of Information-gap Tasks to Develop and Assess Academic Mathematics Language Among L2 Learners in High School Trigonometry (Poster Session) While much of the work on information-gap tasks utilizes Spot-the-Difference, Story Picture Sequencing, and Picture Placement tasks among others both in SLA research and in communicative language teaching, Pica (2005) has begun to address the linguistic needs of L2 learners in content-based language learning settings in more integrative ways. To do this, Pica and her team have developed text-based information-gap tasks. In this poster, we took a next logical step by developing mathematically-based information-gap tasks. They involve trigonometry problems that each have at least two very different methods to reach a solution. The task is concluded when each learner has written down an interlocutor's method and their agreed reasoning for each step. The assessment has two parts. The first is a constructed response task in which learners fill in the missing words of a description of each of the two methods; the second assessment is either short answer questions about the steps in each method or a prompt to write a summary of each method. Presenters include David Gabel and
Arieh (Ari) Sherris
Test User Beliefs About the Internet-Based TOEFL Presenters: Margaret E. Malone and
Megan Montee
Language Education Research and Development in Ghana This colloquium addressed the opportunities for change in schools that the current language policy seems to offer, but always in the context of persistent educational problems. Four presenters detailed research and development efforts in Ghana that apply linguistic theory and research. Three papers related to a development effort aimed at teaching literacy in Ghanaian languages. One described the challenges of developing comparable reading assessments in 11 Ghanaian languages and English, and administering them in schools. Another reported survey findings on teachers' proficiency in the Ghanaian language of the school to which they are assigned. The third outlined political and practical challenges encountered during development of a language and literacy curriculum for teaching literacy in Ghanaian languages and teaching ESL. The fourth paper was an account of research on the efficacy of task-based interaction as a effective alternative to the entrenched rote language learning. Presenters include: Arieh (Ari) Sherris,
Carolyn Temple Adger,
Jim Bauman, Tuesday, March 24, 2009Improving the Literacy Skills of Bilingual Students: Findings from a Research-Based Vocabulary Intervention Following a research-based approach to vocabulary instruction, such as Beck et al.s (2002), a Spanish vocabulary enrichment program designed to increase the literacy skills of dual language students was administered to Spanish and English native speakers in one school district in the U.S. over a six-month period. The program involved a combination of meaning-making activities that engage students in the exploration of different word meanings and associations between words and structural analyses activities in an effort to promote both depth and breadth of vocabulary knowledge. Findings from the 4th grade cohort showed that students in the vocabulary program made larger gains in standardized measures of Spanish vocabulary and reading comprehension than those in the control group. Moreover, when scores were further disaggregated by participants native language, findings revealed that effect sizes were moderate for the native Spanish speakers in the program and the students in the control group regardless of their native language (around 0.35 for both vocabulary and reading comprehension), but large for the native English speakers who participated in the program (0.86 for vocabulary and 0.67 for reading comprehension). Taken together, these findings suggest that the intervention was effective in improving the Spanish literacy skills of participating students. However, enhancements may be necessary to make it as effective for Spanish speakers as for English speakers. Presenters: Igone Arteagoitia and
Marleny Perdomo |
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