Evaluating Foreign Language Programs

Evaluating Foreign Language Programs PDF

Author: Diane W. Birckbichler

Publisher: Foreign Language Publications & Services

Published: 2006

Total Pages: 144

ISBN-13:

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This volume is designed as a practical handbook that provides guidelines for teams of evaluators investigating a department or language program or individual teachers or language program directors seeking to better understand the content and context of their programs or courses. Although the volume focuses on postsecondary foreign language programs, readers who teach at the secondary levels will be able to easily adapt the guidelines and procedures to their own contexts. The book is divided into three parts: (1) Framing the Evaluation; (2) Asking the Right Questions; and (3) Reporting for Change.

Program Evaluation in Language Education

Program Evaluation in Language Education PDF

Author: R. Kiely

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2005-07-26

Total Pages: 311

ISBN-13: 0230511228

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The authors describe evaluation as a way of understanding and developing language programs: the thematic and background section sets out the decision-making, quality management, and learning functions of evaluation. Case studies illustrate the diversity of evaluation contexts, functions and approaches, documenting the ways in which evaluation processes and outcomes inform and facilitate program development, and contribute to explaining how language and teacher education programs constitute opportunities for learning. The ways in which evaluation practice can be researched and developed to maximize policy, institutional and program effectiveness is included, and a comprehensive set of resources for those commissioning, undertaking or researching language program evaluations concludes the text.

Toward Useful Program Evaluation in College Foreign Language Education

Toward Useful Program Evaluation in College Foreign Language Education PDF

Author: John Marvin Norris

Publisher: Natl Foreign Lg Resource Ctr

Published: 2009

Total Pages: 248

ISBN-13: 0980045932

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This volume reports on innovative, useful evaluation work conducted within U.S. college foreign language programs. Each case is reported by program-internal educators, who walk readers through critical steps, from identifying evaluation uses, users, and questions, to designing methods, interpreting findings, and taking actions.

Evaluating Second Language Education

Evaluating Second Language Education PDF

Author: J. Charles Alderson

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 1992-02-27

Total Pages: 392

ISBN-13: 9780521422697

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"Counter Responsibility for planning language teaching programs now carries with it a strong element of accountability. Evaluation of the whole process of course design, development, and implementation is therefore a necessary area of activity for course designers, language planners, and researchers. This book brings together accounts of recent work in this increasingly important field and will be a valuable resource both for those already engaged in evaluation and for those in training. Part One presents a review of the literature, covering past developments in the wider field of educational evaluation, as well as specifically in second language education. Part Two contains a series of eight original case-studies, written by scholars involved in evaluations in widely divergent settings. The focus in each case is on how the evaluator addresses the difficulties central to each study, and the findings are also included. The final Part Three provides practical guidance for evaluators, offering suggestions about how to set up and carry out evaluations in any given setting."--Publisher's website.

A Guide to Useful Evaluation of Language Programs

A Guide to Useful Evaluation of Language Programs PDF

Author: John McE. Davis

Publisher: Georgetown University Press

Published: 2018-03-01

Total Pages: 132

ISBN-13: 1626165785

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Departments and language programs often are asked to evaluate the efficacy of their own programs and make curricular decisions on the basis of evidence. This guide, designed to help language educators meet the needs of program evaluation and assessment often requested by their institutions, provides step-by-step advice to help language educators conduct evaluation and assessment and to show how it can lead to meaningful programmatic decisions and change. With discussions about evaluation planning, advice for selecting data-collection tools, explanations for data analysis, examples based on actual evaluations, and more, this book provides everything you need to complete a successful language program evaluation that will give educators useful data on which to base curricular decisions. This short book is practical and timely and will find an audience in instructors of all languages and all levels.

A Principled Approach to Language Assessment

A Principled Approach to Language Assessment PDF

Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2020-09-19

Total Pages: 113

ISBN-13: 0309675480

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The United States is formally represented around the world by approximately 14,000 Foreign Service officers and other personnel in the U.S. Department of State. Roughly one-third of them are required to be proficient in the local languages of the countries to which they are posted. To achieve this language proficiency for its staff, the State Department's Foreign Service Institute (FSI) provides intensive language instruction and assesses the proficiency of personnel before they are posted to a foreign country. The requirement for language proficiency is established in law and is incorporated in personnel decisions related to job placement, promotion, retention, and pay. A Principled Approach to Language Assessment: Considerations for the U.S. Foreign Service Institute evaluates the different approaches that exist to assess foreign language proficiency that FSI could potentially use. This report considers the key assessment approaches in the research literature that are appropriate for language testing, including, but not limited to, assessments that use task-based or performance-based approaches, adaptive online test administration, and portfolios.

Evaluating Second Language Courses

Evaluating Second Language Courses PDF

Author: Dale Griffee

Publisher: IAP

Published: 2016-07-01

Total Pages: 285

ISBN-13: 1681235951

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Typically, books on evaluation in the second and foreign language field deal with large programs and often result from large?scale studies done by the authors. The challenge for ordinary second and foreign language classroom teachers is that they must extrapolate techniques or strategies for evaluation from a very large scale to a much smaller scale, that of the course. At the same time, classroom teachers are responsible for outcomes of their courses and need to do evaluation on a scale and for needs of their choosing. Evaluating Second Language Courses is designed for classroom teachers who are dealing with a single course, and who wish to understand and improve some aspect of their course.

Validity Evaluation in Language Assessment

Validity Evaluation in Language Assessment PDF

Author: John Michael Norris

Publisher: Language Testing and Evaluation

Published: 2008

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9783631549469

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This book explores the notion of «validity evaluation» as a means for helping educators to ensure the utility and worth of their assessment practices. With a particular focus on foreign language testing, the author challenges assessment traditions and argues for a fundamental reconceptualization of assessments and their validation in language teaching and other educational settings. Following a critical review of test validity standards and methods within educational measurement, the author then proposes a comprehensive alternative approach to validation based upon program evaluation methodology. A report of a multi-year case study completes the volume, providing in-depth analyses of how validity evaluation methods were applied by foreign language educators in meeting the assessment needs of a German program at a US university.

Foreign Language Proficiency in Higher Education

Foreign Language Proficiency in Higher Education PDF

Author: Paula Winke

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2018-12-18

Total Pages: 314

ISBN-13: 3030010066

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This volume comprises of chapters that deal with language proficiency relating to a wide range of language program issues including curriculum, assessment, learners and instructors, and skill development. The chapters cover various aspects of a broad-based proficiency initiative, focusing on numerous aspects of foreign language learning, including how skills develop, how assessments can inform curriculum, how learners and instructors view proficiency and proficiency assessment, and how individual use of technology furthers language learning. The concluding chapter points the way forward for issues and questions that need to be addressed.