Assessing Chinese Learners Of English

This volume gathers researchers from around the world endeavouring to better understand a number of perennial issues in assessing Chinese learners of English, covering topics such as students' test performances, interactional competence and lexical knowledge, students' motivation, teachers' attitudes and assessment policy changes.

'This volume addresses a very timely and important topic, and provides both broad and in-depth coverage of a number of large-scale English tests in China, including Hong Kong and Taiwan, and about the Chinese learner.' – Lyle F. Bachman, From the Foreword Building on current theoretical and practical frameworks for English language assessment and testing, this book presents a comprehensive, up-to-date, relevant picture of English language assessment for students in China (Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan) and for Chinese learners of English around the world. Written by well-recognized international scholars in language testing, it covers: the history of tests and testing systems, issues and challenges, and current research in China both test-designers’ and test-users’ points of view on test development and test validation within a range of political, economical, social, and financial contexts in China theoretical/conceptual perspectives on the use of the English language assessment at different levels, including societal, university, and schools empirical research related specifically to test development, curricular innovation, and test validation Given the long history of objective testing and its extensive use in Chinese society, and considering the sheer number of students taking various tests in English in China and elsewhere, an understanding of the impact of English language testing is essential for anyone involved in testing and assessment issues in China and elsewhere in the world. This is a must-read volume for testing and assessment policy makers, curriculum designers, researchers, ESL/EFL materials writers, graduate students, and English language teachers/researchers at all levels.

This book focuses on the assessment of English language writing in China mainland, the territories of Hong Kong and Macau, and Taiwan. The first part of the book describes how writing in English has been assessed in Chinese contexts in the past 25 years, and how it continues to be assessed at present. The second part of the book presents reports of work such as formative classroom-based assessment, feedback-based or feedback-led approaches, learning-oriented assessment, portfolios, as well as the important issue of teacher professional development in writing assessment. This two-part division relates to and reflects what has been happening in writing assessment internationally, in the UK from the 1940s, and in the US in the past 25 years. The use of English for international business communication, for international political negotiations and its rapidly increasing use as a medium of instruction in some subject areas has led to a rapid increase in the numbers of Chinese L1 speakers who are learning and being assessed in English. This is often done with an emphasis on reading and writing. The vast majority of assessments of English language writing are done through large-scale direct testing that uses simple prompts/tasks and short writing samples. This book explores best practices in assessing the writing in English of native speakers of Chinese. Assessing the English Language Writing of Chinese Learners of English edited by long-time experts Liz Hamp-Lyons and Yan Jin clearly demonstrates the authors' collective years of writing and teaching about writing assessment. The book's 13 chapters, written by recognized experts in assessment of Chinese speakers learning English, represent a wide array of important topics written in reader friendly language and offering evidence for pedagogical practices as well as high-stakes testing of writing. Teachers, researchers, administrators of writing programs in China, and test developers who seek counsel about this population need look no further than to add Assessing the English Language Writing of Chinese Learners of English to their reading list. Deborah Crusan, Wright State University, USA.

This book focuses on the assessment of English language writing in China mainland, the territories of Hong Kong and Macau, and Taiwan. The first part of the book describes how writing in English has been assessed in Chinese contexts in the past 25 years, and how it continues to be assessed at present. The second part of the book presents reports of work such as formative classroom-based assessment, feedback-based or feedback-led approaches, learning-oriented assessment, portfolios, as well as the important issue of teacher professional development in writing assessment. This two-part division relates to and reflects what has been happening in writing assessment internationally, in the UK from the 1940s, and in the US in the past 25 years. The use of English for international business communication, for international political negotiations and its rapidly increasing use as a medium of instruction in some subject areas has led to a rapid increase in the numbers of Chinese L1 speakers who are learning and being assessed in English. This is often done with an emphasis on reading and writing. The vast majority of assessments of English language writing are done through large-scale direct testing that uses simple prompts/tasks and short writing samples. This book explores best practices in assessing the writing in English of native speakers of Chinese. Assessing the English Language Writing of Chinese Learners of English edited by long-time experts Liz Hamp-Lyons and Yan Jin clearly demonstrates the authors’ collective years of writing and teaching about writing assessment. The book’s 13 chapters, written by recognized experts in assessment of Chinese speakers learning English, represent a wide array of important topics written in reader friendly language and offering evidence for pedagogical practices as well as high-stakes testing of writing. Teachers, researchers, administrators of writing programs in China, and test developers who seek counsel about this population need look no further than to add Assessing the English Language Writing of Chinese Learners of English to their reading list. Deborah Crusan, Wright State University, USA

A compendium of the latest developments in research regarding English language education for Chinese-speaking learners, this volume combines cutting-edge research from multiple internationally-known scholars. The chapters offer unique insights into some of the most salient issues related to this broad topic. The seventh volume in the Global Research on Teaching and Learning English series, co-published with The International Research Foundation for English Language Education (TIRF), this book features chapters with original research written by TIRF Doctoral Dissertation Grant awardees. The volume addresses the crucial and growing need for research-based conversations on the contexts, environments, goals, and measures of success for Chinese-speaking learners of English. It includes sections on language assessment, perceptions in university contexts, and technology, especially in relation to young learners, in order to promote in-depth discussion of the teaching and learning of English for native speakers of Chinese. The volume’s 13 research-based chapters discuss topics such as the impact and implications of using emerging assessment tools; the increase in English for Specific Purposes (ESP) courses; academic speaking and writing; and teaching in an online or hybrid environment. Throughout the book the authors draw on their knowledge of their multiple contexts, as well as their learners’ needs and goals. This volume brings together innovative research for TESOL and TEFL students, language teacher educators, language policy specialists, language assessment scholars, and language teachers. Readers will become familiar with how these issues related to Chinese-speaking learners of English are being addressed in academic circles around the world.

This book brings together 13 original research papers that address emerging issues in the assessment of Chinese as a Second Language (CSL) in five major areas, including standards in CSL assessment; development of CSL tests; assessment of diverse knowledge and skills; computer-supported assessment; and CSL assessment in relation to instruction and teachers’ assessment competence. It goes beyond the psychometric testing of Chinese and provides cutting-edge examinations of the interfaces of assessment with sociology of language, acquisition, pedagogy, and modern technologies, as well as teacher education. Given its unique features and broad range of topics, the book offers an intriguing and valuable resource, not only for scholars and researchers but also teacher educators and assessment practitioners who are directly or indirectly involved in CSL assessment.

Building on current theoretical and practical frameworks for English language assessment and testing, this book presents a comprehensive, up-to-date, relevant picture of English language assessment for students in China (Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan) and for Chinese learners of English around the world.

This book offers up-to-date insights into the long-standing controversy of whether or not Chinese learners of English adequately express their attitudes in written English. It compares four writing datasets from three groups of student writers (e.g., English-speaking students’ English texts, Chinese-speaking students’ Chinese texts, and both English and Chinese texts produced by the same group of Chinese-speaking students majoring in English), and applies the appraisal framework, an analytical tool developed in the field of Systemic Functional Linguistics. The book provides a nuanced view of the deployment of attitudinal patterns and the linguistic resources used for attitudinal evaluation in Chinese students’ English writing. Accordingly, it offers a valuable resource for all those interested in second language writing, contrastive rhetoric, second language acquisition and systemic functional linguistics.