Testing--What Kind of Instrument Is It? Exactly?

Autor/inn/en	Bam, Laurence; Rice, Michael
Titel	Testing--What Kind of Instrument Is It? Exactly?
Quelle	(1987), (10 Seiten)Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; Monographie
Schlagwörter	African Languages; Developing Nations; English (Second Language); Foreign Countries; Government Role; Language Attitudes; Language Teachers; Language Tests; Minority Groups; Public Education; Public Policy; Second Language Instruction; Social Bias; Teacher Education; Testing; Uncommonly Taught Languages; South Africa + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Africa; Language; Languages; Afrika; Sprachen; Afrikanische Sprache; Developing country; Developing countries; Entwicklungsland; English as second language; English; Second Language; Englisch als Zweitsprache; Ausland; Sprachverhalten; Language teacher; Sprachunterricht; Language test; Sprachtest; Ethnische Minderheit; Öffentliche Erziehung; Öffentliche Ordnung; Fremdsprachenunterricht; Lehrerausbildung; Lehrerbildung; Testdurchführung; Testen; Minderheitensprache; Südafrika; Süd-Afrika; Republik Südafrika; Südafrikanische Republik
Abstract	South Africa's perpetuation, through its various public agencies, of separating its ethnic/language groups has gradually fostered a negative response among university educators toward the role of second language teaching and testing. As a result of this attitude, future language teachers are not learning the necessary skills or appropriate attitudes that will be required of them once they begin work as professional teachers. South Africans have achieved bilingualism and multilingualism in spite of and not because of their educational system. Since most language testing in South Africa is aimed at certification, language teachers know very little about how language proficiency is actually tested; their knowledge is limited to the basic principles of testing for achievement. This type of testing, accordingly, reflects the teaching, the teaching reflects the attitudes, and the attitudes reflect the official language policies. Teachers are not asked to consider what the purpose of testing is. Little or no time in teacher training is devoted to diagnostic or proficiency testing, design standardization, or test validation. South Africa's educational system is in a state of flux, with teachers and pupils caught in the middle of political and social conflict and uncertainty. Still,the forces resisting change are strong. Syllabuses and testing procedures have become entrenched in a self-perpetuating system where attitudes run deep. (MSE)
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC