Annotated Bibliographies
Search our
annotated bibliographies for the following areas:
Assessment – Topics include classroom-based,
performance based, alternative, portfolio, theory, research, and
standards.
National Standards – Features articles,
books, and online resources on the National Standards.
Content-Based Instruction – Developed
as part of the Content-Based Language Teaching with Technology
(CoBaLTT)
program at CARLA, this annotated bibliography is organized by
teaching contexts including ESL, immersion, FLES, bilingual
education,
foreign language K-12 and postsecondary.
Resources for Teachers
Minnesota Language
Proficiency Assessments (MLPA) – A battery
of instruments designed to measure learners' proficiency in reading,
writing, speaking, and listening at two intermediate levels on
the ACTFL scale in French, German, and Spanish.
Developing Speaking
and Writing Tasks for Second Language Assessment: A Miniguide
for Assessment Development (pdf) – This short
guide contains a framework that will help teachers create speaking
and writing tasks and tests that are directly linked to classroom
practice. The guide includes tools and worksheets that can be
tailored to a variety of classroom contexts and a range of students'
needs, using a model based on extensive research and piloting
done by the Minnesota Articulation Project members and the Assessment
Team at CARLA.
>> Miniguide
PDF (requires Acrobat Reader).
Articulation
of Language Instruction – Information about
the Minnesota Articulation Project and the Proficiency-Oriented
Language instruction and Assessment: A Curriculum Handbook for
Teachers that is filled with proficiency-based language lessons
and accompanying assessment rubrics.
Content-Based
Learning Through Technology (CoBaLTT) – Features
an online resource center that includes an instructional
module with activities for learning about and applying the
National Standards to teaching and assessment. The site also has
many links to technology
resources for creating tasks and rubrics, and a growing repository
of content-based
lesson plans that include assessments.
Less
Commonly Taught Languages Project – Offers
the Virtual
Picture Album, an archive of digitized photographs and drawings
with suggestions for incorporation into various in-class and out-of-class
activities and the Virtual Audio-Video
Archives are a collection of royalty-free audio and video
files for teachers to use in their own exercises. The archives
currently contain sound files in Arabic (Tunisia), Chinese (PRC),
Chinese (Taiwan), Hebrew, Norwegian and Polish, with expansion
to other languages in progress.
National Capitol Language Resource Center (NCLRC) newsletter features monthly testing tips for teachers on a variety of topics.
Directory of Assessments
Foreign Language Assessment Directory (FLAD)
The Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL) created a Foreign Language Assessment Directory (FLAD) that is now available online. FLAD is a free, searchable directory of information on nearly 200 tests in over 80 languages. FLAD users can find information about assessments including the grade and proficiency level for which a test is intended, the skills targeted by a test, information about a test’s development and the publisher’s or developer’s contact information for further inquiries.
More information is available at: http://nclrc.org/about_teaching/topics/feature.html#new
Focus on the Standards
American
Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL)
– Provides teachers with a wealth of information on the
national standards and professional development opportunities
for teachers to learn about creating assessments tied to standards.
CoBaLTT Instructional
Module on the National Standards
Nebraska
Foreign Language Standards (PDF) – Contains
standards explanation, glossary, bibliography and learning scenarios.
New
Jersey World Languages Curriculum Framework: A document
in Support of the Core Curriculum Content Standards for World
Languages.
Teaching Foreign Languages K-12: A Library of Classroom Practices. This video library from Annenberg Media, Learner.org, illustrates effective instruction and assessment strategies for the teaching of foreign languages in grades K-12 and "provides overviews of ACTFL’s Standards for Foreign Language Learning and new assessment practices, as well as 27 classroom programs. Language classrooms include Spanish, French, German, Japanese, Italian, Latin, Russian, and Chinese. The videos can be ordered on DVD or can viewed online.
Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction > Standards
for Learning World Language & World
Languages & International Education Publication Sales.
Lesson Plans / Assessments
CoBaLTT Lesson and Unit Plans – content-based lessons
and units developed by participants in the CoBaLTT project at
CARLA. Many levels and languages are represented.
Computer Adaptive Testing (CAT) – This grant supported the development of items banks currently
used in the Minnesota Language Proficiency
Assessments and a working paper entitled "An
Operational Framework for Constructing a Computer-Adaptive Test
of L2 Reading Ability."
Educator's
Reference Desk has
replaced the Ask ERIC: Lesson Plans – It
contains the more than 2000 sample lesson plans, information
for educators,
information and archived questions that had been found on the
AskERIC: Lesson Plans site.
E.L. Easton
- Materials for Teaching and Learning – An
excellent teacher resource that includes links to online tests
and quizzes.
Guidelines
for Portfolio Assessment in Teaching English –
Provides an extensive explanation of portfolios and assessing
skills with student samples.
Northeast and Islands Regional Laboratory >
Teaching Diverse Learners
– Features a discussion of assessment of particular interest
to ELL teachers.
Pennsylvania Department
of Education World Language web site's Curriculum and
Instruction links to the Governor's
Institute for World Language Educators featuring 2005
Portfolio Standards-based lesson plans in French, Italian,
Latin and Spanish developed by teachers during the annual
institute.
Teachervision's
Lesson Planning Center – Offers resources related
to assessment.
See information on portfolio assessment in "Alternative Assessment"
section.
Portfolio
Assessment in the Foreign Language Classroom –
This guide developed by the National Capital Language Resource
Center provides downloadable organizers, rubrics, and planners.
This free, web-based tutorial is designed to guide educators in
creating and implementing a standards-based, foreign language
portfolio assessment tied to their own curricula.
University
of Minnesota - College of Liberal Arts Language Center
– Lists of links organized by language. (Some links are
specific to the textbooks and courses taught at UMN-Twin Cities
campus.)
Task / Rubric Development Tips & Rubric Banks
Chicago Public Schools – Instructional
Intranet site featuring an Ideas
and Rubrics section with many useful resources, including
a rubric bank.
Fairfax County Public Schools > Performance
Assessment for Language Students > Rubrics
– An excellent resource for generic analytic and holistic
scales for the interpersonal, interpretive, and presentational
modes. Rater training information accompanies scales.
Prince George’s County Public School >
Developing
Performance Assessment Tasks – Describes the characteristics
of effective performance assessment tasks and how they are scored.
Performance Assessment Links in Science >
PALS
Guide – Features a section on rubrics and scoring that
provides background description and criteria essential to a good
rubric.
The Staff Room for Ontario’s teachers
Selection
of Rubrics – Includes rubrics for French and Spanish
and for writing and speaking skills that can be adapted to foreign
language assessment.
Software for Creating Activities, Assessments and Rubrics
ClassWeb
Rubric Builder – A free service for of the
Landmark Project for teachers. Teachers can construct rubrics
or search for existing rubrics developed by other teachers.
DiscoverySchool.com
– Tools to create quizzes and exercises.
English-Forum.com
– Exercises for ESL/EFL students.
Hot
Potatoes – A suite of authoring programs for
making exercises from the University of Victoria Humanities Computing
and Media Centre.
Interesting Things for ESL students - The site features a variety of exercise makers and activities as well as listening samples for ESL students.
Swarthmore University > Makers
Pages – Provides templates for a variety of online exercises.
Quia
– Create and store online tests, quizzes, and activities
for students. Records and stores student results on server.
QuizStar
– Allows teachers to construct quizzes that students can
take online. Quizzes can be saved on the site.
RubiStar
– Create rubrics for project-based learning activities.
Features a tutorial on data analysis to help determine which tasks
are difficult for students.
Interesting
Things for ESL Students – Word games, puzzles,
quizzes, slang, proverbs, and more.
Spellmaster.Com
– allows teachers to create Flash vocabulary exercises.
Teach-nology's
Rubric Generator – Create rubrics online; samples
need to be modified for foreign language.
Webauthor
– Create online activities and exercises.
Organizations
American
Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL)
Assessment
Systems, Inc. – Vendor of testing and statistical
software packages.
The
Association of Language Testers in Europe (ALTE)
– Produces examinations and certification for language learners.
The
ALTE frameworks describe five levels of language proficiency.
See also the "can-do" statements for self-assessment.
Center for
Applied Linguistics (CAL) – Maintains a database
of language assessments.
Educational Resources
Information Center (ERIC) – A national information
system funded by the U.S. Department of Education's Institute
of Education Sciences to provide access to education literature
and resources.
International
Language Testing Association (ILTA) & Resources
in Language Testing – A thorough collection
of resources. Well-known experts in the field discuss language
testing concepts in video clips. A very comprehensive bibliography
and a Code of Ethics for language testers are available under
the "ILTA > Publications" link. Includes numerous
links to other resources.
Language
Resource Centers – Title VI U.S. Department
of Education Centers sponsor many projects related to assessment.
National
Assessment Governing Board (NAGB). Foreign language
proficiency will be assessed nationally in grades 4, 8, and 12
in 2004 (originally scheduled for 2003) through the National Assessment
of Educational Progress (NAEP) program, often called "The
Nation's Report Card." The framework
for the assessment is available in PDF format.
National
Center for Research on on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing
(CRESST)
North Central Regional
Educational Laboratory (NCREL). Pathways to School
Improvement resource includes an assessment
link.
Practical Assessment,
Research and Evaluation (PARE) – An on-line
journal supported, in part, by the Department of Measurement,
Statistics, and Evaluation at the University of Maryland, College
Park. Its purpose is to provide education professionals access
to refereed articles that can have a positive impact on assessment,
research, evaluation, and teaching practice, especially at the
local education agency (LEA) level.
Teachers
College Record, Columbia University.
Learning Theory
Professor
Richard H. Hall's virtual lessons – Provides
an explanation of current learning theory and its relationship
to various testing methods.
Listservs
FL-Assessments – A Listserv on Foreign Language Assessments for
Practioners
The purposes of this list are:
- to provide a forum for practitioners
to discuss current issues in developing assessments
- to share
information and resources among professionals in the field
- to
encourage collaboration in the area of language assessments.
Subscriptions
to this list are open to everyone who has an interest in foreign
language assessments. Please see the FL-Assessments page for
subscription information.
FLTEACH – Foreign Language Teaching Forum
listserv
A very active list serve for teachers of all languages and levels.
To subscribe, send email message to listserv@listserv.buffalo.edu with the following as the body of the message:
subscribe FLTEACH [your_firstname] [your_lastname]
LTEST-L – International Language Testing Association
listserv,
Provides a useful discussion forum for language testers. To subscribe, send e-mail
message to listserv@psuvm.psu.edu with
the following as the body of the message:
subscribe LTEST-L [your_firstname] [your_lastname]
A reply containing information about the list should come to you within
a few hours. |
