Standardised Testing

Given that teaching Arabic, as a second language has become increasingly significant in the present context, it follows that there is an urgent and pressing need to develop efficient learning tools as well as adequate measuring tools for testing the learner's development. There are numerous problems associated with measuring a learner's proficiency in Arabic in the context of Western cultures. These problems are related to the non-adaptability of measuring tools from one setting into another without taking cultural factors into account. The difficulties faced by scholars in adapting Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) tools to the Saudi context is an example. However, the problems associated with such an adaptation indicate the need for context-specific language acquisition measuring tools. Either currently existing tools such as TESOL need to be radically altered to fit Saudi contexts and requirements, or entirely new tools must be created in order to test the efficacy of language learning in Saudi Arabia. This study aims at a close examination of ways in which existing tests such as TESOL may be adapted or modified to suit the requirements of teachers and learners in the Saudi context. A survey and evaluation of existing tools was followed by developing new tools specifically for Arabic language. It concludes by giving recommendations for proposed modification of existing strategies for Arabic learners that associates the language more directly with functional workplace contexts. Keywords: Arabic language learning, second language learning, standardised testing, teaching Arabic as a second language (TASL) Cite as: Alshahrani, A. (2019). Teaching Arabic as a Second Language (TASL): Simulation of the Canadian/ American exemplary TESL Models. A Feasibility Study in Promoting a Saudi

This paper was triggered by an informal discussion that one of the writers had with pre-service student teachers who were doing their teaching practice at Christian College High School in June 2014. Most of these student teachers could not clearly  distinguish norm-referenced evaluation tests from  criterion referenced evaluation tests. The paper, thus, sought to distinguish between norm-referenced measurement and criterion-referenced measurement in teaching and learning. The paper is based on the notion that the purpose of teaching is to make someone learn new things that would improve the
learner’s understanding of his / her surroundings. The major challenge, however, has been on how to ensure that the individual is motivated to learn and that learning actually occurs. Tradition has been to use assessment tools, especially standardised tests. Standardised tests are made up of testing tools administered and scored in a consistent and pre-established standard. The traditional types of standardised tests are categorized into norm-referenced measurement tests and criterion-referenced measurement tests. The two tests are different in their intended purposes, content selection, and their scoring process that defines how the test results have to be interpreted. Norm-referenced tests compare the student's scores to that of a representative sample of students (referred to as the normative group) of the same-age or same grade. Criterion-referenced tests compare students’ scores to predetermined criteria (for example school curricula). In this paper we examine the differences between these two
types of student performance evaluation and explain the most appropriate uses of each in teaching and learning.

The marketization of higher education in the 15 countries that were formally part of the USSR has established a system model that is distinctive within world higher education, the dual-track tuition system. The foundations of this model were established in the economic liberalization of late Soviet period which facilitated a common pattern in higher education across the post-Soviet countries. Although a private sector has been established, the primary mode of marketization has taken place within the public sector. This remains dominant but has been split into two heterogenous segments in terms of funding and student selection. National systems, and individual institutions, have become divided between state-subsidized higher scoring students, and fee-paying lower performing students, creating different valuations and behaviours for the two segments. National standardized testing is an important instrument of marketization, shaping student selection and institutional differentiation and legitimating the unequal social outcomes that result. Empirical comparison across the 15 countries demonstrates a high level of privatisation of costs, largely because of private funding within public sector. This system model, which is incoherent and fosters a large-scale commitment to non-excellence, reflects a larger duality within post-Soviet societies and polities which remains unresolved. Higher education is riven between the Soviet egalitarian legacy of higher education as a public good, and the post-Soviet moment of the late 1980s and 1990s in which policy shaped by Anglo-American neoliberal thinking set out to turn education into a consumer choice on the basis of an abstract formula of the ideal market.

While there have been various investigations of the impact of standardised testing in Australian schools over the decade since the introduction of NAPLAN testing, few of these have focused on the extended writing component in particular and on the experiences of secondary English teachers. These teachers are of interest because, despite cross-curricular claims for NAPLAN, these are the teachers most often identified within secondary schools as having responsibility for teaching writing. This paper reports the results of a survey of secondary English teachers piloted in two Australian states in late 2018. As well as their experiences of NAPLAN in their schools, teachers reported on their own writing practices, their knowledge and beliefs about writing, their professional networks and training related to writing, and how they taught writing within a selected class and unit of work. This paper concentrates on what the teachers had to say about the experiences of NAPLAN in their school, and the extent to which NAPLAN results are reshaping their work.

Abstract
Curriculum Development: Beyond knowledge and competencies
Higher education as social practice may be considered contested terrain depending on which agencies hold sway over policy, curriculum development and curriculum enactment. Curriculum in higher education relates to what is considered privileged subject content, by whom, for what purposes and where autonomy is positioned. The importance of curriculum as construct, process and practice resides in how it shapes and prepares graduates for their role in their respective professions and society. Given the centrality of curriculum in higher education and the ramifications thereof for graduates, professions and society at large, it could be argued that there is an ethical and moral responsibility to ensure that curriculum provides for the holistic development of graduates. The thesis of this presentation is that curriculum development is more than decision-making about knowledge, skills and implementation, but that it should incorporate ontological perspectives of qualities, dispositions and capabilities for respective professions and the good of society.  Yet the prevailing discourse of curriculum panders primarily to the knowledge economy and competencies that promote performativity of graduates. While these are no doubt important, it may be argued that knowledge and skills alone are not adequate for the holistic development of graduates. To this end, this study draws on curriculum development approaches of knowing, doing and being as well as the capabilities approach for graduate development as a literature framework. This presentation reports on the revision of five diploma programmes at a university of technology as to how academics conceived of curriculum. The extensive submissions for each diploma programme relating to the purpose, rationale, academic (subject) structure, teaching, learning and assessment, amongst others, were analysed by means of content analysis to determine the extent to which ontological perspectives were evident. The findings showed that the prevailing discourse was one of knowledge and skills across the diplomas in question with minimal recourse to developing an ontological stance. Epistemology was dominant in terms of knowing and doing with limited attention afforded to embedding and assessing qualities, dispositions and attributes befitting higher education vocational qualifications. By implication, graduates are meant to develop ontological perspectives by immersion in, acculturation to higher education, or in the workplace. The findings present challenges to curriculum development and curriculum developers to firstly, clarify appropriate qualities, dispositions and attributes for respective programmes of study, and secondly, how best to embed these into pedagogy to align epistemic and ontological values for societal good.

Key Words: Curriculum development; higher education; vocational education; capabilities; ontology

El objetivo de este trabajo consiste en validar de forma externa un instrumento de evaluación estandarizada, ​identificando y aislando los principales factores que pueden impactar en el desempeño escolar de los estudiantes del curso de contabilidad de una escuela de negocios en México. Primero, se lleva a cabo una revisión de ​la literatura sobre el proceso de estandarización y su relación con el desempeño académico. Segundo, se presenta la metodología de investigación con base en una muestra final de 545 estudiantes de segundo semestre de administración y contaduría. Posteriormente, se recogen los resultados del análisis, los cuales indican que tanto el profesor que imparte la materia como la carrera y la calificación del examen de admisión están significativamente relacionados con el desempeño académico de los alumnos. Las conclusiones resaltan la importancia de los exámenes estandarizados como un posible factor de cambio sobre la medición del aprendizaje. Por último, este trabajo pretende contribuir a la literatura ya existente ofreciendo reflexionesprácticas y teóricas a las autoridades universitarias en el diseño y la implementación de estrategias que mejoren el desempeño escolar de los estudiantes y la calidad de la educación.​

The objective of this paper is to externally validate an instrument of standardized evaluation, identifying and isolating the main factors that can impact the academic performance of students in the accounting course of a business school in Mexico. First, we review the existing literature on the process of standardization and its relationship with academic performance. Second, we present the research methodology based on a final sample of 545 second-semester administration and accounting students. Then, we compile the results of the analysis, which indicate that the professor giving the class as well as the degree program and the grade on the admissions exam are significantly related with the academic performance of the students. The conclusions highlight the importance of standardized​ tests as a possible factor for change in terms of measuring learning. Finally, this work aims to contribute to the existing literature, offering practical and theoretical reflections to university authorities regarding the design and implementation of strategies to improve the academic performance of students and the quality of education​

Each year, Abu Dhabi Education Council (ADEC), the governing body of Abu Dhabi public School education, conducts standardised tests known as EMSA testing ( External Measurement of Student Achievement). The stated objectives are to measure Students' achievements  in order to identify weaknesses and develop adequate remedial solutions. However, reading and analysing the tests results is a daunting task. This presentation is a teacher's attempt to read, analyse and demystify the confusing 'star trek' world of EMSA results; and to propose steps to act on the results.

У статті викладено результати дослідження впливу типу загальноосвітнього навчального закладу та місця проживання на середній бал зовнішнього незалежного оцінювання 2013 та 2014 років. Порівнюються результати випускників таких типів навчальних закладів, як загальноосвітня школа, гімназія, ліцей та спеціалізована школа, які розташовані в місті Києві, обласних центрах, інших містах, селищах міського типу та селах України. За результатами дослідження виявлено, що обидві незалежні змінні – тип школи і місце поселення – мають статистично значущий вплив на середній бал ЗНО. Вплив типу школи є більшим, аніж вплив місця проживання. Виявлено також структурні чинники освітньої нерівності на прикладі шкіл з найнижчими результатами ЗНО.

Recently the British government has once again embarked upon a wave of what it calls educational ‘reforms’ and it is inspired by this potential pedagogical ground-shift and the renewed climate for change, that the author’s wish to bring to the arena of reform a proposal to eradicate all formal testing in England’s secondary schooling including the abolishment of both GCSEs and A levels, ‘paper’ tests, usually conducted at sixteen and eighteen years of age, respectively. In place of these aging constructs the argument will be presented for a ‘graduation passport’ an authentic document which will give a more accurate record and evaluation of the educand; a document which will have genuine social currency both in academe and the workplace.

Case studies often do not receive due recognition as a work-integrated learning (WIL)modality for reading development. This article focuses on the case study as a reading strategy to draw on world of work experience as a means of acculturation to professional knowledge and
practice. The purpose of this research project was to determine whether case studies used at first and third year levels in a Marketing diploma achieved the desired objective of introducing students to workplace dynamics. The findings from student questionnaires revealed that although case studies seemed to be effective in merging the world of work with conceptual knowledge of the field of study, constructing meaning seemed to be illusive for many students due to ineffective reading strategies and lack of textual comprehension. For the lecturer, case studies were affordances for learning, but student feedback suggests that case studies might have been missed opportunities for engagement
due to minimal interaction with the texts to elicit depth of understanding. This article foregrounds theneed for lecturers to incorporate interactive reading strategies aligned with using case studies as a pedagogy for reading development to ensure that both students and lecturers share a common understanding of purpose, approach and intended learning experience.