Over the years, in order to assess the quality of education various measures including high stakes tests have been employed. The validity of these measures has always been a matter of discussion. Thus, the present study addresses the concerns deal with the validity issues of the most important Iranian high-stake test known as Konkur measuring English language proficiency of the participants. In the present study, by taking into account the scores of 5000 high school students who sat for Konkur examination, the dimensionality and factorial structure of the test was examined through running generalizability and IRT analyses; At the first stage, in order to check the data standards along with the descriptive statistics a generalizability analysis was run; it was found that the reliability of the data equals .92 and the generalizability coefficient is 0.9 showing a high dependability for the analysis. In the second stage, the item statistics and parameter measures were analyzed and the misfit items were investigated. Next, the data was checked in terms of dimensionality and three IRT models namely unidimensional, bifactor and testlet model were run and compared. Findings showed that in terms of fit indices (M2, AIC, BIC) testlet model has the best model fit, followed by bifactor and unidimensional respectively, in determining variance of the responses to test and functions well for assessing language proficiency of the EFL leaners. The findings also showed that the variance of the factor structure of language proficiency is best explained when it is assessed through examination of several language sub-skills(i.e. testlet) rather than being measured through a number of items directly (i.e. bifactor).

Examination of factorial structure of Iranian English language proficiency test: An IRT analysis of Konkur examination

Research into the effective teaching of science to emergent bilinguals has converged around key theoretical perspectives and led to expansive empirical evidence that emphasizes the integration of science learning with language/literacy development. Simultaneously, formative assessment has been touted as one of the key components of effective teaching in science classrooms. I address a critical research gap by connecting the teaching of emergent bilinguals in science classrooms to formative assessment through sociocultural perspectives and linguistically responsive teaching—thereby reframing the traditional model of formative assessment into a framework for linguistically responsive assessing. To illustrate the challenges and opportunities of translating a framework of linguistically responsive assessing into practice, I analyzed the formative assessment practices of two middle school science teachers with whom I worked through ongoing professional learning in support of emergent bilinguals through assessing. Both teachers (1) framed learning goals and assessment around meaningful and relevant student contexts, (2) planned multimodal assessment interactions to scaffold science learning and language/literacy development, and (3) attempted to elicit students’ lived experiences. Yet, I also observed missed opportunities that provide additional insight into the continued challenges of ensuring that formative assessment for emergent bilinguals puts literacy and the students’ linguistic, cultural, and home/family assets front and center. 

Reframing formative assessment for emergent bilinguals: Linguistically responsive assessing in science classrooms

In this study, educational dialogue is explored through informal formative assessment and dialogicity. We enhance the understanding of informal formative assessment and dialogicity by considering their relationship. Even though the interconnection of informal formative assessment and dialogicity is acknowledged, it has not been explicitly examined in research on educational dialogue. The data consists of video-stimulated joint reflections between mathematics student teachers and a teacher educator. The reflections were part of a teacher education program integrated in a mathematics pedagogic course. Conversational analysis was conducted to detect interactional patterns and indicators that emerged from the data. The findings show how the presence and absence of single informal formative assessment moves, such as recognizing and using learners’ ideas, contribute differently to dialogicity and educational dialogue.

Utilizing Informal Formative Assessment and Dialogicity During Reflections on Educational Dialogue in Mathematics

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Rural Tennessee Elementary School Teachers' Experiences in Implementing Bring Your Own Technology

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Preetha Menon

Papers

Role of Assessment Conversations in a Technology-Aided Classroom with English Language Learners: An Exploratory Study.