School of Languages and Linguistics - Research Publications
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ItemLanguage testing within policy contexts: Conceptual and instrumental challenges(ALTAANZ-ASSOC LANGUAGE TESTING & ASSESSMENT AUSTRALIA, 2021)The establishment in 1990 of what came to be known as the Language Testing Research Centre (LTRC) at the University of Melbourne was made possible by Australian government initiatives in the field of language policy, specifically the adoption of the National Policy on Languages (Lo Bianco 1987). Seed funding was made available for the establishment of a number of research centres in applied linguistics to support the implementation of the policy. Despite the policy location of the work of the Centre, an awareness among the language testing researchers working there of its intrinsically policy-related character has taken a long time to emerge.
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ItemStudents' Accounts of Their First-Year Undergraduate Academic Writing Experience: Implications for the Use of the CEFR(ROUTLEDGE JOURNALS, TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD, 2018)This article addresses the suitability of the CEFR as the basis for decisions about the readiness of individuals to engage in academic writing tasks in undergraduate university courses, and as a guide to progress. The CEFR offers potentially relevant general scales and subscales, but also more specific subscales for writing in the academic context. However, recent challenges to traditional views of academic writing have potential implications for assessment frameworks such as the CEFR when they are used to identify readiness for, and progress in, academic study. In this article we explore the views of students on what it means to “do” academic writing. Questionnaires, interviews, and short reflective texts were used to investigate the changing perceptions of first-year undergraduate students at an Australian university. The analysis of student data confirms the reality of the more complex view of academic writing suggested by the recent literature. The article then considers what implications this has for the adequacy of the definitions provided in the CEFR. It suggests that the CEFR descriptors underrepresent the complexity of the challenges of academic writing, particularly its cognitive demands. A new and rather different approach will be required to inform assessments used to manage the admission of students in`to academic writing contexts and the monitoring of their progress.
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ItemClaire Kramsch: Language as Symbolic Power(Oxford University Press (OUP), 2022-06)
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ItemThree Rothkos(WILEY, 2022-11)Abstract What makes the work of the American Abstract Expressionist, Mark Rothko, great? Critics and the galleries of the world which hold his paintings, especially those he painted in his typical style of vertically arranged blocks of colour after the critical year 1949, often present his work using terms such as ‘ethereal’, ‘spiritual’, ‘luminous’, ‘mystical’, ‘sublime’. But this discourse about Rothko appears at odds with Rothko's own way of talking about his paintings, which he looked at as ‘dramas’ whose subject was ‘the basic human emotions – tragedy, ecstasy, doom and so on’. The article proposes that the mature paintings share a principle of organization, a syntax, which allows the expression of specific dramas of feeling in each painting. First, I suggest that the separate blocks of colour are to be read vertically, from top to bottom. Second, each block of colour is made up of multiple fine layers of paint of different colours. I argue that Rothko exploits the layering to enact a drama of feeling in each panel. I test out this argument by offering readings of three characteristic works of Rothko, and relate the discussion to Jaffe's (2016) discussion of indexical fields.
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ItemThe impact of national standardized literacy and numeracy testing on children and teaching staff in remote Australian Indigenous communities(Sage Publications, 2019)All educational testing is intended to have consequences, which are assumed to be beneficial, but tests may also have unintended, negative consequences (Messick, 1989). The issue is particularly important in the case of large-scale standardized tests, such as Australia’s National Assessment Program - Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN), the intended benefits of which are increased accountability and improved educational outcomes. The NAPLAN purpose is comparable to that of other state and national ‘core skills’ testing programs, which evaluate cross-sections of populations in order to compare results between population sub-groupings. Such comparisons underpin ‘accountability’ in the era of population-level testing. This study investigates the impact of NAPLAN testing on one population grouping that is prominent in the NAPLAN results’ comparisons and public reporting: children in remote Indigenous communities. A series of interviews with principals and teachers documents informants’ first-hand experiences of the use and effects of NAPLAN in schools. In the views of most participants, the language and content of the test instruments, the nature of the test engagement, and the test washback have negative impacts on students and staff, with little benefit in terms of the usefulness of the test data. The primary issue is the fact that meaningful participation in the tests depends critically on proficiency in Standard Australian English (SAE) as a first language. This study contributes to the broader discussion of how reform-targeted standardized testing for national populations affects sub-groups who are not treated equitably by the test instrument or reporting for accountability purposes. It highlights a conflict between consequential validity and the notion of accountability that drives reform-targeted testing.
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ItemPerspectives from physiotherapy supervisors on student-patient communication(INT JOURNAL MEDICAL EDUCATION-IJML, 2012)
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ItemDeveloping and validating language proficiency standards for non-native English speaking health professionals(ALTAANZ-ASSOC LANGUAGE TESTING & ASSESSMENT AUSTRALIA, 2013)n/a
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ItemMapping the scope of theory in TESOL(TESOL, 2008-06)
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ItemLanguage tests and human rights(WILEY, 2008-03)