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CTELT I | |||||||||
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TESOL Arabia Testing and Internet SIGs By: Christine Coombe and Beth Wiens The First Annual Current Trends in English Language Testing Colloquium took place on Wednesday, June 11th, 1997 at UAE University. This event was organized by the TESOL Arabia Testing and Internet SIGs. The theme of this year's conference was Testing and The Call of the Internet. CTELT 1 featured Dr. Glenn Fulcher of Surrey University as
the plenary speaker. He spoke on how language testers have used
the computer over the last twenty years and related these uses
to some theoretical concerns of language testing. He also demonstrated
a prototype Internet listening test as an example of innovations
in language testing.
Dr. Loring Taylor, from Sultan Qaboos University, presented an interesting session on the use of the PET for placement and exit purposes . Chris Pearson, the President Elect of TESOL Arabia, analyzed the questions posed to teacher trainees on the RSA/DTEFLA course over the past ten years. Kathy Bird from the UAE University reported on the latest advances in the UCLES range of exams. This year's conference drew more than 200 English language educators from five countries and featured 20 different sessions. Some highlights of CTELT 1 included the question and answer session at the end of the conference. The topic discussed, 'The current issues and future directions of language testing', gave educators throughout the region a chance to direct questions to an experienced group of panelists. CTELT 1 featured a number of presentations on current issues in the field of language testing and technology. Just to name a few, in the area of computer-based testing, Chris Head and Nancy Hubley (UAE University) presented a session on innovative formats in CBT. Bob Catto, the chair of the Internet SIG, offered an interactive session on English language testing sites on the Internet. Mary Corrado (Amideast) and Dr. Frank Giannotta (UAE University) presented a session on recent innovations in TOEFL Testing. Assessment in the Ministry of Education was a recurrent theme amongst conference presenters. A number of sessions dealt with the challenges involved with assessing Gulf Arab students in primary and secondary schools. For example, Dr. Abdullah Libdeh (UAE University) described the secondary school certificate examination and its evaluation. Dr. Janet Al Lamki (Oman MOE) presented a session on overall program reform in the Omani school system. Abdullah Soliman (UAE MOE) gave a workshop on two different test-related perspectives. Lisa Barlow, Rita McDonagh and Christine Canning (UAE University) offered their views on the challenges of implementing a testing program in an academic distance learning program. A number of other presentations dealt with more general aspects of testing. Mike Birchall (UAE University) presented a session on oral skills assessment. Dr. Christine Coombe, Jon Kinney and Christine Canning (UAE University) shared their research on academic listening assessment. Marvin Taylor (UAE University) presented his research on test derived L1 transfer data. Bob Hunkin (UAE University) investigated various aspects of testing in the content areas. For more information on the conference, see the CTELT I Program. The feedback from those who participated in CTELT 1 was very positive.. If you are interested in finding out more about the CTELT Conference and/or the TESOL Arabia Testing SIG, contact Christine Coombe at <christinecoombe@hotmail.com> or Beth Wiens bethwiens@hotmail.com.
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