Current Trends in English Language Testing II
Conference Report
Christine Coombe, Dubai Men's College-Higher Colleges
of Technology
The 2nd Annual Current Trends in English Language Testing
Conference (CTELT) took place on Wednesday, May 6th, 1998 at
the United Arab Emirates University. This event was organized
by the TESOL Arabia Testing, Assessment, and Evaluation and Research
SIGs.The theme of the 1998 conference was Bridging the Gap
between Language Testing Theory and Practice.
CTELT 2 featured Dr. Dianne Wall of Lancaster University as
the plenary speaker. She spoke on the impact of high stakes testing
on teaching and learning.
Dianne Wall at a post-conference dinner/camel
safari with Michael Birchall, John Kinney, Christine Coombe and
Nancy Hubley
Some highlights of CTELT 2 included the question and answer
session at the end of the conference led by Chris Pearson, President
of TESOL Arabia. The topic discussed, "Placement Testing",
gave participants a chance to direct questions to noted testers
in the region.
This year's conference drew more than 350 English language
teachers from six different countries and featured 27 sessions.
A number of these sessions were on program-based assessment.
From the tertiary level, Dr. Mark Algren described the testing
program at King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals. Dr.
John Shannon spoke on assessment at the American University in
Sharjah. Alison Curtis (Sharjah University) and Liz Howell (Higher
Colleges of Technology) gave perspectives on how assessment is
handled at their respective institutions. Molly Kirk (UAE University)
related her experiences with assessment from an ESP perspective
as did Peter Ridding, Angela Kiwan and Jo Sanders (UAE University)
from the medical faculty. The secondary school level was also
represented in a very well-attended session led by Dr. Ali Abdel-Fattah,
Dr. Sally Ali and Adrianna Sutherland (UAE University).
A recurrent theme at CTELT 2 was testing and technology. In
this area, the pioneering work done at UAE University was highlighted.
Chris Head and Royal Hansen reported on their results from a
CAT project. Dr. Christine Coombe, Nancy Hubley, Chris Head and
Jon Kinney presented their work in the area of computer-based
listening assessment. Lisa Barlow, Cecilia Kawar and Christine
Canning presented findings on an experiment conducted on computer-generated
graphics on reading scores of Gulf Arab learners.
A number of other sessions dealt with more general areas of
language testing and assessment. Keith Aldred (UAE University)
presented his work on vocabulary. Paul Houghton and Nicola Marsden
(Higher Colleges of Technology) gave sessions on listening and
writing respectively. Bryan Davis (UAE University) and John Pollard
(Saudi Development and Training) shared their expertise on oral
assessment. Neil McBeath (Royal Air Force of Oman) described
his work in c-testing.
Two sessions dealt with different areas of alternative assessment.
Dr. Bahia Diefenbach (UAE University) spoke on implementing an
alternative assessment component in the new Zayed University
project. Phil Cozens (Higher Colleges of Technology) described
a project he completed with his students on student-designed
tests.
For more information on CTELT 2, please contact Christine
Coombe at christinecoombe@hotmail.com.
|
