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Fulcher, Glenn; Davidson, Fred – Language Testing, 2009
Just like buildings, tests are designed and built for specific purposes, people, and uses. However, both buildings and tests grow and change over time as the needs of their users change. Sometimes, they are also both used for purposes other than those intended in the original designs. This paper explores architecture as a metaphor for language…
Descriptors: Figurative Language, Language Tests, Measurement Techniques, Test Validity
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Fulcher, Glenn – Language Assessment Quarterly, 2004
This commentary provides a critical and historical review of the "Common European Framework of Reference: Learning, Teaching, Assessment" (CEF). It is presented within the context of political and policy issues in Europe, and considers the role that the CEF is likely to play in that context, which is beyond the control of language…
Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Scores, Language Tests, Evaluation
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Fulcher, Glenn; Reiter, Rosina Marquez – Language Testing, 2003
Reviews assumptions underlying approaches to research into speaking task difficulty and questions the view that test scores always vary with task conditions or discourse variation. Offers a new approach to defining task difficulty in terms of the interaction between pragmatic task features and first language cultural background. Results of a study…
Descriptors: Cultural Influences, Difficulty Level, Language Tests, Oral Language
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Fulcher, Glenn – Language Testing, 2003
Describes a three-phase process model for interface design, drawing on practices developed in the software industry and adapting them for computer-based languages tests. Describes good practice in initial design, emphasizes the importance of usability testing, and argues that only through following a principled approach to interface design can the…
Descriptors: Computer Assisted Testing, Computer Software, Language Tests, Models
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Fulcher, Glenn – ELT Journal, 1987
Communicative oral language tests have claimed high content validity, but have also elicited concern that the assessment scales are based on theory with little empirical justification. A new approach to construct validity can be found in discourse analysis, which could lead to the development of new communicative discourse tests in all skills. (CB)
Descriptors: Communicative Competence (Languages), Construct Validity, Discourse Analysis, Language Proficiency
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Fulcher, Glenn; Bamford, Ron – System, 1996
Examines standards in language testing, in the context of the legal framework of the United States and the United Kingdom. The article argues that research into test reliability and validity by testing bodies in the United States has a legal basis and examines areas in which examination boards offering English as a foreign language tests in…
Descriptors: Context Effect, Court Litigation, English (Second Language), Foreign Countries
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Fulcher, Glenn – Applied Linguistics, 1999
Testing and assessment in English-for-Academic-purposes (EAP) contexts has traditionally been carried out as a needs analysis of learners or a content analysis of courses. This article reassesses this approach to the development and validation of EAP tests on the basis of a theoretical model and recent research into content specificity. (VWL)
Descriptors: Content Analysis, Content Validity, English for Academic Purposes, Language Research
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Chalhoub-Deville, Micheline; Fulcher, Glenn – Foreign Language Annals, 2003
Many researchers and practitioners maintain that ACTFL's efforts to improve instructional practices and promote proficiency assessments tied to descriptors of what learners can do in real life have contributed significantly to second language teaching and testing. Similar endeavors in the area of research, however, are critically needed. Focusing…
Descriptors: Language Teachers, Native Speakers, English (Second Language), Second Language Instruction