This book evaluates the origins of processes of change in language teaching in China, and the factors influencing their success. Examining diverse experiences and drawing on the perspectives of academics from the top institutions in the country, the authors analyse the complex interplay between global and local influences on language policies.…

This article describes the results from a national project that investigated institutional approaches to the development of student English language capabilities in Australian higher education. The project aimed to identify the various approaches and strategies that higher education providers have established and to gauge whether they have been…

Feedback to the test taker is a defining characteristic of diagnostic language testing (Alderson, 2005). This article reports on a study that investigated how much and in what ways students at a Taiwan university perceived the feedback to be useful on an online multiple-choice diagnostic English grammar test, both in general and by students of…

In higher education institutes (HEIs), Operations Management programmes (OMPs) are among those programmes attracting a substantial amount of international student enrollment. With the current situation that the government is reducing its funding input, the UK HEIs' financial balance relies more than before on the international students who pay…

This paper explores the perceptions of Iraqi students of three different English Programs (a general English for academic purposes program, a pre-enrolment English program and the English component of a disciplinary bridging program) at an Australian University as reflected in their language learning narratives. It focuses specifically on the…

The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) in English and math were finalized in 2010 and, as of July 2012, have been adopted in full by 45 states. These standards provide a framework that is intended to ensure that all students who graduate from high school in the United States have attained the knowledge and competencies that prepare them well for…

This study examined the impact of collaborative filtering (the so-called recommender) on college students' use of an online forum for English learning. The forum was created with an open-source software, Drupal, and its extended recommender module. This study was guided by three main questions: 1) Is there any difference in online behaviors…

This report describes the processes, methods and results of using language software based on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) in a tertiary level institute in Japan in order to facilitate the learning of low ability learners of English. None of the learners were English majors, all were between the ages of 18 and 20,…

Immigration into the U.S. will continue to increase in the coming years, thereby increasing the postsecondary enrollment of ESL students. Yet there is still a limited amount of research designed to evaluate which ESL placement programs are most effective. This study was designed to determine if the use of correct testing instruments would ensure…

Undoubtedly, different learning contexts offer different opportunities for foreign language practice. This article focuses on context effects, and reports on the findings of the "Study Abroad and Language Acquisition" (SALA) project, which has examined in depth the impact of two learning contexts, SA within the European Community Action…

This report presents the "English Language Proficiency" (ELP) and Employability Framework", which has been designed to inform and support higher education institutions' (HEIs) policies and practices on ELP and graduate employability. The "Framework" was developed through a review of the national and international…

The use of video technology has become widespread in the teaching and testing of second-language (L2) listening, yet research into how this technology affects the learning and testing process has lagged. The current study investigated how the channel of input (audiovisual vs. audio-only) used on an L2 listening test affected test-taker…

Full-time MBA students amount to about one-third of the 26,000 students enrolled on MBA programmes at UK universities. The programmes have become increasingly international in student composition and concerns have been expressed about performance, quality and comparability between programmes. Research into predictors of MBA success has been…

Dynamic Assessment is a new theoretical framework for language assessment, and it is particularly relevant for underrepresented languages and learners. For this study the process is investigated in the context of Yugtun second language learners at a university level. This qualitative teacher action research was a study that involved seven…

The College English Test (CET) is an English language test designed for educational purposes, administered on a very large scale, and used for making high-stakes decisions. This paper discusses the key issues facing the CET during the course of its development in the past two decades. It argues that the most fundamental and critical concerns of…