NotesFAQContact Us
Collection
Advanced
Search Tips
Back to results
Peer reviewed Peer reviewed
Direct linkDirect link
ERIC Number: ED660744
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2021-Aug-25
Pages: 21
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Assessing Refugee-Background Adult Second Language Learners with Emerging Literacy: How a Social Semiotic Analysis Reveals Hidden Assumptions of Test Design
Jenna A. Altherr Flores
Educational Linguistics
This study is a critical analysis of a low-stakes in-house English as a Second Language (ESL) and English literacy test from a local program in a large city in the southwestern United States. From a critical multimodal social semiotic perspective (Kress G. Multimodality: A social semiotic approach to contemporary communication. Routledge, 2010; Kress G, van Leeuwen T. Reading images: The grammar of visual design. Routledge, 2006; Pennycook, Critical applied linguistics: A critical introduction. Routledge, 2001) and through the lens of systemic functional linguistics, the study investigated the test genre elements used, as well as the semiotic resources (multimodal components, multimodal composition) used, to show how test tasks are portrayed to test-takers via these semiotic resources. This chapter explores ideologies of language and literacy, and assumptions made in the multimodal composition and visual design of language and literacy tests for refugee-background adult second language learners with emerging literacy. The results showed assumptions of visual and multimodal literacy, test genre knowledge, and referential background and content schemata, as well as an inherent ideology that visual images, cues, and design are universal. The study has implications for assessment and materials design for this population in both educational contexts and beyond, as well as design for broader populations in any context. [For the complete volume, "Refugee Education across the Lifespan: Mapping Experiences of Language Learning and Use. Educational Linguistics. Volume 50," see ED660722.]
Springer. Available from: Springer Nature. One New York Plaza, Suite 4600, New York, NY 10004. Tel: 800-777-4643; Tel: 212-460-1500; Fax: 212-460-1700; e-mail:customerservice@springernature.com; Web site: https://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2129/series/5894
Publication Type: Reports - Research
Education Level: Adult Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A