ERIC Number: EJ1340279
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2022
Pages: 22
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: EISSN-2576-2907
EISSN: N/A
Generalizability of Writing Scores and Language Program Placement Decisions: Score Dependability, Task Variability, and Score Profiles on an ESL Placement Test
Eskin, Daniel
Studies in Applied Linguistics & TESOL, v21 n2 p21-42 2022
For agencies that deliver high-stakes Second Language (L2) proficiency exams, a research agenda has been undertaken for years to examine the role of rater, task, and rubric as sources of variability into their performance assessments (Lee, 2006; Sawaki & Sinharay, 2013; Xi, 2007; Xi & Mollaun, 2006). However, these challenges are more acute for less-resourced institutions using L2 performance assessments for making score-based interpretations about test-takers, such as a language program making decisions based on placement test scores (Bachman, et. al, 1996; Sawaki & Xi, 2019; Vafaee & Yaghmaeyan, 2020). In such cases, the question becomes a veritable cost-benefit analysis, weighing the benefits of improving score dependability and practical constraints associated with time, cost, and resources (Bachman & Palmer, 1996). Considering this challenge, the current study investigates test score variance and dependability on two performance assessment tasks from a writing section on an English language program placement exam. The organization that administers the exam, the Community Language Program (CLP), operated within Teacher College, Columbia University's in conjunction with its in Applied Linguistic and Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL), uses test scores from this exam to assign the test takers to a particular English as a Second Language (ESL) class at an appropriate proficiency level.
Descriptors: English (Second Language), Second Language Learning, Second Language Instruction, Student Placement, Language Proficiency, Scores, Writing Tests, High Stakes Tests, Decision Making, Performance Based Assessment, Community Programs, Language Tests, Applied Linguistics, Teacher Education Programs, Evaluators, Scoring Rubrics, Doctoral Students
Teachers College, Columbia University. 525 West 120th Street, New York, NY 10027. e-mail: tcsalt@tc.columbia.edu; Web site: https://tesolal.columbia.edu
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: New York (New York)
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A