I was asked the other day why I am interested in assessment, and at the time I was unable to answer. So, I thought about it and here is what I should have said.

I’m so interested in assessment because it is the crux of education. Serving many functions, assessment can be used for administrative, instructional, or research purposes. Assessment –when  implemented effectively– provides heaps of evidence to all educational stakeholders: researchers, policy makers, administrators, instructors, and students. It can ensure whether or not education is indeed happening!

Administrators can use assessment for general assessments, placement, exemption, certification, and promotion. Instructors use assessments to diagnose student ability, provide evidence of progress, give feedback to the student, and evaluate teaching and/or curriculum. In research, assessments are used in evaluations, experimentation, and building theory about language learning and language use.

I became an educator to make the world a better place, and while that may sound cliché, it’s organic and true. I came to academia with the belief that the purpose of education is to produce a genuinely critical and deliberative citizenry, that education should unite students under the common desire for human emancipation and social enlightenment. These are motivations I bring to my scholarship and they are the driving purpose behind my ongoing interest in assessment. I want to ensure that assessments are effective so that my work, my career, and my scholarship support the emancipatory and transformative role of education.

This is my first infographic. I used PiktoChart. Please check it out. It presents some information about the most active players in the CALICO Conference.

References

2015 Horizon Report for Higher Education (2015). New Media Consortium.

Amherst College. J. Scott Payne. Retrieved April, 2015, from https://www.amherst.edu/people/facstaff/spayne

Anthony, L. (2014). AntConc (Version 3.4.3) [Computer Software]. Tokyo, Japan:
Waseda University. Available from http://www.laurenceanthony.net/

Blake, R. UC Davis – Department of Spanish and Portuguese: Robert Blake. Retrieved April 28, 2015, from https://spanish.ucdavis.edu/en/people/profile/138

Bush, M. D. Curriculum vitae: Michael D. Bush. Retrieved April 28, 2015, from http://beauvoir.byu.edu/bush/all.htm

Bush, M. D. Michael D. Bush homepage. Retrieved April 28, 2015, from http://arclite.byu.edu/bush/bush.htm
CALICO website. Retrieved April 28, 2015, from https://calico.org/

Ducate, L. Faculty & staff directory: Lara Ducate. Retrieved April 28, 2015, from http://artsandsciences.sc.edu/dllc/german/faculty/facdocs/Lara_Ducate.html

Godwin-Jones, R. Robert Godwin-Jones. Retrieved April 28, 2015, from http://germanstories.vcu.edu/gj.pdf

Healey, D.; Hegelheimer, V.; Hubbard, P.; Ionnou-Georgiou, S.; Kessler, G.; Ware, P. (2008). TESOL technology standards framework. Retrieved April 25, 2015, from http://www.tesol.org/docs/books/bk_technologystandards_framework_721.pdf?sfvrsn=2

Hsieh, C. (2009). Review of Brave New Digital Classroom: Technology and foreign language learning. Language Learning & Technology, 13(2), 22.

Hubbard, P. Stanford University: School of Humanities and Sciences: Phil

Hubbard. Retrieved April 28, 2015, from http://web.stanford.edu/~efs/phil/

Hubbard, P. 2008. “25 Years of Theory in the CALICO Journal.” CALICO Journal 25.3: 387-399.

Hubbard, P. (Ed.). 2009. Computer Assisted Language Learning, Volume 4: Present Trends and Future Directions in CALL. Critical Concepts in Linguistics Series. New York: Routledge.

Hubbard, P. (Ed.). 2009. Computer Assisted Language Learning, Volume 3:
Computer Mediated Communication for Language Learning. Critical Concepts in
Linguistics Series. New York: Routledge.

Hubbard, P. (Ed.). 2009. Computer Assisted Language Learning, Volume 2: CALL and Language Skills. Critical Concepts in Linguistics Series. New York: Routledge.

Hubbard, P. (Ed.). 2009. Computer Assisted Language Learning, Volume 1:
Foundations of CALL. Critical Concepts in Linguistics Series. New York:
Routledge.

Kessler, G. Greg Kessler, PhD. Retrieved April 28, 2015, from http://linguistics.ohio.edu/linguistics/?page_id=249

Lomicka-Anderson, L. University of South Carolina Faculty & Staff Directory: Lara

Lomicka-Anderson. Retrieved April 28, 2015, from http://artsandsciences.sc.edu/dllc/Fren/Faculty/facdocs/lomicka.html

Payne, J. S. LinkedIn: Scott Payne. Retrieved April, 2015, from https://www.linkedin.com/pub/scott-payne/7b/7a3/503

Smith, B. Arizona State University: Bryan Smith. Retrieved April 28, 2015, from https://webapp4.asu.edu/directory/person/757240

Thorne, S. Academic montage: Steven L. Thorne, PhD. Retrieved April 28, 2015, from https://sites.google.com/site/stevenlthorne/

Thorne, S. Steven Thorne – Second Language Acquisition. Retrieved April 28, 2015, from http://www.pdx.edu/wll/steve-thorne-second-language-acquisition

1. First CALICO Conference

July 8-10, 1998: The first Computer Assisted Language Instruction Consortium (CALICO) conference was held at San Diego State University’s Language Acquisition Resource Center (LARC). Calico is an international organization dedicated to research and development in the use of computer technology in language learning: computer-assisted language learning (CALL).

CALICO began mainly as a group of people interested in using and producing technology-based materials for second/foreign language teaching. After more than 25 years of growth and experience, CALICO now includes language educators, programmers, technicians, web page designers, CALL developers, CALL practitioners, and second language acquisition researchers–anyone interested in exploring the use of technology for language teaching and learning. (DHB SP2015)

2. CALL Movement Begins

1960s: The literature begins to use the acronym CALL to refer to Computer-Assisted Language Learning defined as “the search for and study of applications of the computer in language teaching and learning” (Levy, 1997).

Levy M. (1997) CALL: context and conceptualisation, Oxford: Oxford University Press. (DHB SP2015)

3. Corpus of Contemporary American-English (COCA)

1990: Created in 1990 by Mark Davies from Brigham Young University, COCA is world’s largest corpus of American English. It is an amazingly powerful research tool and includes over 190,000 texts of nearly 500 million words. The most recent texts were added in 2012, but further updates are anticipated. The continued growth of the corpus reflects the ever changing nature of language. The texts come from a variety of sources:

Spoken: (85 million words) Transcripts of unscripted conversation from nearly 150 different TV and radio programs.
Fiction: (81 million words) Short stories and plays, first chapters of books 1990–present, and movie scripts.
Popular magazines: (86 million words) Nearly 100 different magazines, from a range of domains such as news, health, home and gardening, women’s, financial, religion, and sports.
Newspapers: (81 million words) Ten newspapers from across the US, with text from different sections of the newspapers, such as local news, opinion, sports, and the financial section.
Academic Journals: (81 million words) Nearly 100 different peer-reviewed journals. These were selected to cover the entire range of the Library of Congress classification system. (DHB SP2015)

4. Rosetta Stone

1992: Rosetta Stone is the #1 language-learning software in the world. Millions of learners in more than 150 countries have used our technology to gain the confidence that comes with truly knowing a new language. The company was founded in 1992 by brothers Allen and Eugene Stoltzfusa and their brother-in-law, John Fairfield, under the name Fairfield Learning Technologies. Allen, John and Eugene called their product “Rosetta Stone,” named after the artifact that had unlocked the secrets of Egyptian hieroglyphics for linguists. The name certainly fits, as Rosetta Stone’s products now unlock learning success for millions of users worldwide. In 2006, the company was sold to investment firms ABS Capital Partners and Norwest Equity Partners, and was renamed after its signature product. Rosetta Stone Inc. (RST) became publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange in April 2009, and has since continued to provide language-learning solutions in over 30 different languages in more than 150 countries. (Source: http://www.rosettastone.com/history) (DHB SP2015)

5. TOEFL iBT Goes Online

2005: The Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) was first offered in its internet-based test (IBT) form in 2005 and has since been replacing the computer-based tests (CBT) and paper-based test (PBT) forms . The TOEFL iBT test is scored on a scale of 0 to 120 points. Each of the four sections (Reading, Listening, Speaking, and Writing) receives a scaled score from 0 to 30. The scaled scores from the four sections are added together to determine the total score. Each speaking question is initially given a score of 0 to 4, and each writing question is initially given a score of 0 to 5. These scores are converted to scaled scores of 0 to 30. The Ohio State University currently requires a score of 79 on the TOEFL IBT for admission and some programs require higher sccores (e.g., Fisher College of Business, Department of Linguistics, end the College of Dentistry). The test is offered more than 50 times per year in over 4500 testing centers in 165 different countries. The cost of the test is $120-$250, which prohibits many people from taking the test. Over 9000 universities accept the TOEFL as evidence of English language proficiency. (DHB SP2015)

6. ReCALL Journal

1989-Present: This peer-reviewed journal out of Cambridge University highlights innovation and research in computer-assisted language learning and technology enhanced language learning. It is printed triannually and includes about 20 articles per year. The journal is managed by the European Association for Computer-Assisted Language Learning (EUROCALL). It is abstracted/indexed on EBSCOhost and ERIC, among many other academic databases.(DHB SP2015)

7. EUROCALL Established

1993: The European Association for Computer Assisted Language Learning (EUROCALL) was established officially as a professional organization. The European Association for Computer Assisted Language Learning (EUROCALL) is an association of language teaching professionals from Europe and world-wide, which aims to: 1) promote the use of foreign languages within Europe and beyond; 2) provide a European focus for the promulgation of innovative research, development and practice relating to the use of technologies for language learning; 3) enhance the quality, dissemination and efficiency of CALL materials and related activities; 4) support  Special Interest Groups (SIGs). Since EUROCALL was established in 1993, the organisation has attracted members from not only Europe, but all over the world.  Currently, 33 countries are represented. EUROCALL: 1) provides information and advice on all aspects of the use of technology for language learning, for those involved in education and training; 2) disseminates information via the ReCALL Journal; 3) organises special interest meetings and annual conferences; 4)works towards the exploitation of electronic communications systems. (DHB 2015)

8. TESOL Technology Standards

2008: The TESOL Technology Standards were written by a team from the TESOL Organization (Deborah Healey, Volker Hegelheimer, Phil Hubbard, Sophie Ioannou-Georgiou, Greg Kessler, and Paige Ware). From the preface of the standards, ” These Technology Standards, gleaned from practice and research, focus on how English language teachers, teacher educators, and administrators can and should use technology in and out of the classroom. These standards build on work done by the National Educational Technology Standards (NETS) Project in the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), but have a strong focus on pedagogy specific to English language teaching (ELT). They are designed to be applicable to teachers and students at a range of English proficiency levels in many English language teaching and learning settings around the world. The authors recognize that technology remains intimidating to many teachers but strongly believe that the appropriate use of technology by a trained teacher can greatly benefit language learners. Administrators and teacher educators should also be aware of these standards in order to apply them when designing programs at their institutions.”

9. Duolingo

June 2012: Duiolingo launched for the general public. It is a free language-learning and crowdsourced text translation platform. Through mass participation, users progress through lessons while simultaneously translating websites and other documents. Duolingo provides Spanish, French, German, Brazilian Portuguese, Italian, Duitch, Irish, Danish, Swedish, and Turkish courses for English speakers. It also provides American English for Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Italian, Greek, Dutch, Russian, Polish, Turkish, Hungarian, Romaninan, Japanese, Hindi, Indonesian, Korean, Vietnamese, and Czech speakers. Dulingo was awarded Apple’s 2013 iPhone App of the Year, the first time this honor was awarded to an educational application. It was the most downloaded education apo in Google Play in 2013 and 2014. Duolingo has about 60 million users, 20 million of which are active. “Learn a language for free. Forever. (DHB SP2015)

10. Google Translate app

2010: While the technology was several years in the making, the first version of Google Translate app was launched in January 2010. Google Translate uses most of the research done by Franz-Josef Och on stastistical machine translation. Och is the head of Google’s machine translation department. Google boasts that the app allows you to speak with the world, connect with people, places and culture across language barriers. The Translate app is like having a personal interpreter in your pocket. Google Translate works in 90+ languages, from Afrikaans and Azerbaijani to Yoruba and Zulu. (DHB 2015)

Created by Knewton and Column Five Media

An Infographic by Open Colleges

To get started, here are three resources that any teacher can use in their classroom:

Blendspace: This FREE resource has many uses. Essentially, it is a slick, multimedia content delivery platform. For those at Ohio State, think of it as Carmen’s younger hipper little sister. Blendspace integrates with YouTube, Flickr, Google Search, Google Drive, Dropbox, and Vimeo allowing you to make “lessons” with an array of media files. You can even drag and drop files from your PC, so adding .pptx or .docx files is no problem at all. It’s as easy as dragging and dropping the content you want into a ready-to-use lesson tiled template. I’ve had students introduce themselves digitally. I’ved used Blendspace to create online study guides, which for limited English proficiency students has proven very helpful by isolating the information the students need to review before assessment. With more advanced students, I’ve had them create their own study guides to share with classmates. You can also search the Blendspace site (formerly EdCanvas) for “lessons” made by others. For example, my students really enjoyed the Grammar Rock videos from the 1980s which helped them review the parts of speech. I hope you will consider using this website, it’s too easy not to.

Sample “Lessons” on Blendspace
My Autobiography “Lesson”
Study Guide for Past Continuous
Grammar Rocks Videos: Reviewing Parts of Speech

PechaKucha: This might not be a “tech resource” so much as it is a presentation format, but nonetheless, I feel you should know about it and try it with your students. Most simply, it is a presentation with PowerPoint or Keynote (or some similar presentation software) of 20 slides, each advancing automatically after 20 seconds. It’s a fresh, enjoyable, efficient way of delivering information in an engaging way on just about any topic. Slides are usually high quality images and text is used minimally. This puts the onus on the presenter’s speaking skill rather than their PowerPoint animations and sounds. PechaKucha presentations began at an architecture firm in Japan in 2003 for young designers to meet, network, and show their work in public.PechaKucha nights have become common all around the world, now in nearly 700 cities. THe beauty of PechaKucha, IMHO, is that it can be used to present information on ANY topic. With PechaKucha you can advocate, educate, motivate, or simply entertain. Find the PechaKucha night in your community and start experiencing and practicing this “art of concise presentations”.

PechaKucha Links:
PechaKucha near you
PK on Human Trafficking: Force. Fraud. Coercion (sample presentation)
PK on Breakfast in Columbus: “Breakfast with Nick” (filmed at OSU’s Wexner Center for the Arts)
“Developing Oral Presentation Skills with PechaKucha” (Ohio TESOL 2012 poster presentation by yours truly…a large file, sorry!)

PechaKucha Night Columbus, Ohio (Photo Source: http://www.pechakucha.org/channels/pechakucha/blogs/pkn-columbus-illuminated-by-the-lantern)

Google Voice: This is a convenient way of recording student speech, and best of all, it’s completely free! If you don’t already have a Google Account, it’s time to get one…welcome to the 21st century! Google has changed the way I find, report, and receive information. Now, it’s even changed they way I get voicemail. With Google Voice, I signed up for a Google telephone number and set up my voicemail, as I would on a regular phone. Then, I shared my new Google phone number (with a local 614 area code no less) with my students. The number is mine to keep as long as I have the Google account. With my classes, I have had students complete oral reading/recitation assignments to assess pronunciation, make oral introductions, practice upcoming oral presentations, or respond to an article or video. Anytime you want the students to speak about something and you want it recorded, you can use Google Voice. The advantages of using Google Voice are many: 1) it’s very easy to use for both student and teacher; 2) Google transcribes the voicemail messages, which can easily be emailed to the students with the audio; 3) it doesn’t fill your personal voicemail box with messages from your students; 4) (nearly) all students have this technology: a phone; 5) you can download and embed the files, as I have below, so that students can self evaluate their speech or invite others to review it.

Here are a couple examples my students let me embed on this page:

Transcript:

Good afternoon. Today, we’re going to discuss how creating a positive dining
experience is key to the success of your restaurant. A smart restaurant owner needs to
understand two major concepts about customer service: First, that there are many
factors that contribute to making customers feel satisfied. And second, that a successful
dining experience is built on contrast. Now what do I mean by “contrast”? By this I
mean the restaurant staff must work hard so that customers can relax. I can’t
emphasize this enough. For today’s lecture, I’d like you to take the perspective of a
restaurant owner. Pretend that you’re someone like me, who starts a small restaurant
because you love cooking and you love bringing enjoyment to people through food. Will
this be enough to guarantee your customers satisfaction and your restaurant success?
The answer is no!
(Lecture excerpt is from Contemporary Topics 2, Unit 4 – Owning a Successful Restaurant. Pearson.)

Still not sold? Watch this video!

In 2005, King Abdullah (then Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia) met with President George W. Bush to re-energize the King Abdullah Scholarship Program (KASP). The goals of the program include increased academic knowledge, mutual understanding, professional development, cultural exchange, and global experience. Ohio, with its many universities and colleges, has been the learning destination of thousands of Saudi students over the years. According to the Saudi Cultural Mission (SACM), Ohio had about 4,000 KASP scholars in 2012. Ohio is the third most common state for the KASP recipients after #1 California and #2 Texas.

At The Ohio State’s University’s American Language Program, we’ve enjoyed the warmth and generosity over a thousand Saudi scholars from the KASP. In conversation, the students are gracious and welcoming. In the classroom, the Saudis are spirited, inquisitive, and vocal. There is never a dull moment in class!

Here’s an animated graph that shows the history of ALP’s student enrollment by country. As the chart depicts, we’ve had a large number of Saudi students since the revitalization of the King Abdullah Scholarship Program in 2005.

Student Population in the American Language Program (Winter 2004 – Spring 2012) :

Last month (September 23), our Saudi students celebrated Saudi National Day at the Ohio Union. It was a cultural exposé of all things Saudi: food, coffee, dress, history, dance, religion, and tourism! I had a wonderful time learning about the history of Saudi Arabia and King Abdullah. At the celebration, I was surprised to learn that Saudi students from all over central Ohio came to campus for the festivities.

Here are a video of some Saudi students performing a traditional native dance and some pictures from the event.

I’d like to take this opportunity to personally thank and congratulate our Saudi students for their generous hosting and successful event planning. We are appreciative of the opportunity to have shared this day with you and to have learned more about your fascinating country. I regret not having worn my shemagh.

How firm thy friendship… O-hi-o!

ALP’s Riyadh Alrawkan reading from the Quran at Saudi National Day. September 23, 2013

This is a short video about the program that I coordinate. The American Language Program (ALP) is The Ohio State University’s intensive English program for non-native speakers of English. Come learn with us!

Learn more about The American Language Program at our wesbite.

This video gives me chills! Ohio State is a truly grand institution!