Items will be posted with the newest at the top.
Links open in new windows.

2005 Fall

2 October: The "Schedule & Assignments" page (use link in Table of Contents of may course page) is now current enough that we can use it for its proper purpose. I'l also use it to keep a record of what parts of the planned materials were actually covered at each meeting.

About assignments: even where they are listed on the "Schedule & Assignment" page, DON'T start them ahead of time. First we need to discuss them in class, and in some cases I need to reformulate them from previous versions. We also need to confirm release and due dates.

2 October: As I quasi-promised and then late last week tried to notify as many of you as I could contact, two articles are waiting for you in my mailbox in NH393: 1) One about oral testing that I published more than twenty years ago; 2) The intro chapter of a book about testing in general

26 September: Initial concept and structure of the course.

I like the long meeting: a course like this can have many activities - doesn't have to be one topic for 3.5 hours. We also save startup and winddown time

I have taught the assessment course for more than 20 years, and it has changed considerably over time. It needs another major change since it was last taught, in 2003. We have to include assessment beyond student assessment, and student assessment beyond the previous main focus on proficiency assessment using the ACTFL Guidelines and, for speaking, the OPI. But still, the OPI (unofficial training, unofficial interviewing, unofficial ratings) will be the most prominent focus. Without that, the course has no core and no value for language teaching professionals.