Conferences

NExLA language test experts feature prominently at LTRC 2021

In addition to several NExLA members being involved in the organisation of the annual conference of the International Language Testing Association (ILTA), called the Language Testing Research Colloquium, as well as in pre-conference events, five members were prominent among those who spoke at seminars and as individual speakers.

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Academic literacy, Diversity, Language assessment in multilingual contexts, Language testing, Transformation

Enough challenges for a lifetime

Several NExLA members, along with a number of other contributors, have just published a noteworthy contribution to applied linguistics in general, and language assessment in particular. In Assessing academic literacy in a multilingual society: Transition and transformation, which has just appeared from Multilingual Matters, they attempt to answer the question of how, as designers of language interventions, they respond to the challenges of education in an environment that is in transition, and in many respects unprepared for change.

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Academic literacy, Transformation

How justifiable are language assessment and intervention at tertiary level?

Kabelo Sebolai will present the case at the Language Testing Research Colloquium (LTRC 2019) in Atlanta

At this upcoming conference in Atlanta in March NExLA’s chairperson will offer a South African perspective on the measurement of students’ preparedness to handle the demands of academic discourse. While academic literacy is taken for granted by language teaching professionals, the tendency is for non-language teaching academics in disciplines that are traditionally less associated with language processing to be sceptical of the role of language assessment and intervention in academic performance. Not only has this been the case in South African higher education in general, it is also a challenge faced by language departments in other parts of the world.  Continue reading “How justifiable are language assessment and intervention at tertiary level?”

Language testing

Network of Expertise in Language Assessment (NExLA) established

Participants at a symposium on pre- and post-admission language assessment at the CLASA 2017 conference have agreed to establish a Network of Expertise in Language Assessment.

nexla logo

Its main aim is to promote and develop the field of language testing. Primarily intended to bring together expertise in this field in South Africa, the Network nonetheless will include voluntary participation from other regions or continents. Continue reading “Network of Expertise in Language Assessment (NExLA) established”