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Workshops

Chairperson’s report: 2024-2025

Anna Weideman

Achievements

In the period being reported on, several NExLA members have excelled in authoring a number of scholarly publications. The sheer volume of this marks the coming of age of language assessment in South Africa, and puts a seal on work started more than two decades ago, stimulated especially by the substantial resources made available by ICELDA (Inter-institutional Centre for Language Development; https://icelda.com/). ICELDA is an inter-university collaboration between NWU, the University of Pretoria, Stellenbosch University, and Akademia. Here are the publications just for 2024.

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Conferences

NExLA language test experts feature prominently at LTRC 2021

Albert Weideman

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 testing, Transformation

Enough challenges for a lifetime

Albert Weideman

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, Language testing

Pre-university test of academic literacy vs. English language matric results: which is the better predictor of academic success?

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Dr Kabelo Sebolai

Standardised tests of academic literacy are a good indicator of first-year academic performance, according to Dr. Kabelo Sebolai, Deputy Director of the Language Centre at Stellenbosch University. At least for Stellenbosch University, results show that the performance standards set for the standardised test of academic literacy associate positively with first-year academic performance, while the scores on the levels of performance set for the school-leaving English examination do not. Continue reading “Pre-university test of academic literacy vs. English language matric results: which is the better predictor of academic success?” →

Language testing, Validity

Two schools of thought on test validity

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AUTHOR: Kabelo Sebolai

Validity is probably the most crucial of all concepts that govern all kinds of measurement. This is more so the case in educational and psychological testing where high stakes decisions often need to be taken about individuals and institutions. From the time it saw the light of day, however, the concept of validity has been a source of inconclusive contestation. Continue reading “Two schools of thought on test validity” →

Diversity, Language testing

The management of language diversity in educational settings

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For language empowerment to take place in diverse environments, policy, planning, instruction and assessment all need to be aligned. Several NExLA members were recently involved in highlighting how language testing can contribute to achieving this harmony. The occasion? A workshop hosted by the Unit for Language Facilitation and Empowerment (ULFE) of the University of the Free State, with the theme of  language diversity in educational settings.

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