应浙江大学外语学院应用语言学研究所邀请，语言测试专家、哥伦比亚大学Jim Purpura教授将于2011年10月24-29日访问浙江大学，并作两场讲座，讲座内容、时间、地点如下：
讲座一：
题目：Learning-oriented Assessment
时间：2011年10月27日（周四）上午9:00-11:00
地点：紫金港校区东五201（东）
讲座二：
题目：The Assessment of Meaning
时间：2011年10月28日（周五）上午9:00-11:00
地点：紫金港校区东五201（东）
欢迎广大师生踊跃参加！
浙江大学外语学院应用语言学研究所
2011年10月19日
讲座摘要及Jim Purpura简介：
Assessing meaning in Task-Based Language Assessments James E. Purpura, Teachers College, Columbia University The overarching goal of language teaching is to provide learners with opportunities to use their linguistic resources in meaningful and appropriate ways in order to accomplish some “authentic” communicative task similar to those that learners might encounter in real-life or instructional contexts (e.g., opening a bank account; using information from multiple sources to write a paper). This is, in fact, the ultimate goal of communicative language teaching (CLT) or task-based language teaching (TBLT). While tasks not designed specifically for interactive communication also have an important role in language teaching, reciprocal tasks are specifically intended to engage learners to focus primarily on the conveyance of meaning in the act of communication—with momentary shifts on the linguistic resources that allow meanings to be conveyed. The primacy of meaning conveyance is further underscored by definitions of “task” proposed by researchers interested in TBLT or task-based language assessment (TBLA) (e.g., Breen, 1989; Nunnan, 1989; Skehan, 1996; Willis, 1996; Lee, 2000; Bygate et al., 2001; Norris, 2002; Norris et al. 2001; Ellis, 2003). While the emphasis in task-based approaches is clearly on the comprehension and expression of meanings in order to complete tasks successfully, theoretical definitions of meaning or the measurement of meaning conveyance has been surprisingly ignored. Rather, assessment has focused primarily on atomistic measures of grammatical form related to L2 production and operationalized in terms of (1) morphosyntactic accuracy (e.g., percentage of error-free clauses, target-like use of plurals), (2) lexical or morphosyntactic complexity (e.g., amount of subordination, percentage of verbs functioning as lexical verbs) and (3) in the case of oral assessments, fluency (e.g., numbers of false starts) (Purpura, 2011). This approach provides descriptions of L2 production, but fails to provide measures of L2 knowledge or ability, or more importantly measure of meaningfulness. In this talk I will review how performance in task-based approaches has been conceptualized and measured, and will argue for a reconceptualization of these assessments to include the notion of meaning and meaning conveyance on the semantic and pragmatic levels. I will provide examples of these measures and describe some of the recent research findings related to the measurement of meaning conveyance. Bio Dr. James E. Purpura is Professor of Linguistics and Education and Director of the TESOL and Applied Linguistics Programs at Teachers College, Columbia University in New York City. He teaches courses primarily in second language assessment and research methods. He has numerous articles on language assessment in refereed journals and chapters in edited volumes. In addition to co-authoring a series of EFL textbooks (On Target and In Charge), he published two books: Strategy use and second language test performance (CUP) and Assessing grammar (CUP). His research interests include the assessment of grammar and pragmatics, learning-oriented assessment in classrooms, and second language test validation. Jim is the primary investigator behind the development and validation of the Oxford Online Placement Exam. He is currently an expert member of EALTA, serves as the Past President of ILTA (the International Language Testing Association), is a member of the TOEFL Committee of Examiners, and serves as expert consultant for the Defense Language Testing Advisory Board in Washington, D.C.
