讲座题目：Towards a better understanding of graph-based writing tasks: the constructs of assessment and the methods of data elicitation
讲 座 人： YU, Guoxing PhD
Reader in Language Education & Assessment
Graduate School of Education
University of Bristol
讲座时间：2014年10月21日（周二）14:00
讲座地点：紫金港校区东五-201（东）
欢迎广大师生积极参加！
外语学院
2014年10月14日
[Abstract]：
Graphs have been used as prompts in a number of EFL writing and speaking assessment tasks (e.g., IELTS Academic, GEPT-Advanced, GSEEE, Pearson Academic, TEAP of Eiken Foundation Japan). These tasks may use similar types of graphs, but differ in various aspects, e.g., the amount of verbal and non-verbal information available in the task directions, the density of non-verbal information of the graphs, time allowed to complete the tasks, and the requirement of summarization and/or interpretation of non-verbal information contained in the graphs (just to name a few). Graph-based writing requires test takers to comprehend the information presented in graph(s) and re-present such information in continuous written discourse in English, and in some cases test takers also have to integrate the information of the graphs with external sources of knowledge. Graph-based writing is a typical reading/writing integrated task (Yu 2013).
At this seminar, I will report the findings from three funded research projects (Yu, Rea-Dickins and Kiely 2011; Yu and Lin 2014; Yu, He and Isaacs, ongoing) which all investigated test takers’ cognitive processes in completing such tasks. In particular, the three studies investigated the extent to which test takers’ cognitive processes were affected by their graphicacy (Wainer 1992), English writing abilities, and types and features of graphs (e.g., bar, line graph, pie chart), and other features of the writing tasks (e.g., whether test takers were required to describe and interpret the data from the graphs and other sources). Although the three studies had the same research aim, i.e., to better understand the construct(s) of graph-based writing tasks, we used different data elicitation methods which included think-aloud, stimulated interviews, focus-group discussions, and eye-movement tracking. At the seminar, I would argue that data elicited by different research methods and from different sources (e.g., different tests, GEPT and IELTS) are vitally important as they contribute, from multiple perspectives, to better understanding the construct(s) of graph-based writing assessment tasks.
[BIO DATA]
Dr YU Guoxing is Reader in Language Education & Assessment, and Coordinator of Doctor of Education in Applied Linguistics programme at the Graduate School of Education, University of Bristol, UK – a global top 30 university (QS World Rankings, 2014).
His main research efforts straddle across: language assessment, role of language in assessment, assessment of school effectiveness and learning power, using both qualitative and quantitative methods (e.g. multilevel modelling). He has directed or co-directed several funded research projects and has published in academic journals including Applied Linguistics, Assessing Writing, Assessment in Education, Comparative Education, Educational Research, International Review of Education, Language Assessment Quarterly, Language Teaching, and Language Testing. He was the Guest Editor of the special issue on integrated writing assessment (2013) for Language Assessment Quarterly <http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/hlaq20/10/1>; the special issue on English Language Assessment in China: Policies, Practices and Impacts (2014) for Assessment in Education (with Prof JIN Yan, Shanghai Jiaotong University), <http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/caie20/21/3>
Currently, Dr Yu is an Executive Editor of Assessment in Education, and serves on Editorial Boards of Language Testing, Language Assessment Quarterly, Assessing Writing, and Language Testing in Asia.
For Dr Yu’s research, see http://www.bristol.ac.uk/education/people/guoxing-yu/overview.html
