Customer Reviews

Language Assessment - Principles and Classroom Practice

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book was the text for my ESOL Testing and Measurement course. It was readable, well-organized, and packed with examples. What struck me the most was the way this text informed my thinking about all tests and assessments, not just the ones for ESOL students. I think every teacher should read a book like this to gain an understanding of what reliability and especially validity of assessments are all about for all kinds of students. I did think the book could have dealt more with the controversies surrounding testing, but there was a great chapter on alternative testing at the end--don't miss it.

I am currently a graduate student in an ESL Assessment and Evaluation class and read Brown's (2004) Language Assessment: Principles and Classroom Practices textbook as part of class requirements. This book is written for teachers in the field of second language acquisition (SLA). Specifically, it will benefit instructors in teacher certification and in Master of Arts in TESOL programs. Brown provides fundamental principles for evaluating and designing procedures for classroom based assessments. He delves into the purpose, design, validity and utility of standardized tests and their measurement of a student's language proficiency. He also gives an overview of the pros and cons of these tests, the ethics of testing and the various alternatives available in assessment.
This researcher thoroughly discusses the various developmental tasks that are available when assessing language in key areas such as reading, listening, writing, and speaking. Brown acknowledges possible areas where problems can arise and provides detailed reasoning on why the tasks still work in the classroom setting when assessing the student.
Brown writes from the perspective that assessment is critical for teachers yet should not be frightening. Assessment should be aimed towards providing learning opportunities for both the student and the teacher. The author developed this book after many years of teaching language testing and assessment. Douglas Brown has worked with language teachers in the United States and in an array of countries such as Brazil, Egypt, Japan and Yugoslavia.
Language Assessment: Principles and Classroom Practices is divided into eleven chapters that begin with theoretical data and then move to descriptive examples of key concepts. These examples include classroom techniques and tasks appropriate for a wide range of students (from third grade to adults). In addition, references and summaries for the curious SLA teacher and student are also provided. This textbook could be improved by adding a computer disk or website providing access to the examples mentioned in the book. The artwork used in the textbook is superb and would be a benefit to any classroom teacher. Overall, this textbook should be a standard reference tool for language teachers.

It is quite good. gives a lot of practical examples of language testing in, reading, writing, listening, and speaking.

I'm using this book for a graduate course on testing and assessment of second language learners. So far, the book has been informative and well written. I'm disappointed, though, that I spent $42 to get a book with cheap paper. The paper is thin, and so the print comes through to the backside of the page. I'm sure this book only gets a few runs, as its not on the "most popular" list, and the paper makes the book cheaper. Maybe I need to adjust my standards?

My order was delivered within the right time. I took my summer class and have recently finished.I am also pleased with the price since it was the lowest in the market.The book has no defects and it has conformed to all my expectations.

I will recommend Amazon to friends and continue to check on them for my supply of textbooks and quick service.

Moagisi Edwin Seleka

I don't feel like this book is the greatest but it was functional and gave good information.

I received the book on time and in good conditions. I will use it during a graduate course next semester but the author is a professional in the linguistic field. I had used other books written by him and they had been a good learning tool in my studies.

The book took forever and a day to get here. It was within the shipping days, but I have never had a book through amazon take so long. Also the book was listed as like new or very good cant remember, but when I recieved the book there was highlighting all through out that book that was not revealed in the description.