Testing the Spoken English of Young Norwegians: A Study of Test Validity and the Role of 'Smallwords' in Contributing to Pupils' Fluency (Studies in Language Testing)

Hasselgreen, Angela

ISBN 10: 0521544726 / ISBN 13: 9780521544726

Published by Cambridge University Press, 2005

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Bibliographic Details

• Title: Testing the Spoken English of Young Norwegians: A Study of Test Validity and the Role of 'Smallwords' in Contributing to Pupils' Fluency (Studies in Language Testing)
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication Date: 2005
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0521544726
• ISBN 13: 9780521544726
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: New
• Seller catalogs:
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About this title

Synopsis

This book reports on a two-part study: the validation of a test of spoken English for Norwegian secondary school pupils and the corpus-based investigation of the role played by 'smallwords', such as 'well', 'sort of', and 'you know', in bringing about fluency. The first study builds on the Messickian six central aspects of construct validity to produce a practical framework for test validation. It identifies potential sources of invalidity in the test being examined particularly relating to 'fluency'. The second study sets about to explore the concept of fluency, and to expose the extent to which it is acknowledged in the literature to be associated with smallwords, albeit under other names. The findings from the corpus study are drawn on to propose new elements to include in descriptors of fluency, and the implications of the study for classroom practices are discussed.

Review

"What Hasselgreen does examine and develop in a way that no one has done before is the link between gains in fluency and gains in facility in smallword use. This is a book that should appeal to a broad audience. It is well worth reading and is highly recommended."
April Ginther, Purdue University, SSLA