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1. Teaching Beyond the Test: A Method for Designing Test-Preparation Classes

   In: English Teaching Forum 2013, Volume 51, Number 4 Format(s): Text

   Test-preparation classes that focus on skills will benefit students beyond the test by developing skills they can use at university. This article discusses the purposes of various tests and outlines how to design effective test-prep classes. Practice activities included.

2. Assessment Literacy: Building a Base for Better Teaching and Learning

   In: English Teaching Forum 2014, Volume 52, Number 3 Format(s): Text

   This article presents principles and practices of effective assessment, outlining seven key concepts—usefulness, reliability, validity, practicality, washback, authenticity, and transparency—and demonstrating how to apply them in creating an exam blueprint.

3. Looking for the Big Picture: Macrostrategies for L2 Teacher Observation and Feedback

   In: English Teaching Forum 2010, Volume 48, Number 4 Format(s): Text

   The authors describe the typical type of teacher observation and assessment used today -- top down, one-way communication from supervisor to teacher that looks at the weaknesses in the teaching. The authors believe that observation and feedback can be something more. They present six strategies for supervisors (e.g., recognizing subjectiveness, talking across the data, providing alternatives and resources). Additional suggestions include structured intervention and supervisor portfolios.

4. Teacher Resources

   In: English Teaching Forum 2004, Volume 42, Issue 1 Format(s): Text

   In this special section of Forum, four commercial publications are presented. Topics include techniques to help middle school students with reading, student involvement and choice; an introduction to the concept of genre (of interest to ESL teachers, writing teachers, etc., including genre-based assessment and the importance of audience in writing); the use of literature circles with elementary learners to foster discussion and love of literature; and a book of EFL methodology.

5. Language Teaching through Critical Thinking and Self-Awareness

   In: English Teaching Forum 2004, Volume 42, Issue 3 Format(s): Text

   This article contains a wealth of activities that will help students develop critical thinking skills. These fun and dynamic activities raise students’ self-awareness regarding their perceptions, assumptions, prejudices, and values. The author addresses the teacher's role in helping students think differently and consider ideas from multiple points of view. To encourage critical thinking, assessment should not rely on summary and definition questions, but those that require analysis, hypothesis, and evaluation. A rationale for the importance of critical thinking is provided from a cognitive perspective.

6. Teaching Today's Learners: Oral Error Correction and Writing Effective Assessments

   In: American English Webinars Format(s): Text, Video

   This webinar "Teaching Today's Learners: Oral Error Correction and Writing Effective Assessments" gives practical tips and strategies how and when to correct oral errors.

7. Building Your Toolkit: Steps and Strategies for Teaching Academic Writing

   Format(s): Text, Video

   This webinar, Building Your Toolkit: Steps and Strategies for Teaching Academic Writing, provides participants with five specific steps and several strategies they can use in teaching academic writing in their own contexts.

8. Target Language Use in the Classroom: Teaching Speaking Differently

   In: American English Webinars Format(s): Text, Video

   This session, "Target Language Use in the Classroom: Teaching Speaking Differently," shares engaging strategies for effectively incorporating authentic target language in EFL lessons: in classroom routines, in language practice, as well as in assessments of speaking gains.

9. Teaching Students to Categorize TOEFL Essay Topics

   In: English Teaching Forum 2014, Volume 52, Number 4 Format(s): Text

   The author maintains that categorizing TOEFL iBT writing topics helps test takers because they will be more familiar with the topics and thus better able to write about them and because categorizing topics requires critical thinking about the topics. Using some of the 185 TOEFL prompt questions and 10 additional prompts, the article explores ways to code and analyze the prompts, illustrating the process with tables.

10. The Roles of Assessment in Language Teaching

    In: English Teaching Forum 2012, Volume 50, Number 3 Format(s): Text

    This piece makes a case for using assessment to understand and identify the needs of learners and introduces the three reprints that follow: “Twenty Common Testing Mistakes for EFL Teachers to Avoid,” Coming to Grips with Progress Testing: Some Guidelines for Its Design,” and “Purposeful Language Assessment: Selecting the Right Alternative Test.”

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