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1. A Paradigm Shift: From Paper-and-Pencil Tests to Performance-Based Assessment

   In: English Teaching Forum 2007, Volume 45, Number 4 Format(s): Text

   This article describes how The Language Center at the Espirito Santo Federal University changed from using traditional pencil-and-paper tests to performance testing, based on authentic tasks. The change was prompted because people thought that their testing did not reflect a communicative approach to language teaching. The Assessment Project lasted for two years; the author discusses its participants, goals, stages (including pilot testing), and results. Content and construct validity improved, leading to positive washback. Learning objectives and criteria for passing were clarified.

2. The E-pet: Enhancing Motivation in E-portfolios

   In: English Teaching Forum 2009, Volume 47, Number 1 Format(s): Text

   The authors wanted to make EAP portfolios more engaging and personal for students, so they introduced an e-pet to accompany the online portfolio program. The e-pet (much like a tamagotchi) grows from an egg into adulthood when the students interact with it through portfolio submissions. Teachers reported that students were enthusiastic about the e-portfolio and the e-pet. Student questionnaires showed a similar trend, with several students saying that the e-pet made the portfolio project motivating. The article includes directions for e-portfolio design.

3. Error Correction and Feedback in the EFL Writing Classroom: Comparing Instructor and Student Preferences

   In: English Teaching Forum 2006, Volume 44, Number 3 Format(s): Text

   This article discusses what EFL instructors and their students like and dislike about error correction and paper marking and discusses what this means for classroom teaching. The article lists the benefits and drawbacks of error correction for students’ writing and argues for the need to look at preferred methods for both teachers and students. It reports on a study of university EFL instructors and discusses these teachers’ beliefs regarding important aspects of writing and their preference for paper-marking techniques.

4. Beyond the Plagiarism Checker: Helping Nonnative English Speakers (NNESs) Avoid Plagiarism

   In: English Teaching Forum 2018, Volume 56, Number 2 Format(s): Text

   This article gives detailed practical suggestions for helping students recognize and avoid plagiarism, use paraphrasing and summarizing effectively, incorporate direct quotes into their writing, and cite sources. 

5. Workshops: An Alternative to Student Writing Conferences

   In: English Teaching Forum 2018, Volume 56, Number 2 Format(s): Text

   This Teaching Technique describes how teachers can use mini-workshops in place of student writing conferences and explains potential benefits of doing so.

6. Purposeful Language Assessment: Selecting the Right Alternative Test

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

   This article, originally published in 2000, looks at various instruments, procedures, and practices for language testing and offers strategies for determining which assessment options are most appropriate in various contexts.

7. 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.

8. 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.

9. Finding New Messages in Television Commercials

   In: English Teaching Forum 2002, Volume 40, Number 2 Format(s): Text

   This article discusses the use of television commercials to help build English vocabulary and cultural awareness for students who are preparing for the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) in an English as a foreign language (EFL) environment. It presents activities as well as a general outline for teachers to show how these activities can be used.

10. 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.

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