Assessing language learning in virtual exchange: suggestions from the field of language assessment

Abstract

This goal of this paper is to enhance VE practitioners’ language assessment literacy. To do so, it begins with an overview of assessment practices commonly used in VE for evaluating the complex and multifaceted nature of language competence. These include the following: (1) approaches that evaluate change in learners’ language use over time, (2) approaches that employ pre- and posttest to evaluate learning outcomes, and (3) approaches that rely on student self-report or self-documentation of learning. Based on this overview, we then look to the field of language assessment for guidelines on the selection and use of classroom-based and standardized assessment tools and practices. Using an existing VE practice scenario, the authors provide an example of language assessment selection and development.

Adolescent psychological adjustment and social supports during pandemic-onset remote learning: A national multi-wave daily-diary study

“…Virtual learning programs involve meticulously crafted curricula that thoughtfully integrate opportunities for prosocial collaboration. Remote learning instituted during the pandemic’s onset has been described by some as a “panic response” whereby teachers used their best judgement and on-hand resources to rapidly adapt in-person curricula to some type of home-schooling format (e.g., synchronous or asynchronous virtual learning; take-home packets) so that students could complete their required educational hours for the 2019–2020 school year (Lee, 2021). To be clear, the findings presented here apply specifically to the effects of remote learning as an extended crisis response rather than pre-planned periods of remote learning or full-time enrollment in cyberschool.…”

Virtual exchange and the integration of global and ecological citizenship in foreign language education

“…Recent publications (O'Dowd and Lewis, 2016; Lee and Sauro, 2021) have looked at common assessment practices used in the context of VE to evaluate language learning. The three main approaches to assessing language learning identified by Lee and Sauro (2021) are the ones that follow: (1) approaches that evaluate changes in language use over time during the VE such as corpus-based analysis of learners' target language (pp.35-36) and multiple measures combining learner self-reports and subsequent use during the VE (pp.36-37); (2) approaches that employ pre-and post-tests to evaluate learning outcomes (pp.37-38) and (3) approaches that rely upon student self-assessment or self-documentation (pp. 38.39).…”