Books by Albert Weideman
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Journal for Language Teaching, 2004
Tests of language ability are based on a certain construct that defines this ability, and this bl... more Tests of language ability are based on a certain construct that defines this ability, and this blueprint determines what it is that will be measured. The University of Pretoria has, since 2000, annually administered a test of academic language proficiency to more than 6000 first-time students. The intention of this test is to identify those who are at risk academically as a result of too low a level of academic language proficiency. If their academic literacy levels are too low, students are required to enrol for a set of four courses in order to minimise their risk of failure. The Unit for Language Skills Development at the University of Pretoria has now embarked on a project to design an alternative test to the one used initially, specifically with a view to basing it on a new construct. The reason is that the construct of the current test has become contested over the last decade as a result of its dependence on an outdated concept of language, which equates language ability with knowledge of sound, vocabulary, form, and meaning. Present-day concepts emphasise a much richer view of language competence, and their focus has, moreover, shifted from discrete language skills to the attainment of academic literacy. In this paper the abilities encompassed by this view will be discussed in order to compare the construct of the current test with the proposed construct.
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South African universities face major challenges in meeting the needs of their students in the ar... more South African universities face major challenges in meeting the needs of their students in the area of academic language and literacy. The dominant medium of instruction in the universities is English and, to a much lesser extent, Afrikaans, but only a minority of the national population are native speakers of these languages. Nine other languages can be media of instruction in schools, which makes the transition to tertiary education difficult enough in itself for students from these schools. The focus of this book is on procedures for assessing the academic language and literacy levels and needs of students, not in order to exclude students from higher education but rather to identify those who would benefit from further development of their ability in order to undertake their degree studies successfully. The volume also aims to bring the innovative solutions designed by South African educators to a wider international audience.
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This is a workbook of practice tests of academic and quantitative literacy (AQL) for prospective ... more This is a workbook of practice tests of academic and quantitative literacy (AQL) for prospective university students. The workbook comes with answers at the end. This book replaces Academic literacy: Test your competence (2014).
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The framework for linguistics described in this book is not an introduction to linguistics in the... more The framework for linguistics described in this book is not an introduction to linguistics in the conventional sense. Rather, it is an invitation to those entering the discipline to become intrigued by things lingual. Working from the premise that linguistics is not many disciplines, but one, however much it is sometimes divided up into formal (“theoretical”) and sociolinguistic camps, it is designed to provide insight into phenomena operating within the lingual dimension of our experience, that circumscribes the field of linguistics. The framework allows young scholars entering the field to gain an understanding of why and how the discipline is academically sustainable, a perspective that is likely to be useful beyond the shifts in linguistic paradigms that they will no doubt experience in their academic lifetimes.
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No mere history of applied linguistics, this volume presents a framework for interpreting the dev... more No mere history of applied linguistics, this volume presents a framework for interpreting the development of applied linguistics as a discipline. It offers a systematic account of how applied linguistics has developed, articulating the philosophical premises that have informed both its emergence and its subsequent growth. It asks questions that are seldom asked: Where does the discipline derive from? Where is it heading? What directions has it already taken? Which direction should it embrace in future? What is the relative worth of all of the variation in design and methods that have been developed by applied linguists? In defining applied linguistics as a discipline of design, it takes us beyond the diffuse and sometimes contradictory conventional definitions of the field. The framework of design principles it proposes not only helps to explain the historical development of applied linguistics, but also provides a potential justification for solutions to language problems. It presents us with nothing less than an emerging theory of applied linguistics.
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If no specific science is philosophically neutral, linguistics must self consciously strive to cl... more If no specific science is philosophically neutral, linguistics must self consciously strive to clarify its theoretical, philosophical foundations by developing a systematic methodological framework that provides for various elementary and complex linguistic concepts. This study sets out to elaborate such a systematic methodology by looking first at the expressive character of language and the different material lingual spheres in which language is used. Thereafter various elementary systematic concepts that express the modal coherence between the lingual aspect and the other aspects of experience are surveyed. Amongst others, the elementary linguistic concepts of lingual system, position, constancy, operation, development, intention, identity and form are reinterpreted in a new theoretical perspective. Attention is also given to language in its social context, as well as to the notions of discourse, text and acceptability, in order to lay the foundations of a systematic theory.
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A good overview of EFL methods and approaches. If you don't want to fork out for
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Academic literacy: prepare to learn is different from traditional courses in that it is task-base... more Academic literacy: prepare to learn is different from traditional courses in that it is task-based: it requires of language learners who are developing their academic literacy to do authentic academic tasks and to solve real academic problems. It assumes that telling students about how tasks must be done is never enough - they must be allowed to demonstrate that they can actually do real academic work. The book is also different from other titles in that tasks have been sequenced in line with current research into the acquisition of academic literacy.
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Chapters by Albert Weideman
The encyclopedia of applied linguistics, 2013
Positivist and postpositivist influences in applied linguistics are discernible both directly and... more Positivist and postpositivist influences in applied linguistics are discernible both directly and obliquely, as has been the case in other fields. Those influences provide evidence of how closely applied linguistic concept formation relates to developments in scientific thinking in general, as well as to specific discussions in the philosophy of science.
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World Yearbook of Education 2017: Assessment inequalities edited by Julie Allan and Alfredo J. Artiles
The problematic secondary school exit-level examinations for home languages in South Africa illus... more The problematic secondary school exit-level examinations for home languages in South Africa illustrate a dilemma with high-stakes assessments. In order to resolve it, the refinement of the idea of consequential validity (Messick) is considered. An alternative conceptualisation of the principles that inform the design of language tests may mitigate the potentially negative social and economic impact of high-stakes language tests.
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Responsible Design in Applied Linguistics: Theory and Practice, 2017
Reflection on the nature of a discipline minimizes the risk for those who practise it. Applied li... more Reflection on the nature of a discipline minimizes the risk for those who practise it. Applied linguistics is a design discipline that helps us devise plans to overcome language problems. How to design responsibly should therefore be uppermost in the minds of those who devise the solutions. The intuitive, currently fashionable or ‘scientific’ solution is seldom the best design. Applied linguistics is faced with a choice between a technocratic and a revolutionary direction in its design of language interventions. That choice matters, both for historical and for professional reasons.
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Responsible Design in Applied Linguistics: Theory and Practice, 2017
Is applied linguistics merely an extension of linguistics, as its name implies? To answer that qu... more Is applied linguistics merely an extension of linguistics, as its name implies? To answer that question, we need philosophical delimitation criteria. We might avoid much contestation and contradiction if we defined the fields of linguistics and applied linguistics with reference not to concrete entities, but to the two modalities, the lingual and the technical, that respectively delimit their scope. A linguistic explanation for applied linguistic design decisions remains highly problematic, but even among those who hold that position we find hints of alternative perspectives.
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Responsible Design in Applied Linguistics: Theory and Practice, 2017
A more sophisticated conceptualization of applied linguistics soon began to emerge: that it is a ... more A more sophisticated conceptualization of applied linguistics soon began to emerge: that it is a multi-disciplinary undertaking. Applied linguistics came to be seen as pedagogical engineering, and as having an inter-disciplinary, mediating role in language education. Yet the nature of the mediation is left unexplained. When we consider the learning of an additional language in classrooms, the problem of language mastery by someone who is at a disadvantage surfaces. The designed response to that problem in an instructional plan clearly marks applied linguistics as possessing another order of complexity than that of linguistic conceptualization.
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Responsible Design in Applied Linguistics: Theory and Practice, 2017
How ‘scientific’ is applied linguistics? Progressivist and modernist expectations are present in ... more How ‘scientific’ is applied linguistics? Progressivist and modernist expectations are present in it from the start. Yet in this case scientific analysis presupposes a separate, preparatory phase for the planning of the intervention: theoretical analysis is utilized, but is encapsulated in, and subservient to the plan and its technical design. To make theory prescriptive or absolute is a perversion, and a recipe for eventual disappointment, as its disciplinary history shows. That provides more evidence that applied linguistics is a separate, independent discipline. Its conceptualisations spring from a different modality than the analytical.
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Responsible Design in Applied Linguistics: Theory and Practice, 2017
The logical and formative modes of experience distinguish linguistic analysis from applied lingui... more The logical and formative modes of experience distinguish linguistic analysis from applied linguistic designs. Analysis helps us to understand the problem, but our technical imagination leads the designed solution. In preparing plans, we already anticipate their execution. Analysis can be the means to inform, enhance or justify the achievement of technical ends, but the ends are non-analytical. Focussing exclusively on the means reveals a modernist bias, while overemphasizing the ends characterizes postmodernist designs. A disclosure of the meaning of design anticipates a differentiation of designer and implementer, and the freeing up of technical fantasy.
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Responsible Design in Applied Linguistics: Theory and Practice, 2017
Three responses to the limitations of applied linguistics are discussed: the audio-lingual method... more Three responses to the limitations of applied linguistics are discussed: the audio-lingual method, mainstream communicative language teaching, and ‘humanistic’ approaches. The first gives priority to scientific principles; the second abides by technical analyses; the third takes the road of revolutionary freedom. However interpreted or understood, communicative language teaching constitutes a watershed in language intervention design: its history illustrates that the creativity, flexibility and pedagogical fantasy in such design take precedence over theoretical justification.
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Books by Albert Weideman
Chapters by Albert Weideman
In a recent (2015) volume of the journal Applied Linguistics (36[4]) seven specialists and their editor bring together a number of conceptualisations of the field under the theme of "Definitions for applied linguistics". In assessing these contributions, as well as other recent attempts to conceptualise the field, the paper employs a systematic argument that refutes the notion that there is a conceptual continuity between linguistics and applied linguistics. The argument utilises the philosophical idea that disciplines are best defined with reference not to concrete entities, such as "language ", but rather by referring to theoretically distinguishable modalities or aspects of experience that function as conceptual entry points or angles. These modalities may be identified respectively as the lingual or semiotic aspect, which circumscribes linguistic conceptualisation, and the technical dimension of experience, that is at the centre of applied linguistic concept formation.
What reasons can then be found for the contradictory and sometimes self-contradictory current definitions of applied linguistics? One is that at its inception the name chosen for the field suggested, in keeping with its then modernist approach, that there were linguistic subdisciplines and insights that might readily be "applied" in the design of language teaching. This perspective did not endure, however, but the modernist pretence that "science" would show the way to the ultimate solution to language teaching design did. The current definition offered by the international applied linguistics organisation (AILA), for example, does nothing to dispel this pretence. There is a second historical reason for the continuing linkage of linguistics and applied linguistics. This is that some linguists, especially those working on sociolinguistic themes and interests, at one stage felt uncomfortable within the confines of linguistics, and so opted to work rather as "applied linguists". The historically dominant linguistic paradigm of the end of the 20th century, transformational-generative grammar (TGG), defined linguistics in such a way that their work was unwelcome in that discipline. However, while it may explain the organisational or institutional choice of another disciplinary locality, such discomfort does not warrant the suspension of conceptual clarity as to the character or the theoretical focus of both disciplines.
A third reason for the lack of conceptual clarity about the disciplinary focus of applied linguistics lies in the vagueness that accompanies current callsfor multi- or inter-disciplinarity. In fact, one of the dissenting opinions among those being reviewed contains an observation that those who urge applied linguists to embrace an inter-disciplinary base are merely attempting to persuade them to use philosophically inspired postmodernist paradigms that are already operative in otherfields, such as anthropology and sociology. Embracing the same methodology or paradigm acrossfields is a trans-disciplinary rather than a multi-disciplinary endeavour. The fact is that inter- or multi-disciplinarity, when left undefined, gives no clear conceptual understanding or guide to how one should or might legitimately or even appropriately proceed as applied linguist.
The question might be asked why one would in the first instance want to have a clear idea of the disciplinary boundaries of a field. Might working in an undefined manner not perhaps be more exciting, creative or productive? The renewed current attempts to define applied linguistics imply, however, that its practitioners do seek clarity, and do in fact value it. Moreover, if one s conceptualisation of a field is not clear, then naïve, unsophisticated or intuitive interpretations of what its work comprises may continue to flourish to the detriment of the quality ofwhat it can deliver. The paper will conclude with a consideration of why disciplinary definitions matter, and of how modernist and postmodernist conceptualisations of linguistics and of applied linguistics have effects on the work being done under their respective umbrellas. Paradigm choice and disciplinary awareness are central in avoiding becoming a victim of intellectual fashion, or of naïve interpretations of the nature of one's work.
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'n Aantal onlangse besprekings gee blyke van hernieude ongemak in die toegepaste taalkunde met betrekking tot hoe die veld gedefinieer behoort te word, watter rigting dit moet inslaan, watter fokusse legitiem is vir sy dissiplinêre werk, watter temas aangespreek moet word, en welke metodologieë aangewend moet word. Hierdie bydrae fokus op die wyse waarop die huidig toonaangewende, laat-postmodernistiese paradigma in die toegepaste taalkunde die uitdagings wat afkomstig is vanuit die postmodernisme self, maar ook van buite die postmodernisme, hanteer of ignoreer. Uit die reaksie daarop is dit duidelik dat die siening van die toegepaste taalkunde as die hantering van taalkwessies of –praktyke dit moelik maak om dit te onderskei van die linguistiek, selfs waar die toegepaste taalkunde ietwat kontradiktories homself tegelyk beroem op sy multi-of interdissiplinêre aard. Dit is verder noodsaaklik om te onderskei tussen die invloed van ander dissiplines op die toegepaste taalkunde en die filosofiese paradigmas wat werksaam is in daardie ander dissiplines. Die belyning van paradigmas oor vakgrense heen kan maklik aangesien word vir interdissiplinêre invloed, wat dit nie is nie. Gegewe die huidige ongemak met 'n postmodernistiese aanpak, asook die versugting om aan te beweeg, weg van sy relativisme en politieke agendas, is dit verstaanbaar dat die poststrukturalisme 'n besondere teoretiese regverdiging mag bied vir die laat-postmodernisme. Die een probleem met daardie verweer is die telkens robuuste afwysing van ander postmodernistiese aanpakke, tesame met die implikasie dat die poststrukturalisme die suiwerste vorm daarvan is. Die invloedrykheid van die poststrukturalisme kom dit dus duur te staan: dit beteken dat potensiële bondgenote verwerp word. Terwyl dit nog kan bydra tot die meer verantwoordelike ontwerp van toegepaste taalkundige intervensies, bly die meer duursame bydrae wat dit kan maak steeds die klem te wees wat dit plaas op veral die politiese en etiese dimensies van toegepaste taalkundige werk.
definition of academic literacy, changing our conceptualisations of what academic literacy is. Yet two issues have evaded scrutiny: first, there is the
uncritical acceptance that academic writing is what should be taught, and
institutionalised. Second, there is a tendency to accept discipline specific academic literacy courses as necessarily superior to generic ones. There is a third, foundational level omission in our work. That is that there is little reciprocity in what we learn from applied linguistic artefacts in the realms of language testing, language course design, and language policy making. Why do we not check whether the design of a course should be done as responsibly as that of a test? What can test designers learn from course developers about specificity? There are many useful questions that
are right before us, but that we never seem to ask.
and this blueprint determines what it is that will be measured. The University of
Pretoria has, since 2000, annually administered a test of academic language
proficiency to more than 6000 first-time students. The intention of this test is to
identify those who are at risk academically as a result of too low a level of academic
language proficiency. If their academic literacy levels are too low, students are
required to enrol for a set of four courses in order to minimise their risk of failure.
The Unit for Language Skills Development at the University of Pretoria has now
embarked on a project to design an alternative test to the one used initially,
specifically with a view to basing it on a new construct. The reason is that the
construct of the current test has become contested over the last decade as a result
of its dependence on an outdated concept of language, which equates language
ability with knowledge of sound, vocabulary, form, and meaning. Present-day
concepts emphasise a much richer view of language competence, and their focus
has, moreover, shifted from discrete language skills to the attainment of academic
literacy. In this paper the abilities encompassed by this view will be discussed in
order to compare the construct of the current test with the proposed construct.
Keywords: language testing; academic literacy; test constructs; accountability