This research conducted diagnostic assessment of problems in first-year undergraduates’ English academic papers and tracked potential sources of the problems to the writing process and strategy use. Data collected include 339 term papers and interviews with 17 students. The samples were manually error tagged and marked against a detailed diagnostic checklist. The resultant textual features were then compared between two subgroups of Chinese students in the sample, namely, those graduating from local schools in Hong Kong (LS) and those coming from the mainland and sojourning in Hong Kong (MS). The analyses found both groups had the poorest performance in source integration and vocabulary use. LS used simpler words and made more grammatical errors, whereas MS attempted sophisticated vocabulary more successfully and used a wider variety of words and sentence structures. The difficulties they experienced, however, were rather similar, residing mainly at the researching, planning and formulating stages. Action control theory was introduced to interpret the self-regulatory strategies they adopted to cope with perceived difficulties during the writing process. Strategies to control goals, control resources, and control cognitive load were found to be the most typical. While these strategies could reduce their difficulties, only some seemed also to help with performance. A conceptual framework is proposed at the end to link writing products, process and self-regulatory control strategies as evidenced in the study. Four diagnoses are drawn with suggestions for practice and further research.本項研究對大學一年級本科生英語學術論文寫作中存在的問題進行了診斷性評估，並通過審視寫作過程和策略使用，追蹤了問題的可能來源。收集的資料包括339篇學期論文和十七次學生訪談。研究人員對所有文本進行了詳細的錯誤標記，然後系統地比較了來自香港本地學校 (LS) 和來自大陸並在香港求學的中國學生 (MS) 這兩個組別的文本。比較發現，兩組學生都在文獻整合和詞彙使用方面表現最差。 LS的文本中使用了更多的簡單詞彙，語法錯誤也更多，而MS運用了較多的複雜詞彙，單詞和句子結構變化也較為多樣。就寫作過程而言，兩組學生遇到的困難很相似，主要存在於1) 對寫作內容進行研究，收集整理和消化資料，2) 制定寫作計畫，和 3) 撰寫這三個階段。研究應用了行為控制理論來分析寫作中的策略使用，結果發現策略主要用於控制目標，資源和認知負荷。這些策略雖然可以幫助學生減輕困難，但只有少數有助於提高文本品質。基於本研究的發現

This article describes the steps we went through in designing and validating an item bank to diagnose linguistic problems in the English academic writing of university students in Hong Kong. Test items adopt traditional item formats (e.g., MCQ, grammatical judgment tasks, and error correction) but are based on authentic language materials extracted from a manually error-tagged corpus of target students' essays. A total of 257 items were developed to assess 25 high-frequency and grave linguistic errors. To validate test items and calibrate their psychometric qualities, four parallel tests were assembled and given to 338 students. Rasch modeling was conducted to examine item dimensionality, DIF sizes, fit indices, reliability, and difficulty. The results supported the validity and reliability of the remaining 219 items in the bank. Moreover, we investigated the effects of item formats and target errors on item difficulty and item-measure correlations and the relations amongst error difficulty error frequency and prevalence. The item bank approach to developing diagnostic tests was found useful insofar as it provided more precise information about knowledge gaps than the corpus-based textual analysis and had the potential to pinpoint high priority areas for remedial instruction. Copyright © Routledge.

A central issue in language testing is the choice of norms, and the need to reconcile notions of "standard" English with local language norms and features. Data from studies of international intelligibility indicate that some features of "standard" language descriptions, based on native-speaker language use, are not essential for successful communication. A specific question in test design is thus the extent to which descriptors and rater decisions reflect native-speaker, as opposed to local, language norms. This article takes a case study approach by focusing on a speaking test used in Hong Kong. It analyses published examiner comments from 12 examination sessions between 2003 and 2011 and compares them with criteria for international intelligibility. It also analyses the distribution of the comments among various segmental and suprasegmental phonological categories and relates this to intelligibility research and to theoretical considerations. The study critically evaluates the concept of "intelligibility" and considers its relevance for language testing, and revisits certain aspects of the "local norms" debate. The findings of the study suggest that what examiners notice is generally also what is important for international intelligibility, although the importance of certain suprasegmental features is questionable from an intelligibility standpoint.
[Copyright of Language Assessment Quarterly is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15434303.2013.824974]

This study, which is part of a large-scale study of using objective measures to validate assessment rating scales and assessment tasks in a high-profile school-based assessment initiative in Hong Kong, examined how grammatical complexity measures relate to task type and analytic evaluations of students' speaking proficiency in a classroom-based assessment context. An in-depth analysis of oral performance on two different assessment tasks (i.e., monologic vs. interactive) from 30 English as a Second Language, Cantonese-mother-tongue, secondary school students was conducted using a range of measures of grammatical complexity derived from the previous second language (L2) speaking and writing studies. Results showed that the individual presentation task tended to promote not only a greater number of T-units, clauses, verb phrases, and words but also longer T-units and utterances, thus probably stretching learners more in terms of complexity of grammatical and lexical processing. Results also showed that complexity measures recommended as among the most useful complexity measures demonstrated no significant correlations with analytic ratings of learner speaking proficiency. These findings were then discussed in light of the complex, dynamic, and developmental nature of grammatical complexity as well as in light of a learner-, task-, and L2 form-sensitive account of L2 oral production.
[Copyright of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15434303.2010.516041]

Many children around the globe are learning English as a foreign language, especially in Asia. Numbers of participants and development of programs are increasing rapidly, as is a commercial testing movement targeted toward assessing this group of young learners. For example, the popular Cambridge Young Learners English test series has had more than 360,000 young testers globally (Cambridge ESOL Examinations, 2004, 2007). Published research on assessment for young learners has focused on developing reliable and appropriate assessment instruments at school or national levels, but little work has focused on the private uses of commercial international language tests for children. Reporting on a 3-year project investigating Hong Kong young learners' participation in commercial international language test taking and preparation, this article explores stakeholders' perceptions on the practice in order to examine the social consequences. The project adopted a multimethod qualitative approach with data including interviews with stakeholders from the education and commercial sectors, classroom observations, participant observation in online parenting forums, and documentary research on media coverage and advertisements. Our findings suggested that in lieu of clear and perceived fairness in their own education system, stakeholders were using language tests as a grassroots movement to gain access to material educational resources.
[Copyright of Language Assessment Quarterly is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15434303.2010.537417]

In recent years, the emphasis in second language (L2) oral proficiency assessment has shifted from linguistic accuracy to discourse strategies such as the ability to initiate, respond, and negotiate meaning. This has resulted in a growing interest in the discourse analysis of students' performance in different oral proficiency assessment formats. The study reported in this article represents an attempt to investigate students' discourse performance in L2 oral proficiency assessments conducted in the form of peer group interactions in Hong Kong. Forty-three female Hong Kong secondary students were involved. Findings from a qualitative discourse analysis of the students' interaction data supplemented with data from interviews and a questionnaire reveal the emergence of a test-task specific genre featuring recurrent frames of talk for task management, content delivery, and response giving. These frames were characterized by discourse features that seem to be ritualized, contrived, and colluded. Such interaction practices suggest a strong desire on the part of the students to maintain the impression of being effective interlocutors for scoring purposes rather than for authentic communication. Implications for test construct validity and the impact on the students' L2 oral proficiency development are discussed.
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In recent decades, with an increasing application of computer technology to the delivery of oral language proficiency assessment, there have been renewed debates over the appropriateness of two different testing modes, namely, (a) face-to-face, or direct, testing, and (b) person-to-machine, or semi-direct, testing. Previous research conducted in various geographical regions has produced mixed results as to which format is more acceptable to test takers. The present investigation, carried out in the context of a university setting in Hong Kong, compared the popularity of two testing modes by analyzing reactions and perceptions of a group of test takers who had just sat for a direct test as well as a semi-direct test. The results indicate that, although a large proportion of the participants had no particular preference in terms of the testing mode, the number of participants who strongly favored direct testing far exceeded the number strongly favoring semi-direct testing. The participants' main reason cited for disliking semi-direct testing was its inability for the examiner and examinee to interact during the test, which appears to have created a psychological barrier for the test taker.
[Copyright of Language Assessment Quarterly is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15434300902800059]

Grading, feedback, and reporting of student achievement are key elements that support learning. This article reports an interview study on a range of English as a Second or Foreign Language (ESL/EFL) teachers' classroom assessment practices at the tertiary level in Canada, Hong Kong, and China. The interviews focused on teachers' use of marking criteria, student involvement in classroom assessment decisions and activities, and reporting procedures. The results demonstrate how these teachers make day-to-day decisions in these three contexts, thus adding to our understanding of ESL/EFL classroom assessment practices.
[Copyright of Language Assessment Quarterly is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15434300701348409]