Assignment Submission

Please Note: The assignment submission process has changed.

All assignments must be uploaded in iLearn on due dates. You need to login into iLearn and upload your assignment file there.

Please do NOT submit the assignment in hardcopy.

For each assignment, you must:

• submit the assignment in Word or RTF format
• fill in and include the cover sheet provided on the Linguistics web site. Follow the links from:  http://www.ling.mq.edu.au/support/coversheet.htm
• add a footer to each page of the assignment, with page numbering, your name and student number, and “APPL924” clearly marked
• type double-spaced
• use the appropriate file name for the attachment (see below).

Assignments will not be accepted unless they have both the cover sheet and the footer. Please paste the coversheet in as the first page of your assignment – do not send it as a separate file. You do not need to print and scan the coversheet, just fill in your name and details on the electronic copy.

Assignments submitted electronically will be marked and returned electronically.

Please submit assignments one time only unless specifically requested.

Subject headers

When uploading assignments, please use the subject headings:

• APPL924 ass1
• APPL924 ass2
• APPL924 ass3

a) Unless students have negotiated an extension based on documented evidence of significant disruption to their studies, a penalty of 5% per day will apply to late submission of assignments. 

b) Again, unless otherwise negotiated, assignments will not be accepted at all AFTER the date on which the marked assignments are returned to all students in the unit. 

Note that you must keep a copy of each assignment as proof that it was completed and submitted, just in case the submitted assignment is misplaced or damaged.

4d. Return of Marked Assignments

Students’ marked assignments will, in general, be returned to them within 2 to 4 weeks of submission. Please note that assignments cannot be accepted after the return of marked materials. Marked assignments may be sent to you by email to your students@mq address or, they may be returned through iLearn system.

Delivery and Resources

3a. Teaching and Learning Strategies

This unit is offered both face-to-face and online. The face-to-face mode will include weekly lectures and on-campus students must attend classes. Online mode covers the same topics as listed in the unit schedule and distance students must access and read unit materials and perform learning activities from folders in iLearn. Both internal, on-campus, and external students are encouraged to participate in online discussion of the topics and post their reflections in general “Forum”. They are also urged to use “Glossary” to post their concise definition of key terms and concepts related to language testing and assessment.

3c. Required and Recommended Texts and/or Materials

The required textbook for this unit is:

Hughes, A. (2008) (7^th printing). Testing for language teachers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

This book provides a general introduction to the field of language testing and is aimed at language teaching practitioners.

In addition to the required textbook, some journal articles and book chapters related to the topics covered in the unit are recommended.

As a Macquarie University student you are entitled to access a variety of sources including journal articles through the library’s page: http://www.mq.edu.au/on_campus/library/

Recommended other texts:

References with asterisks will be available on e-reserve and seven day loan.

Alderson, J. C. (2000). Assessing reading. Cambridge: CUP. (Chapter 3)

*Bachman, L. (1990). Fundamental considerations in language testing. Oxford: Oxford University Press. (Chapter 3)

Bachman, L., & Palmer, A. (1996). Language testing in practice: Designing and developing useful language tests. Oxford: Oxford University Press. (Chapter 2)

Brown, H.D. (2004). Language assessment: Principles and classroom practices. London: Longman.

Brown, J.D. (2005). Testing in language programs. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall Regents.

Fulcher, G., & Davidson, F. (2007). Language testing and assessment: An advanced resource book. New York: Routledge.

Gottlieb, M., & Nguyen, D. (2007). Assessment and accountability in language education programs. Philadelphia, PA: Caslon Publishing.

Henning, G. (1987). A guide to language testing. Cambridge, MA: Newbury House.

Luoma, S. (2004). Assessing speaking. Cambridge: CUP. (Chapter 7)

*McNamara, T. (2000). Language testing. Oxford: Oxford University Press. (Chapter 7)

*McNamar, T., & Roever, C. (2006). Language testing: The social dimension. Malden, MA: Blackwell. (Chapter 2)

*Weigle, S. C. (2002). Assessing writing. Cambridge: CUP. (Chapter 5)

Recommended articles:

*Brindley, G. (1998). Assessing listening abilities. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 18: 171-191.

*Brindley, G. (2013). Task-based language testing. In C.A. Chapelle (ed.), The encyclopaedia of applied linguistics. Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Accessible online from MQ online library.

Brown, J.D. (2004). Performance assessment. Second Language Studies, 22(2), 91-139.

Celce-Murcia, M., Dornyei, Z., & Thurrell, S. (1995). Communicative competence: A pedagogically motivated model with content specifications. Issues in Applied Linguistics, 6(2), 5-35.

*Davidson, F. (2013). Test specification. In C.A. Chapelle (ed.), The encyclopaedia of applied linguistics. Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Accessible online from MQ online library.

*Ginther, A. (2013). Assessment of speaking. In C.A. Chapelle (ed.), The encyclopaedia of applied linguistics. Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Accessible online from MQ online library.

*Ham-Lyons, L. (2000). Social, professional and individual responsibility in language testing. System, 28, 579-591.

*Koda, K. (2013). Assessment of reading. In C.A. Chapelle (ed.), The encyclopaedia of applied linguistics. Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Accessible online from MQ online library.

Language Testing (2002) (Special Issue). Task-based language assessment.

*Ockey, G.J. (2013). Assessment of listening. In C.A. Chapelle (ed.), The encyclopaedia of applied linguistics. Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Accessible online from MQ online library.

*Weigle, S. (2013). Assessment of writing. In C.A. Chapelle (ed.), The encyclopaedia of applied linguistics. Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Accessible online from MQ online library.

5. POLICIES

5a. University Policy on Grading

Academic Senate has a set of guidelines on the distribution of grades across the range from fail to high distinction.  Your final result will include one of these grades plus a standardised numerical grade (SNG). 

The following descriptions apply to assessment grades:

HD  High Distinction  85-100: denotes performance which meets all unit objectives in such an exceptional way and with such marked excellence that it deserves the highest level of recognition.  

D  Distinction  75-84: denotes performance which clearly deserves a very high level of recognition as an excellent achievement in the unit.  

Cr  Credit  65-74: denotes performance which is substantially better than would normally be expected of competent students in the unit.

P  Pass  50-64: denotes performance which satisfies unit objectives.  

F  Fail  0-49: denotes that a candidate has failed to complete a unit satisfactorily.

Please note that

1. The above grades and descriptions apply to undergraduate degrees, postgraduate coursework degrees, diploma and graduate certificate programs
2. Marks assigned in assignments are raw marks. These are subsequently converted into Standard Numerical Grades (SNG) in order to determine letter grades for the unit.

On occasion the SNG which you receive may not be the same as the total of your marks for each assessment item. Under the Senate guidelines, results may be scaled to ensure that there is a degree of comparability across the university, so that units with the same past performances of their students should achieve similar results.

The process of scaling does not change the order of marks among students.

For an explanation of the policy see -

http://www.mq.edu.au/policy/docs/grading/policy.html

http://senate.mq.edu.au/rules/detailedguidelines.doc

5b. Plagiarism

Plagiarism is considered to be extremely serious by the Department and the University. Students who submit plagiarised material will most likely receive zero. All assignments are scanned on a database and compared with other assignments (past and present) and with content on the internet.

Please refer to the Linguistics Department’s policy on plagiarism at http://www.ling.mq.edu.au/support/policies_plagiarism.htm  and to Macquarie University’s policy at http://www.mq.edu.au/policy/docs/academic_honesty/policy.html

It is expected that you will be familiar with the department’s policy before you begin work on the assignments.

As a good student, you are responsible for ensuring academic integrity practices are followed at all times. Your first step is to read the University's Academic Honesty Policy, and make sure you know what constitutes good practice. Then make sure you know how to reference and cite correctly. There are other practices we need to consider, and one of these is the potential for collusion.

Informal study groups are encouraged as a good way to assist your learning, but please remember that all your independently assessed assignments must be totally independently completed. Unless you are doing a group project where each member contributes to producing one piece of work, for which you get the one mark, using part or all of someone else's work constitutes collusion and breaches the University's Academic Honesty policy.

Do not collude with any other student by selling, giving, lending, explaining or showing all or parts of your independently assessed work/answers/past or current assignments, and do not ask to buy, borrow, see and use all or parts of the work of another student.