Questions (Week 9)

Dear all,

Here are my questions for the articles we are going to study today:

QUESTIONS:

Article I:

1.From your point of view, which factors could lead to gender-related bias in language assessment?

2.Taking the arguments put foward by Brown and McNamara (2004), could you discuss the fundamental flaw in current research on gender and language testing?

3. Do you think what kinds of variables need to be paid heed to remedy the flaw in current studies investigating gender effects in language testing?

4. In light of the information given about research on gender and language assessment, could you discuss the authors’ stance towards investigating gender effects in language assessment outcomes?

Article II:

1. Davis and Skilton-Sylvester (2004) state that there appears to be a general shift from essentialist and positivist models to constructivist approach in the field of second language acquisition. Taking this statement into account, how do you evaluate the attitudes of current materials (i.e. coursebooks, other supplementary teaching aids used in the language classroom) towards the issue of gender? Do you think it is still possible to observe the traces of male/female dichotomy?

2. When you compare poststructuralist, critical-feminist research paradigm to positivist, postpositivist research tradition, from your point of view, in what ways does the first approach differ from the latter? Could you discuss the contributions of the framework in the first group to SLA research in general and ESOL pedagogy in particular?