Literacy Books

Book SynopsisPublic debates on the benefits and dangers of mass literacy prompted nineteenth-century British authors to write about illiteracy. Since the early twentieth century writers outside Europe have paid increasing attention to the subject as a measure both of cultural dependence and independence. So far literary studies has taken little notice of this. The Non-Literate Other: Readings of Illiteracy in Twentieth-Century Novels in English offers explanations for this lack of interest in illiteracy amongst scholars of literature, and attempts to remedy this neglect by posing the question of how writers use their literacy to write about a condition radically unlike their own. Answers to this question are given in the analysis of nineteen works featuring illiterates yet never before studied for doing so. The book explores the scriptlessness of Neanderthals in William Golding, of barbarians in Angela Carter, David Malouf, and J.M. Coetzee, of African natives in Joseph Conrad and Chinua Achebe, of Maoris in Patricia Grace and Chippewas in Louise Erdrich, of fugitive or former slaves and their descendants in Richard Wright, Toni Morrison, and Ernest Gaines, of Untouchables in Mulk Raj Anand and Salman Rushdie, and of migrants in Maxine Hong Kingston, Joy Kogawa, and Amy Tan. In so doing it conveys a clear sense of the complexity and variability of the phenomenon of non-literacy as well as its fictional resourcefulness.Table of ContentsAcknowledgements Introduction I. Illiteracy as a Theoretical Anathema II. Illiteracy as a Literary Theme III. The Non-Literate Without: Unlettered Calibans in Distant Europe IV. The Non-Literate in Sight: The Unlettered Native in Contact Narratives Early Contacts in Fictional Africa Later Contacts in New Zealand and North America V. The Non-Literate Within: Established Forms of Non-Literacy in Literate Cultures Illiteracy Forged by the Indian Caste System Black Illiteracy Forged by Slavery and Racism VI. The Illiterate Returned: Illiteracy in Migrant Literature Closing Remarks Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisThis volume addresses the broad theme and specific topics associated with current thinking in the field of language testing and assessment. The volume offers •multiple perspectives on the ‘what’ (the ‘trait’) of languages, and the ‘how’ (‘the method’) of assessment •multiple approaches developed for assessment especially given the multiplicity of languages used by many diverse groups of learners in many different contexts •focus on the societal roles of language testers, their responsibility to be socially accountable and to ensure ethicality and professionalism •focus on language testing in multilingual and diverse contexts This is one of ten volumes of the Encyclopedia of Language and Education published by Springer. The Encyclopedia bears testimony to the dynamism and evolution of the language and education field, as it confronts the ever-burgeoning and irrepressible linguistic diversity and ongoing pressures and expectations placed on education around the world.Table of ContentsGeneral Editor’s Introduction / Nancy H. Hornberger Introduction to volume 7: Language Testing and Assessment / Elana Shohamy Contributors Reviewers Section 1: Assessing Language Domains 1. Assessing Oral and Literate Abilities / Alister Cumming 2. Assessment in Multilingual Societies / Rama Mathew 3. Assessing Communicative Language Ability: Models and their Components / James E. Purpura 4. Assessment at the Workplace / Kieran O’Loughlin 5. Testing Aptitude for Second Language Learning / Charles Stansfield and Paula Winke Section 2: Methods of Assessment 7. Alternative Assessment / Janna Fox 8. Task and Performance Based Assessment / Gillian Wigglesworth 9. Utilizing Technology in Language Assessment / Carol A. Chapelle 10. Large Scale Language Assessments / Antony John Kunnan 11. Criteria for Evaluating Language Quality / Glenn Fulcher 12. Methods of Test Validation / Xiaoming Xi 13. Utilizing Qualitative Methods for Assessment / Anne Lazaraton 14. Utilizing Psychometric Methods in Assessment / Micheline Chalhoub-Deville and Craig Deville 15. Training in Language Assessment / Margaret E. Malone 16. Using Corpora for Language Assessment / Lynda Taylor and Fiona Barker Section 3: Assessment in Education 17. Classroom-based Language Assessment / Pauline Rea-Dickins 18. Dynamic Assessment / James P. Lantolf and Matthew E. Poehner 19. Language Assessment Culture / Ofra Inbar-Lourie 20. Assessing Second/Additional Language of Diverse Populations / Constant Leung and Jo Lewkowicz 21. Assessment in Indigenous Language Programmes / Cath Rau 22. Utilizing Accommodations in Assessment / Jamal Abedi 23. Washback, Impact and Consequences / Liying Cheng 24. Educational Reform and Language Testing / Geoff Brindley 25. Assessing the Language of Young Learners / Alison L. Bailey Section 4: Assessment in Society 26. High-States Tests as de facto Language Education Policies / Kate Menken 27. The Socio-political and Power Dimensions of Tests / Tim McNamara 28. Ethics, Professionalism, Rights and Codes / Alan Davies 29. Language Assessment in Historical and Future Perspective / Bernard Spolsky Subject Index Name Index

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