ASILE CONFERENCE 2016

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Presenter

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Michelle Kohler

ASILE conference presentation:
Individual Paper
The potential of alternative assessment in a paradigma baru

Abstract
An intercultural capability is increasingly recognised as a fundamental goal of second language learning (Byram 1997, 2012; Kramsch 1993, 2006; Liddicoat et al 2003; Liddicoat & Scarino 2013). Indeed, the recently developed Australian Curriculum claims an intercultural orientation in its design and underlying construct. Attempts such as this to move beyond theorising an intercultural approach inevitability raise issues of implementation, including the thorny issue of assessment. 

If an intercultural perspective is worthwhile, then we need to consider the area of assessment as the aspect of practice where we attribute value to student learning. There is a real conundrum however in that the construct of intercultural language learning does not readily lend itself to traditional assessment understandings and practices that tend to emphasise measurement and objectivity (Deardorff 2011, 2016; Sercu 2010; Scarino 2010; Domingo 2015). It is timely therefore to consider a new paradigm for language assessment and explore what alternative assessment may be able to offer.

This paper reports on preliminary work exploring the potential of principles of alternative assessment in designing tasks from an intercultural language learning perspective. The participants are second year learners of Indonesian in an Australian university, and the data comprises samples of students’ work. The discussion will focus on considerations in designing and implementing alternative assessment processes and the potential of these for shaping a paradigma baru, both in languages assessment and in Indonesian language teaching.

References - click here

​Biodata 
Michelle Kohler is Senior Lecturer in Languages Education and Indonesian at Flinders University. Her research interests are second/foreign language teaching and learning from an intercultural perspective, languages curriculum and assessment design and implementation, and Indonesian language education. 
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​Contact Details
Dr. Michelle Kohler
Flinders University

http://www.flinders.edu.au/people/michelle.kohler


E: [email protected]