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Part of
Digital Social Reading and Second Language Learning and Teaching
Edited by Joshua J. Thoms and Kristen Michelson
[AILA Applied Linguistics Series 21] 2024
► pp. 128–152

Chapter 6
Digital social reading annotations as evidence of L2 proficiency

| Michigan State University
| Utah State University
In this chapter, we put forth an exploratory approach for using digital social reading (DSR) tools and activities to develop and implement performance-based assessments. We argue that by planning tasks for assessment purposes within an assessment for learning framework, second language (L2) educators can systematically collect formative data to make better evaluations of student proficiency levels. In addition, we demonstrate how DSR tools can facilitate this approach to classroom-based assessments. Drawing on data collected from two earlier studies in Chinese L2 classrooms, we demonstrate how engagement with DSR tools can provide evidence of reading proficiency at different levels. We also provide recommendations for designing DSR tasks using the evidence-centered design framework (Yin & Mislevy, 2021) and illustrate how these tasks can be expanded into Integrated Performance Assessments that evaluate other modes of communication, in addition to interpretive reading.
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Literature review
    • L2 assessment issues
    • Aligning assessments to standards
    • Digital social reading
  • Methods
    • Participants
    • Procedures
    • Sample responses at multiple proficiency levels
      • Novice example — Heather
      • Intermediate example  — Kelly
      • Advanced example — Trevor
  • Limitations
  • Designing for a purpose with the evidence-centered design framework
  • Integrated performance assessments
  • Conclusion
  • References
This content is being prepared for publication; it may be subject to changes.
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