A range of tests of academic literacy
As founder and chairperson of ICELDA, a partnership of four South African universities, I spearheaded the development of a range of tests of academic literacy.
These tests all measure a construct that relies on a definition of academic literacy that is widely accepted and has been thoroughly researched, reconsidered and used in academic literacy designs.
The following tests are the result of the joint efforts of various teams:
- TALL – Test of Academic Literacy Levels
- TAG – Toets van Akademiese Geletterdheidsvlakke
- TAGNaS – Toets van Akademiese Geletterdheid vir Nagraadse Studente
- TAL – Test of Academic Literacy for Prospective Students of Nursing
- TALPS – Test of Academic Literacy for Postgraduate Students
- TEL – Test of Emergent Literacy for 5-6 year olds
- TEAL – Test of Early Academic Literacy
- TALA – Test of Advanced Language Ability
- Test of academic literacy for disaster management at postgraduate level
- Test of academic literacy for certified financial planners
Testing professional communication in the workplace
With Language Courses and Tests (LCaT), I have designed, developed and implemented two tests, in English and Afrikaans, of professional communication for call centre employees. Equivalent tests for other South African languages are in the pipeline.
APLAC– Assessment of Professional Language Capacity
Publications
Items marked with the Adobe icon are either ‘open access’ or accepted manuscripts prior to publication, and can be downloaded freely.
BOOKS AND BOOK CHAPTERS
Assessing Academic Literacy in a Multilingual Society: Transition and Transformation [2021]
Edited by: Albert Weideman, John Read, Theo du Plessis
The focus of this book is on procedures for assessing the academic language and literacy levels and needs of students in South Africa not in order to exclude students from higher education but rather to identify those who would benefit from further development of their ability in order to undertake their degree studies successfully. The volume also aims to bring the innovative solutions designed by South African educators to a wider international audience.
| CITATION |
| Weideman, A., Read, J., & Du Plessis, L.T. (Eds.) 2021. Assessing academic literacy in a multilingual society: Transition and transformation. (New Perspectives on Language and Education; no. 84.) Bristol: Multilingual Matters. |
The refinement of the idea of consequential validity within an alternative framework for responsible test design [Book chapter]
Albert Weideman
The problematic secondary school exit-level examinations for home languages in South Africa illustrate a dilemma with high-stakes assessments. In order to resolve it, the refinement of the idea of consequential validity (Messick) is considered. An alternative conceptualisation of the principles that inform the design of language tests may mitigate the potentially negative social and economic impact of high-stakes language tests.
| CITATION |
| Weideman, A. 2016.The refinement of the idea of consequential validity within an alternative framework for responsible test design. In: Allan, Julie and Artiles, Alfredo J. (Eds.) World yearbook of education 2017: assessment inequalities. London: Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group. |
Construct refinement in tests of academic literacy [Book chapter]
Albert Weideman, Rebecca Patterson, Anna Pot
Using the characteristic feature of academic discourse as a criterion can help refine the current test construct of academic literacy tests that are widely used in South Africa, such as TALL, TAG (the Afrikaans counterpart of TALL), and TALPS, as well as a new test of academic literacy for Sesotho. Post-entry tests of language ability (PELAs) can also be utilised more efficiently, as a recent analysis of diagnostic information from TALPS has shown.
| CITATION |
| Weideman, A., Patterson, R. & Pot, A. 2016. Construct refinement in tests of academic literacy. In: Read, J. (Editor). Post-admission language assessment of university students. Cham: Springer, Chapter 9, pp. 179-196. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-39192-2_9. |
Telling the story of a test: the Test of Academic Literacy for Postgraduate Students (TALPS) [Book chapter]
Avasha Rambiritch, Albert Weideman
In telling the story of TALPS, and in highlighting how issues of fairness have been considered seriously in its design and use, we hope to answer a key question that all test designers need to ask: Have we, as test designers, succeeded in designing a socially acceptable, fair and responsible test?
| CITATION |
| Rambiritch A. & Weideman, A. 2016. Telling the story of a test: the Test of Academic Literacy for Postgraduate Students (TALPS). In: Read, J. (Editor). Post-admission language assessment of university students. Cham: Springer, Chapter 10, pp. 197-216. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-39192-2_10. |
Academic literacy: Five new tests
Albert Weideman
A workbook of practice tests and answers for prospective university students to prepare them for any test of academic and quantitative literacy (AQL) required by a university.
INTRODUCTION: Academic literacy: Why is it important?
| CITATION |
| Weideman, A. 2018. Academic literacy: Why is it important? [Introduction]. In: Academic literacy: Five new tests. Bloemfontein: Geronimo, p. ii-x. |
ARTICLES, PAPERS, THESES
Various aspects of language tests developed in South Africa have been scrutinized by scholars in books, theses and accredited journals, not only in South Africa, but elsewhere as well.
For a list of articles, papers and theses, please visit the NExLA Bibliography. NExLA (Network of Expertise in Language Assessment) was established in June 2017.
My top publications on test design
Weideman, Albert. 2021. Context, construct, and validation: A perspective from South Africa. Language Assessment Quarterly, DOI: 10.1080/15434303.2020.1860991.
Weideman, Albert. 2019b. Degrees of adequacy: the disclosure of levels of validity in language assessment. Koers: Bulletin for Christian Scholarship 84(1): 1-15. DOI: 10.19108/KOERS.84.1.2451.
Weideman, Albert. 2019c. Validation and the further disclosures of language test design. Bulletin for Christian Scholarship 84(1): 1-10. DOI: 10.19108/KOERS.84.1.2452.
Weideman, Albert. 2017. Does responsibility encompass ethicality and accountability in language assessment? Language & Communication, 9p. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.langcom.2016.12.004.
Weideman, A. & Pot, A. 2015. Diagnosing academic language ability: An analysis of the Test of Academic Literacy for Postgraduate Students. Language Matters 46(1): 22-43. DOI: 10.1080/10228195.2014.986665.
Weideman, A. & Patterson, R. 2013. The typicality of academic discourse and its relevance for constructs of academic literacy. Journal for Language Teaching 47(1): 107-123. DOI: 10.4314/jlt.v47i1.5
Weideman, A. & Patterson, R. 2013. The refinement of a construct for tests of academic literacy. Journal for Language Teaching 47(1): 125-151. DOI: 10.4314/jlt.v47i1.6
Weideman, A. 2012. Validation and validity beyond Messick. Per Linguam 28(2): 1-14. DOI: 10.5785/28-2-526
Weideman, A. 2011. Academic literacy tests: design, development, piloting and refinement. Journal for Language Teaching 45(2): 100-113.
Weideman, A. & Le, P.L. & Du Plessis, C.L. 2011. Test and context: The use of the Test of Academic Literacy Levels (TALL) at a tertiary institution in Vietnam. Journal for Language Teaching 45(2): 115-131.
Weideman, A. 2009. Constitutive and regulative conditions for the assessment of academic literacy. Southern African Linguistics and Applied Language Studies (Special issue: Assessing and developing academic literacy) 27(3): 235-251. DOI: 10.2989/SALALS.2009.27.3.3.937. See Alan Davies’s commentary on this article.
Weideman, A. & Van der Slik, F. 2009. Examining bias in a test of academic literacy: does the Test of Academic Literacy Levels (TALL) treat students from English and African language backgrounds differently? Journal for Language Teaching 44(2): 106-118. DOI: 10.4314/jlt.v44i2.71793.
Weideman, A. 2006. Assessing academic literacy: A task-based approach. Language Matters 37(1): 81-101. DOI: 10.1080/10228190608566253
Albert Weideman 