front cover of Adam Smith
Adam Smith
The Rhetoric of Propriety
Stephen J. McKenna
Southern Illinois University Press, 2006

front cover of Algebraic Semantics in Language and Philosophy
Algebraic Semantics in Language and Philosophy
Godehard Link
CSLI, 1997
The philosophical approach of this volume is mainly structuralist, using logical tools to investigate the formal structure of various kinds of objects in our world, as characterised by language and as systematised by philosophy. This volume mainly analyses the structural properties of collections or pluralities (with applications to the philosophy of set theory), homogeneous objects like water, and the semantics and philosophy of events. This book thereby complements algebraic work that has been done on other philosophical entities, i.e. propositions, properties, relations, or situations. Located in the triangle of language, logic and philosophy, this volume is unique in combining the resources of different ¹elds in an interdisciplinary enterprise. Half of the fourteen chapters of this volume are original papers, complementing the collection of the author's previously published essays on the subject.
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Analyzing Variation in Languages
Ralph W. Fasold and Roger W. Shuy, Editors
Georgetown University Press, 1975

This collection of different perspectives on language variation serves as a companion volume to New Ways of Analyzing Variation in English.

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Articulating Reasons
An Introduction to Inferentialism
Robert B. Brandom
Harvard University Press, 2001

Robert B. Brandom is one of the most original philosophers of our day, whose book Making It Explicit covered and extended a vast range of topics in metaphysics, epistemology, and philosophy of language--the very core of analytic philosophy. This new work provides an approachable introduction to the complex system that Making It Explicit mapped out. A tour of the earlier book's large ideas and relevant details, Articulating Reasons offers an easy entry into two of the main themes of Brandom's work: the idea that the semantic content of a sentence is determined by the norms governing inferences to and from it, and the idea that the distinctive function of logical vocabulary is to let us make our tacit inferential commitments explicit.

Brandom's work, making the move from representationalism to inferentialism, constitutes a near-Copernican shift in the philosophy of language--and the most important single development in the field in recent decades. Articulating Reasons puts this accomplishment within reach of nonphilosophers who want to understand the state of the foundations of semantics.

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Assessing English Language Learners in the Content Areas
A Research-into-Practice Guide for Educators
Florin M. Mihai
University of Michigan Press, 2010

Assessing English Language Learners in the Content Areas: A Research-into-Practice Guide for Educators seeks to provide guidance to classroom teachers, staff developers, and test-item designers who want to improve ELL assessment outcomes, particularly in the areas of math, science and social studies. The first two chapters of the book establish the background for the discussion of content-area assessment for ELLs, examining several important characteristics of this rapidly growing student population (as well as critical legislation affecting ELLs) and providing a description of various forms of assessment, including how ELL assessment is different from the assessment of English-proficient students.  Important assessment principles that educators should use in their evaluation of tests or other forms of measurement are provided.

 Other chapters review ELL test accommodations nationwide (because, surprisingly, most teachers do not know what they can and cannot allow) and the research on the effectiveness of these types of accommodations. The book analyzes the characteristics of alternative assessment; it discusses three popular alternative assessment instruments (performance assessment, curriculum-based measurement, and portfolios) and makes recommendations as to how to increase the validity, reliability, and practicality of alternative assessments. The book proposes fundamental assessment practices to help content area teachers in their evaluation of their ELL progress.

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front cover of Assessing English Learners in the Content Areas, Second Edition
Assessing English Learners in the Content Areas, Second Edition
A Research-into-Practice Guide for Educators
Florin M. Mihai
University of Michigan Press, 2017
The new edition of Assessing English Learners in the Content Areas: A Research-into-Practice Guide for Educators seeks to provide guidance to classroom teachers, staff developers, and test-item designers who want to improve ESL assessment outcomes, in the content areas of language arts, math, science and social studies.
 
Significant modifications in education legislation since the publication of the first edition have necessitated this new volume, which includes updated EL demographics as they relate to the Common Core Standards and Every Student Succeeds Act and revised state-by-state test accommodation information. New to this edition is information about the assessment of language arts (in addition to math, science, and social studies). The Second Edition also features new research-based recommendations for large-scale and classroom-based assessments.
 
Like the previous edition, the first two chapters of the book establish the background for the discussion of content-area assessment for ELs, examining several important characteristics of this rapidly growing student population and providing a description of various forms of assessment, including how EL assessment is different from the assessment of English-proficient students.  Important assessment principles that educators should use in their evaluation of tests or other forms of measurement are provided. 

Other chapters review EL test accommodations nationwide (because, surprisingly, most teachers do not know what they can and cannot allow) and the research on the effectiveness of these types of accommodations. The book analyzes the characteristics of alternative assessment and makes recommendations as to how to increase the validity, reliability, and practicality of alternative assessments. The book proposes fundamental assessment practices to help content area teachers in their evaluation of their students’ progress. Two extensive appendixes outline TESOL Proficiency Standards and academic vocabulary for the content areas.
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Assessment in the Second Language Writing Classroom
Deborah Crusan
University of Michigan Press, 2010

Assessment in the Second Language Writing Classroom is a teacher and prospective teacher-friendly book, uncomplicated by the language of statistics. The book is for those who teach and assess second language writing in several different contexts: the IEP, the developmental writing classroom, and the sheltered composition classroom. In addition, teachers who experience a mixed population or teach cross-cultural composition will find the book a valuable resource. Other books have thoroughly covered the theoretical aspects of writing assessment, but none have focused as heavily as this book does on pragmatic classroom aspects of writing assessment. Further, no book to date has included an in-depth examination of the machine scoring of writing and its effects on second language writers.

Crusan not only makes a compelling case for becoming knowledgeable about L2 writing assessment but offers the means to do so. Her highly accessible, thought-provoking presentation of the conceptual and practical dimensions of writing assessment, both for the classroom and on a larger scale, promises to engage readers who have previously found the technical detail of other works on assessment off-putting, as well as those who have had no previous exposure to the study of assessment at all.

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Authentic Materials Myths
Applying Second Language Research to Classroom Teaching
Eve Zyzik and Charlene Polio
University of Michigan Press, 2017
The use of authentic materials in language classrooms is sometimes discussed as a reliable way to expose students to the target language, but there is also disagreement regarding what kinds of authentic materials should be used, when they should be used, and how much of the curriculum should revolve around them. This volume in the Myths series explores the research related to the use of authentic materials and the ways that  authentic materials may be used successfully in the classroom. Like others in the Myths series, this book combines research with good pedagogical practices.
 
The myths examined in this book are:
  • Authentic texts are inaccessible to beginners.
  • Authentic texts cannot be used to teach grammar.
  • Shorter texts are more beneficial for language learners.
  • Activating background knowledge or making a word list is sufficient to prepare students for authentic texts.
  • Authentic texts can be used to teach only listening and reading.
  • Modifying or simplifying authentic texts always helps language learners.
  • For learners to benefit from using authentic texts, the associated tasks must also be authentic.
The Epilogue explores the challenges of using authentic texts in the classroom and calls for more research. 
 
 

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front cover of Averroes' Middle Commentaries on Aristotles Categories and De Interpretatione
Averroes' Middle Commentaries on Aristotles Categories and De Interpretatione
Averroes
St. Augustine's Press, 1998


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