Working Towards a Proficiency Scale of Business English Writing: A Mixed-Methods Approach

ISBN-13: 9789811654510 / Angielski / Miękka / 2022

Li Wang; Jason Fan

Opis

This book presents an empirical study to develop and validate a proficiency scale of business English writing in the Chinese tertiary context. Through a mixture of intuitive, quantitative and qualitative methods, the book demonstrates how a pool of descriptors are collectively formulated, statistically calibrated and meticulously validated for the establishment of a proficiency scale of business English writing. The writing scale differs in significant ways from the existing language scales, most of which were constructed in English as L1 or L2 contexts and applied to English for General Purposes (EGP) domains. This book also provides important insights into the construct of business English writing as well as the methods for English for Specific Purposes (ESP) proficiency scale development and validation. It is of particular interest to those who work in the area of ESP teaching and assessment.

Spis treści

1  Core Issues in Business English Education 

1.1 English as a Lingua Franca for Business Communication

1.2 The Importance of Business English Writing Skill

1.3 Business English Teaching and Learning in China

1.4 Problems and Challenges of Business English Education in China

2 Assessment of Business English: The Role of Language Proficiency Scales

2.1 Language Proficiency Scales 

2.1.1 Definitions

2.1.2 Origins

2.1.3 Functions

2.1.4 Impact

2.2 The CEFR and Business English Tests 

2.2.1 The CEFR

2.2.2 Use of the CEFR

2.2.3 Aligning Business English Tests to the CEFR: Potential Problems 

2.3 Scales of Business English Proficiency: A Critical Evaluation 

2.3.1 The ELTDU Stages of Attainment Scale

2.3.2 The ALTE Framework 

2.3.3 The ESU Framework 

2.3.4 The International Second Language Proficiency Ratings (ISLPR)

2.3.5 The Canadian Language Benchmarks (CLB)

2.3.6 Discussion

3 Conceptualizing Business English Writing Proficiency 

3.1 Business English in the ESP context

3.1.1 What is ESP?

3.1.2 Branches of ESP

3.1.3 Categorization of Business English

3.2 Genre as ESP Writing Competence

3.2.1 ESP Conceptualization of Writing 

3.2.2 The Concept of Genre 

3.2.3 Genre in Three Traditions

3.2.4 Genre in the International Business World 

3.3 The Model of Genre Knowledge 

3.3.1 Formal Knowledge 

3.3.2 Process Knowledge 

3.3.3 Rhetorical Knowledge 

3.3.4 Subject-matter Knowledge

4 Working Towards a Scale of Business English Writing 

4.1 General Principles of EGP Scale Development 

4.1.1 Objectivity 

4.1.2 Consistency 

4.1.3 Localization 

4.1.4 Comparability

4.2 Common Methods of Scale Construction

4.2.1 Intuitive Methods 

4.2.2 Test-based Methods 

4.2.3 Performance-oriented Methods

4.3 Business English Writing Scale Development: Considerations from the ESP Perspective

4.3.1 Linguistic Features of ESP 

4.3.2 Pedagogical Objectives of ESP

4.3.3 ESP Assessment: Specificity and Authenticity

4.4 Developing a Scale of Business English Writing: A Mixed-Methods Approach

4.4.1 Research Design 

4.4.2 Scale Development Phase

4.4.3 Scale Validation Phase 

5 The Initial Establishment of a Descriptive Framework

5.1 Theoretical basis of the Business English Writing Proficiency: The Model of Genre Knowledge 

5.2 Categories of Genre Knowledge from the Business English Writing Perspective

5.2.1 Operationalization of Formal Knowledge 

5.2.2 Operationalization of Process Knowledge 

5.2.3 Operationalization of Rhetorical Knowledge 

5.2.4 Operationalization of Subject-matter Knowledge

5.3 Categories of Business English Writing Activities

5.3.1 A Review of Genres for Business Written Communication

5.3.2 Selection of Genres for Framework Incorporation

6 Creating a Descriptor Pool 

6.1 Collection of Descriptors of Business English Writing Proficiency 

6.1.1 Document Review

6.1.2 Teacher Workshops

6.1.3 Initial Categorization of the Descriptors

6.2 Refining Categories of the Descriptive Scheme

6.2.1 Key Issues Raised in Category Distinctiveness

6.2.2 Selection and Revision of the Scale Categories 

6.3 Quality Control on the Descriptors

6.3.1 Key Issues Raised in Descriptor Formulation 

6.3.2 Selection and Revision of the Scale Descriptors

7 Constructing the Scale 

7.1 Eliciting Business English Learners’ Perceptions of Descriptor Categorization and Descriptor Difficulty

7.1.1 Instrument 

7.1.2 Participants

7.1.3 Data Collection 

7.1.4 Data Analysis Using the Rasch Model

7.2 Interpreting the Scale 

7.2.1 The Item-Person Map

7.2.2 Checking Unidimensionality 

7.2.3 Identifying Problematic Descriptors 

7.2.4 Setting Cut-offs and Establishing Levels of Equal Intervals

7.2.5 The Establishment of a Global Scale

7.2.6 The Establishment of Illustrative Scales

8 Validation of the Business English Writing Scale 

8.1 Concepts of Validity in Proficiency Scale Validation 

8.1.1 Fairness Validity 

8.1.2 Teaching Backwash Validity

8.1.3 Social Impact Validity

8.2 Validating the Scale

8.2.1 Qualitative Validation of the Scale Framework 

8.2.2 Quantitative Validation of the Scale Framework 

8.2.3 Qualitative Validation of the Scale Descriptors 

8.2.4 Quantitative Validation of the Scale Descriptors 

9 Conclusion

9.1 Summary of Key Findings 

9.2 Contributions of the Study

10.2.1 Implications for ESP Scale Development

10.2.2 Implications for ESP Teaching, Learning and Assessment

9.3 Limitations of the Study 

9.4 Areas for Future Research 

O autorze

​Li Wang is an Associate Professor of Applied Linguistics at the School of Economics and Finance, Xi’an International Studies University, China. She obtained her Ph. D. degree from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China in 2016, and her master’s degree from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore in 2010. Her research interests include English for Specific Purposes and Language Testing and Assessment. She has published her research in both international and local journals, including Assessing Writing, The Asian EFL Journal, The Journal of Asia TEFL, and Foreign Language World.

Jason Fan is Deputy Director and Senior Research Fellow at the Language Testing Research Centre (LTRC), University of Melbourne, Australia. His research interests include validation of language assessments and research methods. He is the author of Development and Validation of Standards in Language Testing (Fudan University Press, 2018) and the co-author (with Tim McNamara and Ute Knoch) of Fairness, Justice and Language Assessment (Oxford University Press, 2019). He is on the editorial board of Language Testing and the co-editor of Papers in Language Testing and Assessment.