The refinement of a construct for tests of academic literacy

Albert Weideman

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Discourse Analysis in Language Studies EFL/ESL Teaching and Learning Linguistics and Education Research

Abstract

In a previous study (Patterson & Weideman, 2013), we discussed the importance of acknowledging the typicality of academic discourse as a starting point for critically engaging with constructs of academic literacy. In this article, various attempts at identifying the typical features of academicdiscourse are surveyed and critiqued. The preliminary conclusion is that theuniqueness of academic discourse lies in the analytical or logical languagethat characterises it (see Patterson & Weideman, 2013 for an extended explanation). Using this characteristic feature as a criterion allows us to siftthrough the various opinions on what constitutes both academic discourseand academic literacy in a way that is potentially productive. It suggests ona number of points ways in which one might add components to the currentdefinition of academic literacy that forms the test construct of academic literacy tests such as TALL, TAG, and TALPS. The article concludes by suggesting some modifications and additions to the design of current test task types in tests of academic literacy. These tentative suggestions may allow theoretically defensible modifications to be made to the construct of a number of tests of academic literacy. TALL, TAG, the relevant part of the NBTs, and TALPS are generally high stakes tests that are widely used in South Africa. Since no critical examination of their construct, which is now more than a decade old, has so far been undertaken, we hope that these proposals do not only come at an appropriate moment, but mayalso be useful to those responsible for developing further versions of these tests. Keywords: academic discourse, academic literacy, language testing, testconstructs, task types

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1982Orality and Literacy 1978Language as social semiotic : the social interpretation of language and meaning 1987Literacy in Theory and Practice 1996Language Testing in Practice: Designing and Developing Useful Language Tests 1993Writing Science: Literacy And Discursive Power 2004Metadiscourse in Academic Writing: A Reappraisal 2010The Challenge of Academic Language 1997Text, role and context developing academic literacies

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