--- Forwarded Message from Mary Ball <[log in to unmask]> --- >Date: Sun, 5 Dec 1999 08:06:20 -0500 (EST) >From: Mary Ball <[log in to unmask]> >To: [log in to unmask] >Subject: Praxis tests Dear LLTIers, I'd like some feedback from those of you out there who are using your language center to give the ETS foreign language Praxis tests. For the uninitiated, the Praxis tests are content-area tests that your state may require of students seeking a K-12 teaching certificate or license. Ohio,for example, requires aspiring FL teachers to take and pass the French/Spanish/German/Italian content knowledge test and a second production skills test. (There's a third test, but it's not required in Ohio.) The skills production test includes speaking and writing. The speaking part is clearly intended to be administered in a traditional audiotape lab with a console: testing tape with aural questions to be played from the console, student tapes for recording their answers on cassetts that are sent in to ETS. We used to have such a lab, but got rid of the console when we switched two years ago to a digital CAN8 lab. We kept the Sony tape decks, however, so students can record on audiotape in the lab. Our Ed Dept people do not understand the difference in the capabilities, and are anxious for us to continue offering the test. We _could_ pursue digitizing rights with ETS and deliver the "console" part by computer, and have students record their answers on tape. Or not. If you are administering the Praxis, what equipment are you using? I'm especially interested in hearing from people in Ohio or adjacent areas, but you Hawai'ians, Icelanders and others, please also respond. Mary Ball Director, Language Lab Ashland University Ashland, OH 44805 tel (419) 289-5945 fax (419) 289-5791 [log in to unmask]