◎ 馬來文化系列講座成功落幕

外語教學暨資源中心於 2020 年 12 月舉行三場馬來文化相關演講，感謝全校的教職工生熱情參與。在主講者妙語如珠的帶領下，大家對馬來文化有更深刻的瞭解。現場來賓對於會場準備的馬來西亞當地美食也都非常滿意。快來看一下三場講座的精彩照片吧：

【講座 1 ：馬來西亞族裔節慶與空間】

【講座 2 ：東南亞英屬殖民地華人醫療文化：以「余仁生」與「虎標萬金油」為例】

【講座 3 ：走進馬來西亞小鎮風情：多元文化的田野經驗分享】

 

◎ 外語教學暨資源中心第六次「進階英語課程免修自訂測驗」公告（一）

外語教學暨資源中心訂於 110 年 2 月 21 日星期日辦理第六次「進階英語課程免修自訂測驗」：

一、 本測驗為免費，採網路報名。

二、 限本校尚未修習或正在修習「進階英語」課程，且未達該課程免修標準之本校學士班學生報名。

三、 學士班學生在本校就學期間共可報名兩次，每次報名後不論是否到場參加測驗，均視為已報名參加一次，報名後不得以任何理由要求取消已使用一次參加測驗的報名紀錄。

四、 網路報名時間：109 年 12 月 1 日星期二上午 9 時至 110 年 1 月 22 日星期五下午 5 時，期間不間斷，逾期不受理。

五、 測驗相關注意事項：請注意外語教學暨資源中心網站最新消息公告：請點擊

VOA News 搶先看

新冠肺炎疫情期間，美國國家教育統計中心（National Center for Education Statistics）宣佈延後舉辦該國 2 年一度的國家教育進展評測（National Assessment of Educational Progress）。該單位表示，相關考試若要在 2021 年如期舉行，除了龐大的考試費用，測驗結果恐無法有效地顯示學生的學習成果。這項決定受國家評量指導委員會（National Assessment Governing Board）和其他教育單位的支持。此外，一年一度的州立考試是否將於 2021 年進行也仍在商議之中。該考試已於 2020 年停辦一次。

National reading and math tests long used to track what U.S. students know in those subjects are being postponed from next year to 2022 over concerns about whether testing would be feasible or produce valid results during the coronavirus pandemic, the National Center for Education Statistics announced Wednesday.

The biennial National Assessment of Educational Progress evaluations used for the Nation's Report Card were slated for early next year for hundreds of thousands of the country's fourth- and eighth-graders. But widespread remote learning and health protocols would have added big complications and costs because the model uses shared equipment and sends outside proctors to conduct the testing in schools.

Pushing ahead with testing in 2021 runs the risk of spending tens of millions of dollars and still not getting the data necessary to produce a reliable, comparable picture of state and national student performance, NCES Commissioner James Woodworth said in a statement. By law, they would have to wait another two years for the next chance at testing.

Testing in 2022 instead "would be more likely to provide valuable — and valid — data about student achievement in the wake of COVID-19 to support effective policy, research, and resource allocation," the leaders of the National Assessment Governing Board said in a separate statement supporting the move.

The nonpartisan Council of Chief State School Officers also supported the NAEP postponement.

Ohio Department of Education spokesperson Mandy Minick called it "entirely understandable" given the extensive disruptions schools are facing.

"I think we're all on the same page about trying to stress health and safety," she said.

However, the decision also delays data that could help show how the pandemic is impacting learning.

Woodworth suggested that results from states' annual tests — generally conducted using schools' own equipment and staff, and perhaps therefore more feasible than the national tests — could help bridge the gap and provide a state-level look at the impact. But the NAEP postponement might have ripple effects in the debate about whether those state tests even happen in spring 2021.

State tests, which are federally mandated and are used more for accountability purposes, were canceled last spring under federal waivers as the pandemic surged. The current presidential administration had indicated states shouldn't expect to be granted another round of waivers if they request them, but it's an issue likely to come up again after President-elect Joe Biden's administration takes office.

"If the national assessment can't be done in '21, states are legitimately going to say, 'Well, why are we expected to test in '21?'" said Chester Finn, a former chair of the National Assessment Governing Board and president emeritus of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute who advocates results-based accountability.

If states get to skip the tests again this spring, that could create a multiyear gap in data that helps inform other decisions and identify concerns, and that's problematic, Finn said.

"If you're not held accountable for your results, or there's no way to do it because there's no information about your results, then all sorts of bad things happen to the education system and to the kids in the education system," he said. "We sort of go back to the pre-accountability days, when, you know, the only thing you knew about a kid's learning was the teachers' grades, and the only thing you knew about a school's performance was what the principal said it was, and nobody had data on gaps between different groups of kids.”