Test instructions inform learners how they should behave and proceed in a testing situation, what... more Test instructions inform learners how they should behave and proceed in a testing situation, what is expected from them, and how their answers will be assessed. Despite their impact on test performance, the available literature on foreign language test construction is lacking in regard to instructions. By reviewing the relevant contemporary literature, the authors compiled a list of six criteria (length, language, type of sentence, informativeness, component parts, medium of communication) that need to be met in writing quality instructions. Subsequently, 64 English language tests containing 308 instructions for grades 5–8 of elementary school in Serbia were analyzed to assess to what extent they fulfilled these criteria. The instructions were found to be sufficiently concise and clear, and were primarily written in the foreign language of study. However, many were not sufficiently detailed and lacked important information. The analysis revealed three other criteria quality instruct...
The aim of this paper is to present one part of a research study that explored the use of gen- er... more The aim of this paper is to present one part of a research study that explored the use of gen- eral-purpose and technical dictionaries in learning English for specific purposes at the tertiary level in Serbia. The research was carried out in 2018 on a sample encompassing 705 students from all the faculties of the University of Novi Sad. It was realized by means of a question- naire composed of 50 questions with a four-point Likert scale and 10 questions with answers on a two-point scale. Also, a semi-structured interview was conducted with 11 students. The quantitative data were analyzed using SPSS 20, and the interview data were analyzed utilizing content analysis. Our quantitative findings reveal that students mostly use digital dictionaries, followed by printed and monolingual ones, and finally dictionaries of technical terms. The same quantitative data indicate that students use dictionaries primarily to find out the mean- ing of a word or its spelling, while they do not underst...
Critical thinking (CT) is a vital academic and life skill. Its development begins early in life, ... more Critical thinking (CT) is a vital academic and life skill. Its development begins early in life, but it needs to be cultivated both during and after one’s education. In school, CT can be taught both within the domain of different subjects or as a separate skill. For it to be properly taught, CT needs to be assessed. With that in mind, this paper investigates whether or not English language teachers in Serbia incorporate tasks at different levels of cognitive capacity in their tests so as to monitor and improve their students’ domain-specific CT skills. The authors gathered 28 English language tests constructed by 14 teachers and classified the tasks according to the six levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy. The analysis revealed that the tasks for the fifth grade include mostly tasks at the lowest level of the taxonomy, whereas those for the sixth grade are predominantly at the levels of understanding and application. Tasks requiring complex cognitive reasoning were shown to be rather scarce,...
This paper explores how tertiary level teachers of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) and their ... more This paper explores how tertiary level teachers of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) and their students use dictionaries in ESP teaching and learning. The study included 21 ESP teachers and 705 students from the University of Novi Sad. Data were gathered by conducting a questionnaire (one for teachers and one for students) and an interview. The teachers’ questionnaire had 45 questions, whereas the students' contained 60 questions. Of these, 16 questions were identical and the answers to them were compared using ANOVA. The results reveal that the teachers’ and students’ views of dictionary use differ significantly with respect to 11 questions. The students primarily use online bilingual dictionaries and tools, whereas the teachers prefer monolingual dictionaries in the form of mobile phone applications. Dictionaries were primarily used for finding word meanings, with students failing to understand all lexicographic information. The results necessitate that both students and tea...
The modern education perspective views functional literacy, along with critical thinking as its c... more The modern education perspective views functional literacy, along with critical thinking as its component, as an essential academic skill without which an individual's desired academic, personal, and professional success cannot be attained. The aim of this paper is to present part of the results obtained through investigating the cognitive reasoning skills of third grade secondary school students (N=703) in Novi Sad, Serbia, through investigating their functional literacy in the Serbian language. Those students are about either to enter the job market or pursue their further education and will need both functional literacy and critical thinking skills to a large extent. A questionnaire comprised of 20 questions was constructed to assess the students’ prose and document literacy. The gathered data were analyzed using SPSS 15 and the findings indicate that the level of the respondents’ functional literacy is at a disquieting level and that all of them, irrespective of the type of ...
The aim of this paper is to present one part of a research study that explored the use of gen- er... more The aim of this paper is to present one part of a research study that explored the use of gen- eral-purpose and technical dictionaries in learning English for specific purposes at the tertiary level in Serbia. The research was carried out in 2018 on a sample encompassing 705 students from all the faculties of the University of Novi Sad. It was realized by means of a question- naire composed of 50 questions with a four-point Likert scale and 10 questions with answers on a two-point scale. Also, a semi-structured interview was conducted with 11 students. The quantitative data were analyzed using SPSS 20, and the interview data were analyzed utilizing content analysis. Our quantitative findings reveal that students mostly use digital dictionaries, followed by printed and monolingual ones, and finally dictionaries of technical terms. The same quantitative data indicate that students use dictionaries primarily to find out the mean- ing of a word or its spelling, while they do not understand the abbreviations for grammati- cal information and cannot evaluate the quality of a dictionary. The majority of them do not possess a technical dictionary. The qualitative data confirm that the respondents mostly use digital sources and tools (e.g., Google Translate) since such searches are consistently faster and offer single, ready-made answers. The findings suggest that a systematic training in dictionary use at all educational levels is necessary.
In the Search of a Language Pedagogical Paradigm, 2020
Beliefs lay the foundation for every individual’s entire repertoire of activities and based on th... more Beliefs lay the foundation for every individual’s entire repertoire of activities and based on these essential structures, one decides whether or not to perform a certain action and how to perform it. Some beliefs are helpful — they help us thrive in today’s world and achieve success — whereas others may be detrimental in that they are contrary to the standards, norms, values, or practices that are regarded as desirable and facilitative. Foreign language teachers’ pedagogical beliefs are no exception. They are, after all, heavily influenced by teachers’ own experiences as foreign language learners, pre-service teacher education programs, professional development activities, and teachers’ working environments, as well as by their personal and cultural background. Foreign language teachers’ beliefs have a considerable impact on both teachers’ learning and their entire pedagogical practice: the choice of the teaching method / approach, the content, teaching techniques, and materials, teaching style and assessment practices. Hence, the entire process of foreign language learning, as well as students’ success or failure to achieve desired or required fluency, is largely dependent on foreign language teachers’ choices, actions, and decisions grounded on their beliefs. For that reason, it is of utmost importance that teachers maintain such beliefs as are congruent with contemporary principles of foreign language teaching — a situation that can be ensured by teachers’ confronting their own beliefs and replacing those that do not serve them or their students. Also, teacher educators (university teachers, mentors, and teacher trainers) are responsible for unveiling up-to-date, pertinent pre-service and practicing teachers’ beliefs and assisting them in going through the process of belief change timely and successfully. The aim of this paper is to review relevant literature in order to offer insight into possible sources of foreign language teacher beliefs, methods of putting them into practice, and influences that beliefs can have on a teacher’s teaching practice, as well as on students’ learning of a foreign language. Also, the paper will tackle the question of the malleability of teacher beliefs and approaches to changing those that are inadequate.
This paper explores how tertiary level teachers of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) and their ... more This paper explores how tertiary level teachers of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) and their students use dictionaries in ESP teaching and learning. The study included 21 ESP teachers and 705 students from the University of Novi Sad. Data were gathered by conducting a questionnaire (one for teachers and one for students) and an interview. The teachers’ questionnaire had 45 questions, whereas the students' contained 60 questions. Of these, 16 questions were identical and the answers to them were compared using ANOVA. The results reveal that the teachers’ and students’ views of dictionary use differ significantly with respect to 11 questions. The students primarily use online bilingual dictionaries and tools, whereas the teachers prefer monolingual dictionaries in the form of mobile phone applications. Dictionaries were primarily used for finding word meanings, with students failing to understand all lexicographic information. The results necessitate that both students and tea...
1. IntroductionIt is well-known that success in learning foreign languages may depend on a number... more 1. IntroductionIt is well-known that success in learning foreign languages may depend on a number of factors, such as the age of learners, their cognitive abilities, styles and strategies of learning, the learning environment and the learner's personality.It was not until the 1970s that the important role of affective factors was truly recognised and given adequate attention in teaching methodology. A shift of trends that took place in the last decades of the twentieth century with the arrival of the Humanistic Approach, followed by the Comprehension Based Approach and the Communicative Approach, resulted in a greater awareness of,and a stronger focus on the learner's feelings and emotions in the process of learning.Consequently, the language teaching methodology of the last two decades has been increasingly oriented towards creating a learning environment that provides an affective affirmation of the student and not only a good presentation of the language. Although work on...
The modern education perspective views functional literacy, along with critical thinking as its c... more The modern education perspective views functional literacy, along with critical thinking as its component, as an essential academic skill without which an individual's desired academic, personal, and professional success cannot be attained. The aim of this paper is to present part of the results obtained through investigating the cognitive reasoning skills of third grade secondary school students (N=703) in Novi Sad, Serbia, through investigating their functional literacy in the Serbian language. Those students are about either to enter the job market or pursue their further education and will need both functional literacy and critical thinking skills to a large extent. A questionnaire comprised of 20 questions was constructed to assess the students‘ prose and document literacy. The gathered data were analyzed using SPSS 15 and the findings indicate that the level of the respondents‘ functional literacy is at a disquieting level and that all of them, irrespective of the type of school they attend, can perform lower-order cognitive processes much more successfully than higher-order ones.
Test instructions inform learners how they should behave and proceed in a testing situation, what... more Test instructions inform learners how they should behave and proceed in a testing situation, what is expected from them, and how their answers will be assessed. Despite their impact on test performance, the available literature on foreign language test construction is lacking in regard to instructions. By reviewing the relevant contemporary literature, the authors compiled a list of six criteria (length, language, type of sentence, informativeness, component parts, medium of communication) that need to be met in writing quality instructions. Subsequently, 64 English language tests containing 308 instructions for grades 5–8 of elementary school in Serbia were analyzed to assess to what extent they fulfilled these criteria. The instructions were found to be sufficiently concise and clear, and were primarily written in the foreign language of study. However, many were not sufficiently detailed and lacked important information. The analysis revealed three other criteria quality instruct...
The aim of this paper is to present one part of a research study that explored the use of gen- er... more The aim of this paper is to present one part of a research study that explored the use of gen- eral-purpose and technical dictionaries in learning English for specific purposes at the tertiary level in Serbia. The research was carried out in 2018 on a sample encompassing 705 students from all the faculties of the University of Novi Sad. It was realized by means of a question- naire composed of 50 questions with a four-point Likert scale and 10 questions with answers on a two-point scale. Also, a semi-structured interview was conducted with 11 students. The quantitative data were analyzed using SPSS 20, and the interview data were analyzed utilizing content analysis. Our quantitative findings reveal that students mostly use digital dictionaries, followed by printed and monolingual ones, and finally dictionaries of technical terms. The same quantitative data indicate that students use dictionaries primarily to find out the mean- ing of a word or its spelling, while they do not underst...
Critical thinking (CT) is a vital academic and life skill. Its development begins early in life, ... more Critical thinking (CT) is a vital academic and life skill. Its development begins early in life, but it needs to be cultivated both during and after one’s education. In school, CT can be taught both within the domain of different subjects or as a separate skill. For it to be properly taught, CT needs to be assessed. With that in mind, this paper investigates whether or not English language teachers in Serbia incorporate tasks at different levels of cognitive capacity in their tests so as to monitor and improve their students’ domain-specific CT skills. The authors gathered 28 English language tests constructed by 14 teachers and classified the tasks according to the six levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy. The analysis revealed that the tasks for the fifth grade include mostly tasks at the lowest level of the taxonomy, whereas those for the sixth grade are predominantly at the levels of understanding and application. Tasks requiring complex cognitive reasoning were shown to be rather scarce,...
This paper explores how tertiary level teachers of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) and their ... more This paper explores how tertiary level teachers of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) and their students use dictionaries in ESP teaching and learning. The study included 21 ESP teachers and 705 students from the University of Novi Sad. Data were gathered by conducting a questionnaire (one for teachers and one for students) and an interview. The teachers’ questionnaire had 45 questions, whereas the students' contained 60 questions. Of these, 16 questions were identical and the answers to them were compared using ANOVA. The results reveal that the teachers’ and students’ views of dictionary use differ significantly with respect to 11 questions. The students primarily use online bilingual dictionaries and tools, whereas the teachers prefer monolingual dictionaries in the form of mobile phone applications. Dictionaries were primarily used for finding word meanings, with students failing to understand all lexicographic information. The results necessitate that both students and tea...
The modern education perspective views functional literacy, along with critical thinking as its c... more The modern education perspective views functional literacy, along with critical thinking as its component, as an essential academic skill without which an individual's desired academic, personal, and professional success cannot be attained. The aim of this paper is to present part of the results obtained through investigating the cognitive reasoning skills of third grade secondary school students (N=703) in Novi Sad, Serbia, through investigating their functional literacy in the Serbian language. Those students are about either to enter the job market or pursue their further education and will need both functional literacy and critical thinking skills to a large extent. A questionnaire comprised of 20 questions was constructed to assess the students’ prose and document literacy. The gathered data were analyzed using SPSS 15 and the findings indicate that the level of the respondents’ functional literacy is at a disquieting level and that all of them, irrespective of the type of ...
The aim of this paper is to present one part of a research study that explored the use of gen- er... more The aim of this paper is to present one part of a research study that explored the use of gen- eral-purpose and technical dictionaries in learning English for specific purposes at the tertiary level in Serbia. The research was carried out in 2018 on a sample encompassing 705 students from all the faculties of the University of Novi Sad. It was realized by means of a question- naire composed of 50 questions with a four-point Likert scale and 10 questions with answers on a two-point scale. Also, a semi-structured interview was conducted with 11 students. The quantitative data were analyzed using SPSS 20, and the interview data were analyzed utilizing content analysis. Our quantitative findings reveal that students mostly use digital dictionaries, followed by printed and monolingual ones, and finally dictionaries of technical terms. The same quantitative data indicate that students use dictionaries primarily to find out the mean- ing of a word or its spelling, while they do not understand the abbreviations for grammati- cal information and cannot evaluate the quality of a dictionary. The majority of them do not possess a technical dictionary. The qualitative data confirm that the respondents mostly use digital sources and tools (e.g., Google Translate) since such searches are consistently faster and offer single, ready-made answers. The findings suggest that a systematic training in dictionary use at all educational levels is necessary.
In the Search of a Language Pedagogical Paradigm, 2020
Beliefs lay the foundation for every individual’s entire repertoire of activities and based on th... more Beliefs lay the foundation for every individual’s entire repertoire of activities and based on these essential structures, one decides whether or not to perform a certain action and how to perform it. Some beliefs are helpful — they help us thrive in today’s world and achieve success — whereas others may be detrimental in that they are contrary to the standards, norms, values, or practices that are regarded as desirable and facilitative. Foreign language teachers’ pedagogical beliefs are no exception. They are, after all, heavily influenced by teachers’ own experiences as foreign language learners, pre-service teacher education programs, professional development activities, and teachers’ working environments, as well as by their personal and cultural background. Foreign language teachers’ beliefs have a considerable impact on both teachers’ learning and their entire pedagogical practice: the choice of the teaching method / approach, the content, teaching techniques, and materials, teaching style and assessment practices. Hence, the entire process of foreign language learning, as well as students’ success or failure to achieve desired or required fluency, is largely dependent on foreign language teachers’ choices, actions, and decisions grounded on their beliefs. For that reason, it is of utmost importance that teachers maintain such beliefs as are congruent with contemporary principles of foreign language teaching — a situation that can be ensured by teachers’ confronting their own beliefs and replacing those that do not serve them or their students. Also, teacher educators (university teachers, mentors, and teacher trainers) are responsible for unveiling up-to-date, pertinent pre-service and practicing teachers’ beliefs and assisting them in going through the process of belief change timely and successfully. The aim of this paper is to review relevant literature in order to offer insight into possible sources of foreign language teacher beliefs, methods of putting them into practice, and influences that beliefs can have on a teacher’s teaching practice, as well as on students’ learning of a foreign language. Also, the paper will tackle the question of the malleability of teacher beliefs and approaches to changing those that are inadequate.
This paper explores how tertiary level teachers of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) and their ... more This paper explores how tertiary level teachers of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) and their students use dictionaries in ESP teaching and learning. The study included 21 ESP teachers and 705 students from the University of Novi Sad. Data were gathered by conducting a questionnaire (one for teachers and one for students) and an interview. The teachers’ questionnaire had 45 questions, whereas the students' contained 60 questions. Of these, 16 questions were identical and the answers to them were compared using ANOVA. The results reveal that the teachers’ and students’ views of dictionary use differ significantly with respect to 11 questions. The students primarily use online bilingual dictionaries and tools, whereas the teachers prefer monolingual dictionaries in the form of mobile phone applications. Dictionaries were primarily used for finding word meanings, with students failing to understand all lexicographic information. The results necessitate that both students and tea...
1. IntroductionIt is well-known that success in learning foreign languages may depend on a number... more 1. IntroductionIt is well-known that success in learning foreign languages may depend on a number of factors, such as the age of learners, their cognitive abilities, styles and strategies of learning, the learning environment and the learner's personality.It was not until the 1970s that the important role of affective factors was truly recognised and given adequate attention in teaching methodology. A shift of trends that took place in the last decades of the twentieth century with the arrival of the Humanistic Approach, followed by the Comprehension Based Approach and the Communicative Approach, resulted in a greater awareness of,and a stronger focus on the learner's feelings and emotions in the process of learning.Consequently, the language teaching methodology of the last two decades has been increasingly oriented towards creating a learning environment that provides an affective affirmation of the student and not only a good presentation of the language. Although work on...
The modern education perspective views functional literacy, along with critical thinking as its c... more The modern education perspective views functional literacy, along with critical thinking as its component, as an essential academic skill without which an individual's desired academic, personal, and professional success cannot be attained. The aim of this paper is to present part of the results obtained through investigating the cognitive reasoning skills of third grade secondary school students (N=703) in Novi Sad, Serbia, through investigating their functional literacy in the Serbian language. Those students are about either to enter the job market or pursue their further education and will need both functional literacy and critical thinking skills to a large extent. A questionnaire comprised of 20 questions was constructed to assess the students‘ prose and document literacy. The gathered data were analyzed using SPSS 15 and the findings indicate that the level of the respondents‘ functional literacy is at a disquieting level and that all of them, irrespective of the type of school they attend, can perform lower-order cognitive processes much more successfully than higher-order ones.
As the title suggests, the aim of this book is to offer insight into certain issues of interest i... more As the title suggests, the aim of this book is to offer insight into certain issues of interest in the domain of foreign language testing that have been undeservedly overlooked. In truth, the area of testing, including foreign language testing, is so vast that it is virtually impossible to cover all relevant issues in sufficient detail in a relatively short span of time or at one go, whether through a course, a publication, a seminar, or other means. Now, however, the time has come to discuss and explore more thoroughly certain issues in this context that have not been sufficiently addressed, especially in light of their prevailing importance today. These key issues include: the relevance of teacher-made tests as opposed to ready-made, commercial, or publishers’ tests; the extent to which different levels of cognitive processing are present in foreign language tests; the question of whether foreign languages allow for the improvement of students’ subject-specific critical thinking; and the effectiveness and quality of test task instructions.
In this book the concept of peer coaching as a form of professional development is explored. More... more In this book the concept of peer coaching as a form of professional development is explored. More precisely, the aim is to investigate whether it could aid English language teachers in Serbia in overcoming the problem- atic shortage of adequate professional development activities and whether it could complement other forms of development such teachers pursue, in that it could enable them to apply what they learn in other activities or could serve as a means of assessing the effects of new teaching techniques they apply. Even though there is a solid legal framework in Serbia that regulates teachers’ development, its implementation has numerous shortcomings. Moreover, the overall system of professional development has certain flaws, which further hampers teachers in pursuing quality professional de- velopment. Numerous authors claim that peer coaching is efficient for a number of reasons; hence, the aim of this book is to investigate whether or not it could be applied in our educational context and what results it could yield. The book is based on a year-long research study encompassing 10 En- glish language teachers (working in 5 pairs) employed in primary and sec- ondary state schools in Novi Sad. After being trained in how to conduct the experimental form of professional development, the subjects were expected to realize peer coaching during the 2009/2010 school year as many times as they desired and as often as time allowed them. Each observation needed to be conducted in certain stages and for each stage the participants were asked to submit a number of related documents. Several research methods were employed, such as a questionnaire, observation, and a diary, in order for the  researcher to gain as clear a picture as possible of the observations conduct- ed, since she herself did not participate directly in conducting the research. The gathered findings indisputably indicate that not only can the experimental form of professional development be implemented in our edu- cational context, but also that it contributes to improving teaching practice, students’ learning, and the teacher-student relationship, as well as collegial- ity. Moreover, peer coaching was embraced by all the participants, irrespec- tive of their teaching experience or age, and they all expressed the view that its advantages significantly outweigh its shortcomings.
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The book is based on a year-long research study encompassing 10 En- glish language teachers (working in 5 pairs) employed in primary and sec- ondary state schools in Novi Sad. After being trained in how to conduct the experimental form of professional development, the subjects were expected to realize peer coaching during the 2009/2010 school year as many times as they desired and as often as time allowed them. Each observation needed to be conducted in certain stages and for each stage the participants were asked to submit a number of related documents. Several research methods were employed, such as a questionnaire, observation, and a diary, in order for the

researcher to gain as clear a picture as possible of the observations conduct- ed, since she herself did not participate directly in conducting the research. The gathered findings indisputably indicate that not only can the experimental form of professional development be implemented in our edu- cational context, but also that it contributes to improving teaching practice, students’ learning, and the teacher-student relationship, as well as collegial- ity. Moreover, peer coaching was embraced by all the participants, irrespec- tive of their teaching experience or age, and they all expressed the view that its advantages significantly outweigh its shortcomings.