This volume brings together a collection of chapters outlining the principles and processes of action research and providing case studies of practitioner action research completed by teachers in the ELICOS (English Language Intensive Courses for Overseas Students) sector in Australia. The Action Research in ELICOS programme in which the teachers participated was an innovative collaboration between English Australia, the professional body for ELICOS, and Cambridge English Language Assessment commencing in 2010 and continuing to the present. An introductory chapter describes the initiation of the programme and the professional model adopted to support and facilitate the teachers' research, while a concluding chapter considers the impact of the programme on the teachers and on the ELICOS sector more generally. Case studies by the teachers present the action research processes they undertook to research receptive and productive skills and assessment of these skills in their classrooms.

"Cambridge English Lanuage Assessment, Part of the University of Cambridge"--Cover.

--Engaging action research to explore use of assessment for improving language ability / Hanan Khalifa -- pt. 1 Action research for self-assessment -- Encouraging self-assessment of grammatical accuracy and range in speaking / Jennifer Wallace -- Promoting self-assessment in speaking skills for EAP students / Alia Eberstein -- `Only connect': Foregrounding learning and assessment through Facebook engagement / Jade Sleeman -- More upload, less download: Active student participation in their own vocabulary development / Jock Boyd -- pt. 2 Action research for formative assessment -- Developing speaking through formative learner-oriented assessment / Elizabeth Woods -- From wikis to mobile apps: Assessing fluency / Becky Steven -- Harnessing formative feedback for oral skills improvement / Simon Cosgriff -- The impact of student attitudes on EAP grammar feedback / John Gardiner. Putting assessment for learning into practice to support academic writing / Emily Edwards -- pt. 3 Action research for summative assessment -- Exploring tasks for summative assessment of teachers' connected speech knowledge / Arizio Sweeting -- It's a musical language: The effect of intervention on pronunciation assessment outcomes / Megan Yucel -- Preparing students for an academic presentation assessment / Akile Nazim -- Improving reading skills and test results of learners from Arabic-speaking backgrounds / Amal Khabbaz -- Incorporating student reading habits into an extensive reading program to support language development and test preparation / John Smith -- Assessing the impact of an extensive reading program on vocabulary development / Dimitra Papadimitriou Aidinlis -- Developing and assessing tasks for critical reading for the EAP classroom / Wendy Onslow-Mato -- pt. 4 Conclusion -- Action research in ELICOS: impact and insights from a national teacher development program / Anne Burns and Katherine Brandon.