ALTAANZ Sponsorship for Educational Activities
Call for proposals: ALTAANZ Sponsorship for Professional Development Activities
ALTAANZ is offering sponsorship in 2023 to support the organisation of two professional development activities for ALTAANZ members. A professional development activity is aimed at developing skills and knowledge in language assessment and testing. Activities can be in the form of a workshop, a seminar, a lecture, or another activity type. Activities should align with ALTAANZ goals and address an area of professional development need in a community, an institution or a broader group (e.g., primary school language teachers).
A sum of up to $AU500 will be made available for each selected activity to pay for costs associated with the activity, e.g., venue, catering, travel, honorarium.
Successful applicants are expected to provide ALTAANZ with a report and evaluation (preferably with photos), which might be suitable for publication in the association newsletter.
The selection criteria are:
- Alignment between the proposed activity and ALTAANZ goals
- The quality of the proposed activity
- The area of need and potential impact of the activity on the local and/or professional community in which it occurs
How to apply
Applications can be made using the application form. Applications should include:
- The goal of the activity, the area of need it addresses, and the intended audience and impact
- A clear description of the activity
- Estimated number of participants and place/venue/mode of delivery
- How the funding is to be used
- How the activity aligns with the ALTAANZ purpose
Email the completed application form to altaanz@gmail.com by Friday 18th August.
ALTAANZ funded the following educational activities in 2019:
Yuendumu school workshops
Yuendumu school currently runs a bilingual with bi-literacy program that incorporates Warlpiri language, values and knowledges into the classroom. A prevailing challenge for bilingual programs is capturing and assessing the cognitive and linguistic competencies of multilingual students and Warlpiri educators have collaborated in recent years to explore best practice in first language assessment, particularly of oral language.A project is currently underway to differentiate learner pathways linked to the Warlpiri Curriculum Cycle and Emma Browne has been engaged in research as part of a doctorate at ANU exploring teaching, learning and assessment in Warlpiri language since 2017.
The workshops will cater for teaching staff and interested community members and will offer an opportunity for teaching teams and Warlpiri community members to engage with research conducted in terms 3-4, 2018 and term 1. 2019 on assessment of teaching and learning in Warlpiri, as part of Emma's PhD project. They will involve discussion of topics and issues in language testing practice, explorations of assessment strategies and tools, and discussion of students' Warlpiri language (oral and written) and contribute to efforts to build a substantial evidence base for the school's bilingual programming.
TESOLANZ symposium
TESOLANZ is a professional association representing approximately 600 language teaching professionals across a range of sectors (tertiary, secondary, primary, refugee services). The membership consists of teachers, researchers, program leaders and policy makers. At the end of 2017 TESOLANZ ran a state of the sector survey to identify critical needs within the sector. One of the key concerns indicated by members who participated in the survey related to Assessment practices. In addition, half of the survey respondents identified assessment as a pressing professional development need.
TESOLANZ proposes, therefore, to host a one-day symposium on 13th July (at Wintec-Hamilton) to bridge the gap between research and development in language practice to classroom praxis, thereby aligning with ALTAANZ's stated purpose of promoting 'best practice'. The theme of the symposium is Building the Knowledge Base: Connecting Research to Practice in Assessment and EAP.
Yuendumu school workshops
Yuendumu school currently runs a bilingual with bi-literacy program that incorporates Warlpiri language, values and knowledges into the classroom. A prevailing challenge for bilingual programs is capturing and assessing the cognitive and linguistic competencies of multilingual students and Warlpiri educators have collaborated in recent years to explore best practice in first language assessment, particularly of oral language.A project is currently underway to differentiate learner pathways linked to the Warlpiri Curriculum Cycle and Emma Browne has been engaged in research as part of a doctorate at ANU exploring teaching, learning and assessment in Warlpiri language since 2017.
The workshops will cater for teaching staff and interested community members and will offer an opportunity for teaching teams and Warlpiri community members to engage with research conducted in terms 3-4, 2018 and term 1. 2019 on assessment of teaching and learning in Warlpiri, as part of Emma's PhD project. They will involve discussion of topics and issues in language testing practice, explorations of assessment strategies and tools, and discussion of students' Warlpiri language (oral and written) and contribute to efforts to build a substantial evidence base for the school's bilingual programming.
TESOLANZ symposium
TESOLANZ is a professional association representing approximately 600 language teaching professionals across a range of sectors (tertiary, secondary, primary, refugee services). The membership consists of teachers, researchers, program leaders and policy makers. At the end of 2017 TESOLANZ ran a state of the sector survey to identify critical needs within the sector. One of the key concerns indicated by members who participated in the survey related to Assessment practices. In addition, half of the survey respondents identified assessment as a pressing professional development need.
TESOLANZ proposes, therefore, to host a one-day symposium on 13th July (at Wintec-Hamilton) to bridge the gap between research and development in language practice to classroom praxis, thereby aligning with ALTAANZ's stated purpose of promoting 'best practice'. The theme of the symposium is Building the Knowledge Base: Connecting Research to Practice in Assessment and EAP.