School of Languages & Linguistics Linguistics & Applied Linguistics

Associate Professor Catherine Elder

Director Language Testing Research Centre (LTRC)

Contact details

Phone +61 3 83445180
Email: caelder@ unimelb.edu.au
Room: 408, Babel Building

Qualifications

BA (Hons), Dip. Ed, Dip. TEFL, MA, PhD

Research fields and areas of supervision

Language testing and assessment
Language program evaluation
Languages for specific purposes
Bilingualism and bilingual education

Selected publications

Download CV here [PDF]

Elder, C. & G. Wigglesworth (forthcoming) An investigation of the effectiveness and validity of planning time in part 2 of the IELTS oral module. IELTS Research Reports.  

Elder, C. Erlam, R. Philp, J. (in press).  Explicit language knowledge and focus on form. Options and obstacles for TESOL teacher trainees. In S. Fotos & H. Nassaji  (eds.) Oxford, Oxford University Press.

Elder, C. G. Barkhuizen U. Knoch and J. von Randow (in press)  Evaluating the utility of online training for L2 writing assessment: how responsive are ESL raters?  Language Testing

Elder, C. & Davies, A. (in press) Assessing English as a Lingua Franca. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics

Elder, C. (2009). Reconciling accountability and development needs in heritage language education. A communication challenge for the evaluation consultant in Language Testing Research, Arnold Publishers, London Volume 13 January 2009 pages 15-33.

Davies A. and Elder, C. (2005) Validity and validation in language testing. In E. Hinkel (ed.) Handbook of Research in Second Language Learning. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum

Elder, C. (2005). Evaluating the effectiveness of bilingual education in Australian schools: what role for tests? In Hornberger, N. (ed) Heritage/Community Language Education: US and Australian Perspectives. Special Issue of  International Journal of Bilingualism and Bilingual Education 

Elder, C & Iwashita, N. (2005) Planning for test performance: does it make a difference? In Ellis, R.(ed.) Planning and Task Performance in a Second Language (pp. 219- 237). Amsterdam, John Benjamins. 

Elder, C U. Knoch, G. Barkhuizen, J. von Randow (2005) Individualized feedback to enhance rater training: does it work? Language Assessment Quarterly 2, 3: 175-196.

Kim-Sun-Hee and Elder, C. (2005) Language choices and pedagogic functions in the foreign-language classroom: a cross-linguistic functional analysis of teacher-talk.  Language Teaching Research  9,4: 355-380.

A. Davies & C. Elder (eds) (2004)  Handbook of Applied Linguistics. London: Blackwell.
Elder, C. (2004) Introduction to Part 2. Applied-Linguistics. In A. Davies & C. Elder (eds) Handbook of Applied Linguistics (pp. 423-430).  Oxford, Blackwell.

Basturkmen, H. & Elder, C. (2004) The practice of LSP.  In A. Davies & C. Elder (eds) Handbook of Applied Linguistics (pp. 672-694). Blackwell. 

Davies, A. & Elder, C. (2004) Applied Linguistics: subject to discipline? In A. Davies & C. Elder (eds) Handbook of Applied Linguistics (pp.1-16) . Blackwell.

Elder, C. (2004) Researchers bring grist to the bilingual mill.  Review of Oller, D.K. & R. E. Eilers (2000) ‘Language and Literacy in Bilingual Children’. (Multilingual Matters.) Australian Language Matters 1,2 : 18 & 32

Elder, C, & Manwaring, D. (2004) The relationship between metalinguistic knowledge and learning outcomes amongst undergraduate students of Chinese.  Language Awareness 13,2: 145-162

Laufer, B., Elder, C. Hill, K. & Congdon, P.  (2004)  Size and strength: do we need both to measure vocabulary knowledge? Language Testing 21,2

Elder, C. (2003) Review of K. O’Loughlin (2001) “The Equivalence of Direct and Indirect Tests of Speaking Proficiency” (CUP) and E. Shohamy (2001) “The Power of Tests.” Pearson Education. Prospect 18,2: 30-36. 

Elder, C., McNamara, T. & Congdon, P. (2003) Rasch techniques for detecting bias in performance assessments: an example comparing the performance of native and non-native speakers on a test of academic English.  Journal of Applied Measurement 4,2: 181-197.

Elder, C. & K. O’Loughlin (2003) Score gains on IELTS after 10-12 weeks of intensive English study. IELTS Research Report. Volume 4: 62-87.    

Yu  S. & Elder, C. (2003)  Code-switching as an index of language shift: Case study of a Chinese-English bilingual child. Hong Kong Journal of Applied Linguistics 8, 1: 53-66.

Elder, C.  Iwashita, N. McNamara, T. (2002) Estimating the difficulty of oral proficiency tasks: what does the test-taker have to offer? Language Testing 19, 4: 347-368.

Kim, S-H. & Elder, C. (2002) When mother tongue medium becomes foreign language object: the case of native speaker teachers in New Zealand. New Zealand Studies in Applied Linguistics 8, 63-88.

Elder C. (2001) ‘Assessing the language proficiency of teachers: Are there any border controls?’ Language Testing 18, 1: 149-170.

Elder,  C,  A. Brown, A. K. Hill, N. Iwashita, T. Lumley, T. McNamara, K. O'Loughlin (Eds.) (2001) Experimenting with uncertainty:  language testing essays in honour of Alan Davies. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.

Iwashita, N. McNamara, T. Elder, C. (2001)   Investigating predictors of task difficulty in the measurement of speaking proficiency. Language Learning 21, 401-436.

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