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Student assessment plays a central and important role in teaching and learning. Teachers devote a large part of their preparation time to creating instruments and observation procedures, marking, recording, and synthesizing results in informal and formal reports in their daily teaching. A number of studies of the assessment practices used by teachers in regular school classrooms have been undertaken (e.g., Rogers, 1991; Wilson, 1998; 2000). In contrast, less is known about the assessment practices employed by instructors of English as a Second Language (ESL) and English as a Foreign Language (EFL), particularly at the tertiary level. This article reports a comparative survey conducted in ESL=EFL contexts represented by Canadian ESL, Hong Kong ESL=EFL, and Chinese EFL in which 267 ESL or EFL instructors participated, and documents the purposes, methods, and procedures of assessment in these three contexts. The findings demonstrate the complex and multifaceted roles that assessment plays in different teaching and learning settings. They also provide insights about the nature of assessment practices in relation to the ESL=EFL classroom teaching and learning at the tertiary level.

The aggressive internationalization of Canadian universities and increased immigration to Canada over the past 20 years have resulted in a dramatic increase in the number of second language (L2) students in Canadian universities. However, little is known about the factors that influence academic acculturation of L2 students or about the role of English for academic purposes (EAP) instruction in their acculturation process. This study examined L2 university students' perceptions of academic acculturation and the role of EAP instruction by means of interviews conducted with 56 L2 students at three Canadian universities. Findings suggest that the students who characterized their academic engagement as successful had typically developed more strategic learning and social skills as part of their acculturation process. Implications are drawn for the importance of aligning students' agendas for learning (i.e., their perceptions of needs) with EAP programs.

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Universities and colleges in Canada and other English-speaking countries have become increasingly concerned with linguistic and cultural diversity and internationalizing their campuses, both to enhance local and international students' experiences on campus and to prepare them to function in their careers and the larger society. Most international students are non-native English-speaking (NNES) and need support to develop the English language proficiency required for engagement in the academic demands of the Canadian university milieu. This small-scale study at a Canadian university, by way of a survey and follow-up interview, addresses the gap in our understanding between academic skills that are required at the graduate level and those that learners of English find difficult. The findings suggest that by targeting academic skills that are both required and difficult, efficiency can be achieved in the design of programmatic supports for developing English for academic purposes (EAP). The findings further suggest that international students may lack independent strategies for advancing their English-language proficiency and that these too can be targeted in an EAP program.

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