Assessing English in South America
This chapter presents a brief state-of-the-art description of English language teaching and assessment in South America, placing special focus on Brazil and Argentina. There is reference to developments in Uruguay, Chile, and Colombia. The chapter focuses on the status of the English language in the official education network—taking into consideration the goals and approaches at each of the levels of the educational systems—as well as on assessment practices in public and private schools. There are great challenges for the democratization of quality English teaching, and the role of assessment is vital in this process. In order to overcome the challenges identified, there is a need to raise teachers’ awareness of the role and power of assessment in general practices and to implement measures in order to increase the level of proficiency among teachers and the quality of their education. 
 
 
Keywords: 
 
Assessment evaluation; 
Assessment methods; 
ESL/EFL; 
South America
Teacher Socialization of EFL Teachers at Public School Levels in Central Mexico
This study aimed at exploring the processes of teacher socialization and identity formation of nine English as a foreign language teachers at public schools in central Mexico. These teachers began their careers in the National English Program in Basic Education. Qualitative research and narrative inquiry were used as a basis for this research. The data revealed that the teachers’ socialization was somewhat informal in that little was required from them to gain entrance into the program. Once teaching, the participants dealt with challenges in their teaching contexts and the program. From these challenges, the teachers were able to make decisions concerning their future as teachers, forming and imagining their identity.
The New ‘U’
Today's talk about tenure must be framed within broader discussions about the role of the university. Our university system is now over one hundred years old, the “Old-Time College” is gone, the “cold war” university is no longer viable, and the foundations of the modern “multiversity” are cracking, so it is time to talk about change. But change is not necessarily reform, and resisting change probably will not keep things the way they are, so academics must understand the forces reshaping the university. Whenever I listen to colleagues defend the status quo by saying that the United States has a university system that is the envy of the world, I hear echoes of the Detroit automobile industry's casual dismissal of foreign competitors in the early 1960s. The decision not to change did not preserve the auto industry, and it is unlikely to preserve public universities as we know them. The current debates about tenure began with ideological attacks on “tenured radicals” who used their secure jobs to subvert conservative cultural values. The attack on tenure gathered steam as fiscal hawks in financially-strapped states looked for ways to save money and found huge state university systems with budgets to match. When asked why he robbed banks, the legendary Willie Sutton replied, “Because that's where the money is.” When asked why they are robbing tenure, legislators, regents, and administrators reply, “Because that's where the money is.” Personnel costs are a large share of university budgets and tenure ties the hands of administrators and legislators accustomed to using purse strings to control universities.