THE DIFFERENCES OF BRITISH ENGLISH AND AMERICAN ENGLISH

Pronunciation
American pronunciation
In the context of language learning, American pronunciation means General American (GenAm) pronunciation. This is the pronunciation used by educated Americans, on television and on radio. It is described in dictionaries of American English, such as the Merriam-Webster and Random House dictionaries. General American pronunciation is rhotic, which means that the letter r is always pronounced.
British pronunciation
When people talk about learning British pronunciation, they usually think of Received Pronunciation (RP). This is the pronunciation that you will learn at a British language school; it is also the model taught in coursebooks and dictionaries from publishers like Oxford and Longman. RP is non-rhotic, which means that the letter r is usually "silent", unless it is followed by a vowel. Here's how it works:
• In words like car, tower, inform and first, r is silent (r is not followed by a vowel).
• In words like red, foreign, print, r is pronounced (r is followed by a vowel).
• R is also pronounced at the end of a word, if the next word starts with a vowel, for example: number eight, far away.
• Most RP speakers also insert an r in phrases like: the idea(r) of, Africa(r) and Asia, law(r) and order. This r is not in the spelling; they just use it to separate two vowels.


word US UK aluminium aluminum aluminium apricot a-pricot ay-pricot charade char-ay-d char-ah-d cordial corjul cordee-al fillet filay filit leisure leezhure lezhure
lever l- e-ver leever privacy pry-vacy priv-acy route rout root schedule skedule shedule semi sem-eye sem-ee strychnine strich-9 strich-neen
tomato tom-ay-do tom-ah-to vase vayz vahz
vitamin vie-tamin vit-amin

Differences in pronunciation between American English and British English can be divided into:

Either / British English ’aidhe(r); American English ‘i:dhe(r)

Neither/ British English ‘naidhe(r) American English ‘ni:dhe(r)

Clerk/ British English ‘kla:k American English ‘kle:k

portofolio assesment

Portfolio assessment
The concept of portfolio was adopted from the field of fine arts where portfolios are used to display illustrative samples of an artist's work. The purpose of the artist's portfolio is to demonstrate the depth and breadth of the work as well as the artist's interests and abilities (Jongsma, 1989). Many educators perceive the intent of educational portfolios to be similar to that of portfolios used in fine arts, to demonstrate the depth and breadth of students' capabilities through biographies of students' work (Wolf, 1989); descriptions of students' reading and writing experiences (Jongsma, 1989); literacy folders (Jongsma, 1989); collections of pieces of writing (Katz, 1988); comparison reports (Flood & Lapp, 1989); and student work exhibitions (Brandt, 1989). Although portfolios using the model developed in the fine arts may be appropriate for illustrating student work, the model must be expanded to accommodate informational needs and assessment requirements of the classroom.
A portfolio used for educational assessment must offer more than a showcase for student products; it must be the product of a complete assessment procedure that has been systematically planned, implemented, and evaluated. A portfolio is a collection of a student's work, experiences, exhibitions, self-ratings (i.e., data), whereas portfolio assessment is the procedure used to plan, collect, and analyze the multiple sources of data maintained in the portfolio. A portfolio that is based on a systematic assessment procedure can provide accurate information about the depth and breadth of a student's.
Portfolios present a practical approach to assembling student work, interpreting evidence of student performance. In classroom instruction, portfolios are used in a similar manner, but the contents of the portfolio may represent work in progress, formal products, and ratings or other evidence of student knowledge relative to specific objectives or purposes (Valencia, 1990). There is no "right" way to design portfolios. Each classroom, school district, and state will reflect a unique approach to authentic assessment, and in this sense, each student's collection of documents will differ somewhat, depending on the purpose of the assessment (Tierney, Carter, & Desai, 1991). Creating and maintaining student portfolios require that a variety of teacher decisions be made concerning the instructional goals or objectives to be assessed. The entire portfolio process can be complex, systematic review and evaluation of the process should be conducted on a periodic basis. Steps to portfolio development should include designing the portfolio, planning for and collecting the necessary data, analyzing the portfolio contents, and using the results (Moya & O'Malley, in press).