In this article, the author clarifies and comments further on some of the issues raised in John Pill's response to her commentary on "English Proficiency Tests and Communication Skills Training for Overseas-Qualifies Health Professionals in Australia and New Zealand" in the recent special issue of "Language Assessment…

Background: Little is known about the nature, range and prevalence of different subgroups in language trajectories extant in a population from 4 to 11 years. This hinders strategic targeting and design of interventions, particularly targeting those whose difficulties will likely persist. Methods: Children's language abilities from 4 to 11 years…

In recent years there has been growing theoretical interest in exploring the relationship between the interpretation and use of high-stakes proficiency test scores. In these discussions, the role of institutional test users (or test score consumers) has received only limited attention. This may be due, at least in part, to the lack of consensus in…

This commentary reviews recent literature on a number of problematic issues arising from the use of English proficiency tests by registration bodies as the sole assessment of the professional communication skills of overseas qualified health professionals from non-English-speaking backgrounds. It discusses differences between the assessment…

TO FIND THE CORRELATION BETWEEN FINAL RESULTS AND MARKS GAINED IN THE WRITTEN AND ORAL PARTS OF THE 1964 SENIOR GERMAN EXAMINATION, THE RESULTS OF THE TESTS OF 674 CANDIDATES WERE EXAMINED. THIS EXAMINATION, HELD AFTER THE FOURTH YEAR OF SECONDARY SCHOOLING AND USED AS A BASIS FOR UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND MATRICULATION, CONSISTED OF--(1) THE ORAL…

In October, 1976, a new type of question was introduced into the Victorian HSC German test: A listening comprehension question with multiple-choice answers has replaced the written reproduction question. Results of a computer analysis of the answers given in the exam are reported. (SW)

READING AND WRITING SKILLS CAN BE TESTED OBJECTIVELY WITHOUT USING TRADITIONAL TRANSLATION TESTS. WHEN READING FRENCH, STUDENTS NEED TO RECOGNIZE WORDS IN BOTH UNINFLECTED AND INFLECTED FORMS TO ATTACH MEANING TO WORDS IN CONTEXT, AND TO REACT TO THE MEANING IMPLICATIONS OF FRENCH SENTENCE STRUCTURE. WHEN WRITING FRENCH, THEY NEED TO PRODUCE…

THE INCREASED EMPHASIS ON THE AUDIOLINGUAL SKILLS REQUIRES NEW APPROACHES IN TESTING. THESE SKILLS CAN BE SEPARATED INTO SEVERAL AREAS FOR WHICH GROUP AND INDIVIDUAL OBJECTIVE TESTS CAN BE CONSTRUCTED. EXAMPLES OF GROUP TESTS ARE AURAL WORD-RECOGNITION TESTS AND TESTS OF LISTENING COMPREHENSION. TESTS WHICH MUST BE ADMINISTERED INDIVIDUALLY ARE…