Purpose: This study focuses on 7- to 9-year-old children attending primary school in Swedish areas of low socioeconomic status, where most children's school language is their second language. The aim was to better understand what factors influence these children's narrative listening comprehension both in an ideal listening condition (in quiet)…

Drawing on data from eleven preschools in four European countries (Germany, Belgium, Sweden, and the UK), this edited volume explores the progress of preschool children learning English over a period of two years. In the first volume, children's lexical and grammatical comprehension, the quality of L2 input, the effect of immersion on L1…

Drawing on data from eleven preschools in four European countries (Germany, Belgium, Sweden, and the UK), this edited volume explores the progress of preschool children learning English over a period of two years. This edited volume (Volume II) gives details on best practices in bilingual preschools as well as background and training on topics…

A self-assessment test of Swedish as a second language is described. The test was designed as a self-diagnostic instrument for adult migrants to Sweden studying Swedish at labor training centers. The 1,500-item test provides students with information about their Swedish proficiency level as well as the proficiency needed for their professional…

Six basic questions that are important to consider in foreign language testing are often taken for granted: (1) What is it that a student "knows" when he or she has acquired a foreign language, and is it measured in qualitative or quantitative terms or both? (2) What are the roles of skills and attitudes in learning a foreign language?…

A large-scale test development project at the Language Teaching Research Center of the University of Gothenburg aims to develop tests in English as a foreign language for use in various areas of business and public administration. After testing, certificates stating current proficiency level in each of the four language skills (listening, reading,…

The system of standardized second language tests administered to Swedish junior and senior high school students is described. The tests are used to give teachers an idea of the performance levels of their entire classes, not individual students, for comparison with national norms. They are administered more than a year before the students leave…

An attempt was made to further the understanding of foreign language proficiencies and to formulate methods of testing them. Language testing is needed as a criterion of the efficacy of teaching. Consideration of the curriculum and analysis of the texts used would aid in test construction. A discussion of the design and content of language tests…

Negative influences on teaching practices and objectives in modern language programs, caused by certain final examination practices in Sweden, are pointed out and criticized in this paper. The needs of the Swedish student of languages are determined to be related to the use of language primarily as a means of everyday communication. The…

About 2,200 immigrant children in Sweden were studied by means of tests and teacher questionnaires. The children, representing 36 nationalities, were born outside Sweden and were distributed over the nine grades of the Swedish Comprehensive School. Various functional language skills in Swedish as a second language (L2), nonverbal intelligence and…

This is a summary of the Swedish national report on the 1970 and 1971 international investigations on French as a foreign language as taught in eight countries: England (including Wales), Chile, Scotland, the U.S.A., New Zealand, the Netherlands, Rumania, and Sweden. In the full report, data from the international analysis are used to highlight…

Presented in this symposium reader are nine papers, four of which deal with the theory and impact of the Rasch model on language testing and five of which discuss final examinations in secondary schools in both general and specific terms. The papers are: "Introduction to Rasch Measurement: Some Implications for Language Testing" (J. J.…