This issue of the National Clearinghouse for ESL Literacy Education (NCLE) newsletter includes an article titled "Assessment and Accountability: What Do We Know and Where Are We Going?" and a profile of Inaam Mansoor, director of the Arlington Education and Employment Program (REEP) in Arlington, Virginia. Also included are resource updates, news…

Several articles of interest to teachers of English as a second language (ESL) are included. The Institute of Languages at the University of New South Wales describes "Projects for a 'Survival' English Course for Overseas Students." Howard Tucker and Barbara Harley discuss an educational series of 24 television programs for immigrant…

Three issues of this newsletter (Spring, Summer, and Fall/Winter), produced by the Project in Adult Immigrant Education at the Center for Applied Linguistics, provide information from the field of adult immigrant education, highlights of programs in a particular industry, "promising practices" in training and development, new resources, and…

A project is described that was undertaken to investigate: (1) how long a cloze test has to be to achieve optimum reliability without wasting anyone's time; and (2) how cloze tests should be scored in order to obtain maximum reliability. The literature recommended 50 deletions in order to provide for an adequate sample of examinee's abilities; it…

Reports from Graded Objectives in Modern Languages (GOML) groups throughout Great Britain are included in this annual newsletter on second language learning. It also contains two special reports: (1) report of the 9th annual GOML in-service training course in "Graded Objectives in Modern Languages: Taking Stock" (draft proposals),…

The construction of tests of oral competence in a foreign language requires consideration of several factors. The face validity of the test, or the degree to which students feel they are performing a real communicative act, is illustrated with a number of model testing situations. Content validity, or the ability of a test to measure what has been…

Alternatives to standard language proficiency testing of bilingual or language minority students are discussed in this educational policy bulletin. The New Mexico strategy is described, which uses multiple assessment techniques to identify students' home language, assess oral English proficiency through standardized testing and teacher…

This is the first issue of a new journal, to be published annually, by the California Association of Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (CATESOL). Articles in this issue include: "English as a Bridge between Cultures: Scotland, Carolina, and California" (Patricia C. Nichols); "Cambodian Refugees: Factors Affecting…

This Israeli journal for teachers of English provides news reports and articles on aspects of teaching English in Israel. The brief news items address such topics as language examination formats, teacher certification examinations, teacher education degree programs, conferences, and new instructional materials. The articles cover the teaching of…

Australia's Occupational English Test (OET) for health professionals was developed in response to the need for immigrant health professions workers to have increased awareness of Australian colloquialisms, improved language training, both in general and within the professions, and cultural awareness training. The test assesses speaking, reading,…

The eight papers in this volume, prepared by staff and students of the Institute for Applied Language Studies of Edinburgh University, address a variety of issues in applied linguistics. The papers include: (1) "A Coding System for Analyzing a Spoken Database" (Joan Cutting); (2) "L2 Perceptual Acquisition: The Effect of…

The first four volumes, comprised of newsletters published during the period of August 1992-January 1996, of the Association of Language Testers in Europe (ALTE) include articles on: the origins, aims, activities, and membership of the organization; conference activities; development of language testing standards and procedures; guidelines for…

This issue of the Journal contains the following articles and features: (1) "Information for English Teachers"; (2) "The Group-Oral Test: An Experiment," by T. Reves; (3) "Finding a New Method for Testing Oral Proficiency," by L. Taharlev; (4) "The Experimental Oral Examination," by Y. Lapushin; (5) "One Vote for the Group Oral Test," by E.…

The following articles appear in this issue of a journal devoted to teaching English for science and technology in Kuwait: (1) "An Approach to the Implementation of Dr. J.L. Munby's 'Communicative Syllabus Design'" by Bill Robinson, (2) "Une experience d'elaboration de materiel pedagogique" (An Experiment in Developing Teaching…

Information is provided for teachers of English as a second language in Israel on teaching methods and testing procedures. The eight articles and a number of brief notes discuss the official syllabus and examination for secretarial English, a new series of lessons designed for grades 11 and 12, the use of translation, teaching English to the…