A discussion of language testing focuses on how proficiency scales are constructed and applied to communicative language assessment in Australian secondary schools. A variety of rating scale types are described and distinguished according to how they are constructed, what they attempt to measure, and what criteria they contain. A more detailed…

Intended to aid schools in designing a Literacy Profile (defined here as consisting of documented information from a variety of assessments of a student's performance over a range of items defined as the dimensions of language learning), this pamphlet presents an alternative to standard assessment techniques. In the form of data tables the…

The role of different types of testing instruments in second language programs is discussed. Knowledge-based tests, including discrete-point and integrative tests are contrasted with direct tests, including the Foreign Service Institute Scale and the Australian Second Language Proficiency Ratings (ASLPR). The ASLPR is described in detail in terms…