This study is the first attempt to explore the relationship between rater variables focusing on raters' language aptitude and their judgments of second language (L2) speech. Thirty-four English listeners rated 65 spontaneous native and nonnative speech samples for comprehensibility, accentedness, and fluency. They also completed the LLAMA language…

The recent surge in the popularity of Large Language Models (LLM) for language assessment underscores the growing significance of cost-effective language evaluation in our increasingly digitalized society. This paper posits that the application of computational psychometrics can enable the incorporation of technology into language assessment,…

Although the TOEFL iBT Listening test is sometimes used for other purposes, it was designed primarily for use as a college entrance examination. Item difficulty in TOEFL iBT Listening tests is the product of interactions between two sets of complex relationships: 1) relationships among numerous item characteristics themselves, and 2) relationships…

The lack of comprehensive language proficiency assessment models recognizing the nonlinearity and dynamicity of individual differences, as well as the fundamental differences between paper- and computer-assisted language assessments (CALA) served as the rationale to conduct the present study. Drawing on dynamic systems theory, a Nonlinear Dynamic…

Purpose: The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has prompted changes to child assessment procedures in schools such as the use of face masks by assessors. Research with adults suggests that face masks diminish performance on speech processing and comprehension tasks, yet little is known about how assessor masking affects child performance. Therefore, we…

We tested the utility of two standardized measures of receptive skills in American Sign Language (ASL) in hearing adults who are novice signers: the ASL Comprehension Test (ASL-CT; Hauser, P. C., Paludneviciene, R., Riddle, W., Kurz, K. B., Emmorey, K., & Contreras, J. (2016). American Sign Language Comprehension Test: A tool for sign language…

The Listening Vocabulary Levels Test (LVLT) created by McLean et al. Language Teaching Research 19:741-760, 2015 filled an important gap in the field of second language assessment by introducing an instrument for the measurement of phonological vocabulary knowledge. However, few attempts have been made to provide further validity evidence for the…

The purpose of this study was to contribute to the small but growing literature on the rehabilitation of language for older adults, as well as evaluate the clinical utility of a functional approach to language assessment. The study included an assessment-based response profile that informed individualized treatment targets and prompt selection,…

English language proficiency (ELP) assessment scores are used by states to make high-stakes decisions related to linguistic support in instruction and assessment for English learner (EL) students and for EL student reclassification. Changes to both academic content standards and ELP academic standards within the last decade have resulted in…

The goal of this paper is to tease apart two approaches to the source of children's consistent scope assignment in negative sentences containing logical connectives: the Semantic Subset Principle and the Semantic Subset Maxim. Previous developmental work has observed that four- to six-year-old children across languages have difficulty with…

This controlled experimental study investigated the interaction of variables associated with rating the pronunciation component of high-stakes English-language-speaking tests such as IELTS and TOEFL iBT. One hundred experienced raters who were all either familiar or unfamiliar with Brazilian-accented English or Papua New Guinean Tok Pisin-accented…

The present study explored the effects of interactionist Dynamic Assessment (DA) and age on the writing accuracy of IELTS candidates. This research investigated the existence of an interactional effect between the age of learners and the type of treatment they received. First, 140 IELTS candidates were split into two age groups, adult and young.…

Based on theories on vocabulary knowledge, grammar knowledge, and reading comprehension subcomponents, ten attributes/subskills were defined for 50 items from relevant subtests of TEM4 (Band Four of Test for English Majors in China). Cognitive diagnosis was conducted on the TEM4 data of the randomly sampled 2285 examinees (roughly at the B2 level)…

Evaluating students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds (i.e., emergent bilinguals) presents challenges to evaluation teams, as distinguishing between a language disorder and typical second language development is more complex. The skills and knowledge required to do this task often exceed the level of training that evaluators…

This paper examines (1) teacher candidates' knowledge of recent migration trends and language accreditation policies, (2) their attitudes towards language testing for migration, and (3) changes in their perceptions after exposure to training and migrant testimonies. Conducted over two years (2021-2023), this mixed-methods study involved 395…