Analysis of children's productions of oral narratives provides a rich description of children's oral language skills. However, measures of narrative organization can be directly affected by both developmental and task-based performance constraints which can make a measure insensitive and inappropriate for a particular population and/or sampling…

Two studies are reported that examined translation from second language to first language as a testing procedure. Results suggest that the widespread rejection of translation as a language testing procedure by teachers and testers is probably not warranted on psychometric grounds, but that it should be used with extreme care. (10 references)…

Reports on a project to develop and validate a criterion-referenced performance test of listening summary translation ability. This exam is designed to assess ability to comprehend and summarize in written English recorded conversations spoken in Spanish. The Bachman framework is used to present the test and provide evidence for its validity. (12…

Presents approaches to test development analysis, reliability, and validity based on criterion-referenced measurement principles and compares them with norm-referenced approaches in terms of the types of decisions that result from either approach. This is done by using data from an English-as-a-second-language achievement testing project at the…

Three analysis procedures were used to study the dependability and validity of ESLPE, a criterion-referenced English-as-a-Second-Language placement test developed at the University of California at Los Angeles in 1989. Findings led to the suggestion that some students might have been differently placed if subtest scores were used for placement.(38…