Discusses attitudes to types of English language use--English as a second language, English as a foreign language, and English as a mother tongue (EMT)--as their use is demonstrated by tests. Concludes that EMT status is uncertain but that a test does provide a normative goal description. (SED)

Reports on study in which students of Hebrew as a second language took four versions of oral proficiency test. Results indicate that different speech styles and topics significantly affected students' scores, and correlational analyses between pairs pointed to low reliability and lack of stability of the test. Urges caution in making decisions…

The development of an empirically based model of communicative competence is discussed in terms of conceptual, statistical, and methodological considerations. A distinction is made between descriptive and working models of communicative competence. Working models attempt to show how components of communicative competence are interrelated…

The study investigated the effect of "item density" on item difficulty in passage-related language tests. Item density refers to the number and frequency of items in relation to clear text. The format used was a passage with underlinings to signal the language situations out of which the items were constructed. American College Testing…

The possible effects of applying new assessment techniques to second language learning is dramatized by two contrasting scenarios. The first describes a high school Spanish class as we might find it today: the teaching is effective, but the best results are not being obtained. The second scenario is set in the year 1990. Here, applications of…

The experiment reported in this document extended the study by Milburn and Bell (1969) of English word frequencies. Specifically, this experiment examined the influence of instructional set on the relationship between affect and frequency estimates, with a distinction between personal and nationwide norms. The experiment design provided for two…

The University entrance examination (PAU) is the most important high-stakes exam in the General educational system in Spain. It has 6 sections of which the Foreign Language one is very relevant to the final score. The English section has had almost not significant changes in the last 20 years despite all the research in language learning and…

This study investigates the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), in particular the relative contributions to score dependability (analogous to classical theory reliability) of various numbers of items and subtests as well as the decision dependability at different cut points. Research questions that apply to the overall TOEFL battery and…

The primary purpose of the interview-type of language proficiency evaluation is to get a rough idea of the language learner's ability at oral communicative exchange. However, interview examinations are often structured in such a way that true exchange is unlikely. Questions elicit obvious answers in a way unlike everyday conversation. Potential…

Discusses the drawbacks of using the ACTFL-ETS Provisional Proficiency Guidelines in a university foreign language department. Recommends that reading skill should be measured by depth of understanding and perhaps speed rather than by the kind and number of specific elements of language the reader has failed to "understand." (SED)

Language tests reflect the complexities and power struggles of society. Critical language testing recognizes this aspect of language testing and broadens the field by engaging it in the sphere of social dialog. Studying, protecting, and guarding language tests is part of the process of providing quality learning and preserving democratic cultures,…

Computers have become a solution for many traditional problems from the kitchen to the school. It is not, therefore, uncommon to use them to solve existing problems. It is also quite frequent that different educational needs can lead to similar solutions. For instance, the Australian immigration services use a number of exams to allow the access…

It is suggested that models of human problem solving are useful in the analysis of word fluency (WF) test performance. In problem-solving terms, WF tasks would require the subject to define and clarify the conditions of the task (task acquisition), select and employ appropriate strategies, and monitor one's performance. In modern neuropsychology,…

A case is made for the use of "banding" as a method of assessing language progress. In a banding system, the range of language proficiency from beginner to native speaker is divided into bands, each one representing a distinct, discernible, and describable level of ability. Banding seems to be most useful in circumstances when the specific purpose…

The first part of the paper presents theoretical arguments in favor of more student-centered approaches to the evaluation of progress in foreign language learning. It is argued that subective self-assessment procedures are not necessarily less reliable than objective tests and that the language student cannot assume full responsibility for the…