Various claims have been made about the efficiency of different composition scoring schemes. This paper reports the results of a systematic analysis of the robustness of holistic scoring, analytical scoring, and an obective diagnostic test, Davidson's "Test of the Ability to Subordinate." Compositions from an advanced English as a Second…

This paper concerns issues related to testing English for Science and Technology in Germany. One problem is that both teachers and students are trained primarily in literary English and so have little knowledge of the content and the conventions of scientific writing. Another problem is the difficulties that arise when needs, aims, and methods…

This report describes research in progress at Duisburg University on a modification of the cloze principle in language testing. Four problem areas in classical cloze tests are isolated and discussed, namely, text selection, test construction, scoring, and interpretation. The "C-tests" in the process of development use the theoretical…

Three arguments are generally advanced about why language testing is not more familiar to teachers. The arguments are that the material on testing is not readily available or relevant to teaching, that it is out of date, and that it is not taught in teacher training or in-service training. A review of research led to inconclusive evidence on the…

Behaviorist/structuralist language teachers and theoreticians are beginning to pay attention to contributions from contemporary linguists, psychologists, and educators. This paper draws attention to an obvious, but not often considered, point of interest to all who are engaged in formal language instruction and in related fields. Classroom…

Describes Purdue University's two oral proficiency interviews that are a prerequisite to student teaching in a foreign language. Focuses on the procedures and content of the interviews for students of German. A three-member committee has the student read one page of materials and then asks the student questions. (SED)

An essay test is now an integral part of the computer based Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL-CBT). This paper provides a brief overview of the current TOEFL-CBT essay test, describes the operational procedures for essay scoring, including the Online Scoring Network (OSN) of the Educational Testing Service (ETS), and discusses major…

The study reviews translation validated tests and proposes a process-oriented translation test for assessing basic translation skills for freshmen English majors at the faculty of Education. The proposed test is developed based on the process approach to translating and translation teaching, and is confined to translation from English to Arabic.…

A study compared the influence of two forms of discourse completion test (DCT) on the elicitation of rejection of advice. An open questionnaire providing scenarios alone was compared with a classic dialogue completion task in which a conversational turn is provided. The tasks were given to 32 graduate students, 19 native and 13 non-native…

In 1989, the Southern Conference on Language Teaching (SCOLT) celebrated its silver anniversary at a conference designed to provide participants with an opportunity both to reflect on the past and to look at the future of foreign language teaching and of SCOLT in the light of a quarter century of experience. Seven of the papers in this volume were…

A study investigated the comparability of second language (L2) listening comprehension tests by examining the effects of varying text type and assessment task on student performance. Student target language experience was an additional variable considered. Subjects were 107 beginning and 64 advanced-intermediate college-level Spanish second…

It is proposed that in the teaching and testing of Chinese as a foreign language (CFL), emphasis should be placed on features that are universal to all languages rather than particular to Chinese. Shared properties of Chinese and other languages, particularly English, are illustrated through examination of three major language components:…

This study investigated the type of language impairments found and the degree to which these impairments were being identified in a learning-disabled population in a middle school suburban setting, by use of the Fullerton Language Test for Adolescents, Revised. Subjects were categorized as language learning impaired (N=8 and mean age of 13 years)…

The Victorian (Australia) assessment approach of developing national subject profiles has potential for language assessment. Within each language area, levels of development would be identified and defined by observable language behavior, which could then be tested by a variety of test types. Assessment would be done by teachers in schools using…

An adaptation of the Foreign Service Institute's (FSI) oral interview test for oral language proficiency developed for use at the American Institute of Musical Studies' (AIMS) summer vocal institute in Austria to determine students' improvement in German language is discussed. The reasons for its selection over other major comparable tests are…