A general issue related to language program development involves the empirical rationalization of cut score decisions in criterion-referenced language tests. Cut score dependability focuses on the consistency of the decisions in repeated testing or the assessment of language learner performances. In this case, the issue is to determine the optimal…

A discussion of language testing in the context of a program in English for Special Purposes (ESP) focuses on the lack of "fit" between the two areas and makes some recommendations for improvement. It begins with overviews of recent trends in testing and recent issues in ESP. Overlap is seen in two areas: construct and content validity. It is…

Prior research suggests that the traditionally difficult academic subject matter, such as mathematics or the natural sciences, may evoke greater levels of evaluative (test) anxiety than curricular areas with easier content. These higher levels of anxiety may contribute to poor performance in mathematics and science courses. College freshmen's…

Fifty-five college students were assessed on four types of cognitive and metacognitive measures in math, language, and visual/spatial tasks. They were measures on self-reported general metacognitive skills, predicted performance, metacognitive behaviors, and actual performance. The students' self-reported assessments of their ability on a general…

A discussion of the relationship of second language course content and testing focuses on the instruction and assessment of language proficiency. Basic principles of measurement of proficiency and syllabus design for proficiency and their implications are examined. An approach is recommended to syllabus design that has the learner's real needs at…

This paper reports the development of a test battery to replace the structural testing used in Kuwait to assess skills acquired in the communicatively-based Crescent English Course. A list of activities and tasks required of students at level six was drawn from the course syllabus, and four modules containing clusters of integrated language tasks…

The competency testing movement will yield few improvements in the schools and will create arbitrary barriers to progress for some students. Although it may stimulate educational improvement for limited-English-proficient (LEP) students, as for other students, by giving cohesion to the curriculum, guiding scarce resources for remediation,…

The use of factor analysis in examining the dimensionality of language tests is questioned and found to be problematic because it has a number of weak points which make it possible to manipulate results. Some of these weaknesses occur in the examinee selection sample, test selection, and the methods of extraction and rotation chosen. The use of…

A review of literature on communicative competence reveals many meanings of the concept and of the way it should be used in second and foreign language instruction. In the literature there are two views: that communicative competence includes grammatical competence, and that it does not; or at least the ability to communicate one's meaning is…

The question has been raised whether various measures of language proficiency that concentrate on different aspects of language are equivalent. Studies have been conducted by various agencies comparing language proficiency assessment instruments. Of interest here are the BINL, LAS, and BSM tests. Because each test has a different set of criteria…

A few multi-dimensional items were found to be more efficient than a larger number of uni-dimensional items in tests for participant selection and evaluation of such compensatory educational programs as Title I. A multi-dimensional scaling technique is described which derives scores for each item on three dimensions, and allows multiple scores to…

Because language delay tends to persist, is predictive of later learning problems, and is closely associated with psychiatric disorders, it is important to identify language delay as early as possible. In this study, language delay at age 2 was investigated in 502 children who attended physicians. Language assessment is not routinely carried out…

This paper describes an attempt to follow up the performance of foreign graduate students in the College of Engineering, University of Michigan, and discusses whether the scores they obtained on the Michigan Battery, with special reference to the composition test, predicted success or lack of success in their first term subjects. No significant…

The steps in the manual are designed to ensure that developmentally normal limited English proficiency (LEP) students are properly placed and to increase the validity of the special education referral-assessment-placement system. The construct of LEP is explained, and procedures for selecting two language proficiency tests are outlined. Criteria…

This is one of ten papers commissioned to investigate research needs and to stimulate planning activities. The paper assumes that the primary current goal of foreiqn/second language instruction in the United States is to produce citizens who have a usable command of one or more languages other than their native language. The implications of this…