Although the standard-setting method of W. H. Angoff (1971) has broad-based support in the research literature, inconsistencies in the resulting standards do occur. Sources of these inconsistencies are examined in a study of judges, competencies (items), rounds (replications), and the interactions among them. A modified Angoff approach was used to…

The nature and development of the recently released International English Language Testing System (IELTS) instrument are described. The test is the result of a joint Australian-British project to develop a new test for use with foreign students planning to study in English-speaking countries. It is expected that the modular instrument will become…

A discussion of language testing looks at the relationship between the processes of language learning and language testing, particularly from the point of view of pragmatics theory. It outlines some of the theory of Charles Sanders Pierce and its role in the evolution of linguistic theory, as well as the work of other theorists concerning the…

An attempt is made is this paper to examine the validity of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) scale through a comparison of the scaling of speaking tasks and speech performances by the scale and by a Rasch analysis of judgments made by "naive" persons. The results of the multi-faceted Rasch analysis seem…

The lack of authentic, real-world interaction practice in the English as a second language (ESL) classroom is described and discussed, and the ways in which dialogue journals answer this classroom need are detailed. A dialogue journal is an interactive, self-generated, cumulative and functional writing and reading exchange between teacher and…

Research into language acquisition is reviewed and implications for practice are discussed. The research stemmed from the State of California's mandate to use specific oral language instruments for identifying students who are limited English speakers. The development of a test to identify and place English as a second language students in…

The vocabulary used in textbooks and standardized tests for English as a second language (ESL) is examined to determine how much variation exists. Word lists were compared for six difficulty levels in five frequently-used ESL textbook series (a total of 30 books). Three series of standardized proficiency/placement tests at different levels were…

The aims of the projects described in this paper were to develop and evaluate a new approach to the assessment of English language skills of English as a second language (ESL) students. The approach makes use of optical scanning equipment in scoring cloze-elide test exercises, thereby providing a rapid, relatively inexpensive and objective measure…

This study attempted to determine the effectiveness of cloze procedures as norm-referenced instruments by comparing the differential responses of four groups of college students of English as a second language on two identical cloze passages. The responses were scored using both exact-answer and acceptable-word methods. The results indicate that…

This paper describes the efforts of the Talent Identification Program (TIP) of North Carolina to relate American College Testing (ACT) Assessment and Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores of academically talented seventh graders. The study was also designed to interpret the results in the context of "concordance" studies that have been…

Assessment of the Spanish-speaking bilingual child's language dominance is essential to bilingual education, but to date there is no universally accepted way of doing this. There are many tests on the market which purport to measure language dominance and achievement, and which involve various criteria and methods. This paper describes four tests,…

A recent task force of the Speech Communication Association identified three situations in which native English speaking adults require communicative competence--occupation, citizenship, and maintenance. These situations give rise to five main contexts in which adult learners of English as a second language (ESL) need communicative proficiency:…

The Preschool Preposition Test (PPT), a rapid screening test to identify delay in cognitive development of children ages 3 to 5, indicated its potential as a useful tool for the early identification of mother-child dyads in need of improving their affective relationship and verbal communications. Scores on the PPT, the Stanford-Binet Intelligence…

Three techniques of integrative FL testing are specifically discussed: dictation, cloze testing and noise testing. Studies show that dictation, when properly conducted, is a useful and efficient measure of overall language proficiency. Cloze testing is defined and illustrated with four examples, each with a different format. Noise or interference…

The 23 papers in this volume are classified into the following seven areas: (1) the profession, (2) the teacher, (3) the learner, (4) programs, (5) the organization of materials, (6) testing, and (7) the classroom. The papers appear here just as they were prepared for presentation at the 1974 TESOL Convention. The three papers in part 1 look at…