Three tests of self-assessment of oral skills were compared with a standardized measure of listening comprehension and oral expression, CEEL's test N73, parts 2 and 3. Results are provided. (KM)

As individual states and communities work out curriculum and instructional expectations, high quality assessments of communication skills will continue to evolve. An active cycle of setting goals, developing instruction, teaching, testing, and assessing student and system success is the key to the process of renewal and improvement. All types of…

An attempt to test students objectively in a five-part, French, speaking proficiency test is described and discussed. Concrete nouns, abstract words, pronunciation, syntax, and fluency are tested with a combination of tape and picture stimuli. Reliability, validity, and practical questions are raised; and previous aural-oral testing procedures are…

Questions are addressed pertaining to the Language Assessment Battery (LAB), currently the only single battery that meets all of the state of Connecticut criteria for an instrument to determine which pupils must be offered bilingual education. Normed on an English dominant population, the primary purpose was to obtain its psychometric…

A study investigated the use of a narrative discourse task to test oral English proficiency in non-native speakers for screening and placement. The subjects were Japanese university freshmen entering a five-level course in spoken English. The subjects were shown an animated cartoon of a Japanese folk tale, with narration in Japanese, and later…

An examination of the principles and techniques of oral testing in British university-level final examinations in modern languages discusses: (1) the shortcomings of present oral testing procedures; (2) the theoretical controversy surrounding the design and value of oral proficiency tests, arising from research in English as a second language…