This study aims to examine the feasibility of a number of technical solutions implemented in a web-based system designed for the creation and management of online language exams within PAULEX Universitas, a project for the development of an online platform to design, deliver and assess the foreign language exam within the Spanish national…

UNDER TITLE VI OF THE NATIONAL DEFENSE EDUCATION ACT THE MODERN LANGUAGE ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA (MLA) UNDERTOOK IN 1960 TO PREPARE A SERIES OF TESTS IN FRENCH, GERMAN, ITALIAN, RUSSIAN. AND SPANISH FOR USE OF TWO LEVELS--(1) AFTER THE 2D YEAR OF HIGH SCHOOL LANGUAGE STUDY, OR THE SECOND SEMESTER IN COLLEGE, AND (2) AFTER THE 4TH YEAR OF HIGH…

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)

Language instructors at one college devised a program to increase oral proficiency in language students. An oral proficiency test was developed to measure student performance. Results show that since the proficiency test has been required, students make more efforts to increase these skills through study, conversation and language laboratory use.…

Presents research rating the speaking proficiency on the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Language Oral Proficiency Interview of 40 college French students at four different levels of study. The data show a significant, positive relationship between level of proficiency and level of study. (Author/CB)

To study the adequacy of the brief oral examination format as a basis for assessing oral skills, the study compared samples of 15-minute oral exams with 3-hour written exam results by the same students. The resultant average size of oral samples was about 77% of that of written samples, with good comparability, leading to useful conclusions about…

The oral proficiency interview should be administered infrequently, but there are other measures than can be used between interviews to maintain oral proficiency and achievement as the organizing principles of instruction while placing fewer demands on the teacher/tester. One such measure is a semi-direct procedure that has two steps. First,…

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…

Since foreign language methodology has, in the past fifteen years, included aural-oral skills as well as reading and writing skills, achievement tests for foreign language courses should also include these skills. (Text is in French.) (MLA)

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…

This study investigates cultural differences in second language aural comprehension levels among Asians under the constraints of background noise. It is determined that noise is an important component of language proficiency, for it is found where most interactions take place. Students from Hong Kong, Seoul (Korea), Tokyo (Japan), and the South…

This booklet describes the test used by the federal government to determine oral proficiency in a foreign language. The test is essentially an oral interview, conducted by two testers, and lasting from 15 to 30 minutes, although the format can vary. Proficiency levels range from 0 (for no practical speaking proficiency) to 5 (for speaking…

Results of the professional preparation sections of the Modern Language Association (MLA) Cooperative Foreign Language Tests coupled with the findings of National Defense Education Act (NDEA) Institutes provide most of the background for these implications. Teacher ability to detect error in written and oral work and the correlation of language…

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…