We tested the utility of two standardized measures of receptive skills in American Sign Language (ASL) in hearing adults who are novice signers: the ASL Comprehension Test (ASL-CT; Hauser, P. C., Paludneviciene, R., Riddle, W., Kurz, K. B., Emmorey, K., & Contreras, J. (2016). American Sign Language Comprehension Test: A tool for sign language…

Diagnostic classification models (DCMs) have recently become very popular both for research purposes and for real testing endeavors for student assessment. A plethora of DCM models give researchers and practitioners a wide range of options for student diagnosis and classification. One intriguing option that some DCM models offer is the possibility…

Dictation is a traditional technique for both teaching and testing overall language ability and listening comprehension. In a dictation, a passage is read aloud by the teacher and examinees write down what they hear. Due to the peculiar form of dictations, psychometric analysis of dictations is challenging. In a dictation, there is no clear…

In contrast with the assumptions made in standard measurement models used in large-scale assessments, students' performance may change during the test administration. This change can be modeled as a function of item position in case of a test booklet design with item-order manipulations. The present study used an explanatory item response theory…

Over the past decades, the application of Rasch measurement in language assessment has gradually increased. In the present study, we coded 215 papers using Rasch measurement published in 21 applied linguistics journals for multiple features. We found that seven Rasch models and 23 software packages were adopted in these papers, with many-facet…

The increasing popularity of the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) in non-native English-speaking countries has generated a demand for concrete examples in the creation of CEFR-based tests that assess the four main English skills. In response, this research endeavors to provide insight into the development and validation of a…

This study examined the content alignment between an English as a foreign language skills curriculum and a provincial language test in China. When there is misalignment in the content between the standards of a curriculum and a test, conclusions about student abilities and teaching effectiveness can be questioned. To examine this, three categories…

In this study, the construct of English competence for non-English major postgraduates is defined as the ability to effectively use various strategies and comprehensively exert the ability of reading, listening, writing, speaking and translation with academic, world, linguistic and intercultural knowledge in academic activities, classroom learning…

Purpose: This study introduces a framework to produce very short versions of the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventories (CDIs) by combining the Bayesian-inspired approach introduced by Mayor and Mani (2019) with an item response theory-based computerized adaptive testing that adapts to the ability of each child, in line with…

This study aimed to explore Down syndrome EFL learners and their teachers' perceptions of language ability assessment and considering their perceptions in order to develop an appropriate test format which can enable them to present their best of language ability. To achieve this purpose, 35 individuals with Down syndrome (both genders), their…

Graphophonemic (GP) knowledge of a language represents the foundation of a good learning start point. In the English as a foreign language (EFL) context, many learners lack adequate GP knowledge of English, resulting in difficulty to master the language skills even at the tertiary level. Thus, this study investigated first-year university,…

Background: The inaccurate estimation of language difficulties by teachers suggests the benefit of a short-language measure that could be used to support their decisions about who requires referral to a speech-language therapist. While the literature indicates the potential for the development of a short-language measure, evidence is lacking about…

On the grounds that assessment stands for a mirror of teaching and learning practices, its value cannot be ignored in teaching English as a Foreign Language (EFL) programmes as all those involved in foreign language teaching in non-native settings need constant feedback about the effectiveness of their ventures. Assessment of young learners of…

This study aims to investigate patterns of variation in the interplay of L2 language ability and general reading comprehension skills in L2 reading, by comparing item-level effects of test-takers' results on L1 and L2 reading comprehension tests. The material comes from more than 500,000 people tested on L1 (Swedish) and L2 (English) in the…

Integrated assessment tasks have been increasingly used in language tests, but the underlying constructs of integrated tasks remain elusive. This study aimed to improve understanding of the construct of integrated writing tasks in Chinese Language examinations in Hong Kong by looking at the language competences measured in the…