Background: Creating a holistic picture of children and youth who suffer from acquired aphasia or another (developmental) language disorders is very difficult due to missing diagnostic instruments covering participation. Szenario-Kids is a new diagnostic instrument to measure multimodal communication abilities in everyday life situations of…

In this study we seek evidence of validity according to the socio-cognitive framework (Weir, 2005) for a new sentence repetition test (SRT) for young Deaf L1 Swiss German Sign Language (DSGS) users. SRTs have been developed for various purposes for both spoken and sign languages to assess language development in children. In order to address the…

Research on assessing English as a foreign language (EFL) development has been growing recently. However, empirical evidence from longitudinal analyses based on substantial samples is still needed. In such settings, tests for measuring language development must meet high standards of test quality such as validity, reliability, and objectivity, as…

The Test of German as a Foreign Language (TestDaF) plays a critical role as a standardized test of German language proficiency. Developed and administered by the Society for Academic Study Preparation and Test Development (g.a.s.t.), TestDaF was launched in 2001 and has experienced persistent annual growth, with more than 44,000 test takers in…

Language testing is an integral part of teaching and learning, yet most language faculty do not receive adequate training for developing tests (Taylor, [Taylor, L., 2009]). Most have advanced degrees in literary and cultural studies in the target language but often have insufficient training in pedagogy and assessment. This shortcoming is alarming…

Concepts of second language proficiency and how proficiency may be assessed have changed considerably over the last 20 years. New notions of validity with respect to the interpretation and uses of test scores have begun to shape discussions about test validity and quality assurance in college world language departments, in government, and in…

Achievement of advanced literacy as a goal of foreign language (FL) study within the available amount of time requires that FL departments construct a well-articulated program and optimize student learning at each stage of the curriculum. One essential element of such optimization is the development of assessment procedures to place students into…

This article describes the development and validation of a diagnostic test of German and its integration in a programme of formative assessment during a one-year initial teacher-training course. The test focuses on linguistic aspects that cause difficulty for trainee teachers of German as a foreign language and assesses implicit and explicit…

Presents study designed to determine whether AP German Language Examination requires the same level of skill as third-year college German courses. Compares performances of AP German Language Examination candidates with college students completing second- or third-year German language courses. Results indicate AP exam is valid measure of competency…

What C-tests actually measure has been an issue of debate for many years. In the present research, the authors examined the hypothesis that C-tests measure general language proficiency. A total of 843 participants from four independent samples took a German C-test along with the TestDaF (Test of German as a Foreign Language). Rasch measurement…

AN ANALYSIS OF THE PERFORMANCE OF FIRST-SEMESTER COLLEGE STUDENTS ON A MULTIPLE-CHOICE TEST OF PROFICIENCY IN GERMAN GRAMMAR REVEALED A CURIOUS PATTERN. LOW SCORING STUDENTS TRIED TO ESTABLISH A CORRELATION BETWEEN THE DETERMINER AND THE WORD PRECEDING IT, APPARENTLY BY MATCHING SIMILAR OR PARALLEL FINAL VOWELS OR CONSONANTS WITH INFLECTED ENDINGS…

Describes a study which investigated the intersentential sensitivity of the rational deletion cloze procedure. Eighty-four college-level students of German were divided into two sub-groups; one group completed a sequential cloze task, the other completed a scrambled cloze task. There were not significant differences in performance on the two…

A debate has been carried on in Dutch educational circles about the widespread use of multiple-choice tests, and a number of objections have been raised against the use of such tests. This paper reports on research into the validity of the objections, in particular with respect to the possible effect of multiple-choice tests on the teaching of…

This report describes research in progress at Duisburg University on a modification of the cloze principle in language testing. Four problem areas in classical cloze tests are isolated and discussed, namely, text selection, test construction, scoring, and interpretation. The "C-tests" in the process of development use the theoretical…

A new validation procedure was developed for the College Entrance Examination Board (CEEB) foreign language placement tests. The procedure recommended by CEEB determines if individuals with high and low scores (1) in the same course and (2) from courses at various levels, score differentially on the CEEB tests. If both these differences are…