Reports on the potential problems in scoring responses to sequencing tests, the development of a computer program to overcome these difficulties, and an exploration of the value of scoring procedures. (Author/VWL)

Summarizes what language testers have learned about test impact in the last decade and discusses what one model of educational innovation has revealed about how tests interact with other factors in the testing situation. Concludes with a set of recommendations about the steps future tests developers might take in order to assess the amount of risk…

Explores the effect on pair-task performance of test-takers' familiarity with their partner. Japanese learners performed a series of tasks, once with a friend and again with a person who was not familiar to them. Results support findings in the literature that suggest learners vary their language when interacting with familiar or unfamiliar…

Discusses the effects of age on second language acquisition, considering recent data and highlighting the misconceptions. Claims that proponents of the critical period hypothesis have misinterpreted research on speed of acquisition, misattributed age differences to neurobiological factors, and misemphasized poor language learners in research on…

Examined qualitative data available on block scheduling and foreign language learning and conducted a study wherein end-of-course tests were administered in listening, speaking, reading, and writing to 60 classes of students in French I. Results are discussed. (Author/VWL)

Looks at the use of the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), the most widely used test to assess the English language proficiency of students applying to colleges and universities in the United States or Canada. Examines the TOEFL in relation to backwash, reliability, administration, validity, and ethics. (Author/VWL)

Argues from the premise that a language test is a special case of a second language acquisition (SLA) elicitation device and suggests that SLA and language testing share much common ground in terms of research methods, which have similar properties in that they are both used to make systematic observations of language performances from which…

The fields of language testing and educational and psychological measurement have not, as yet, developed a set of principles and procedures for linking test scores and score-based inferences to test use and the consequences of test use. Although Messick (1989) discusses test use and consequences, his framework provides virtually no guidance on how…

Questions are addressed that focus on why lower class and minority group test takers score lower on standardized tests than their middle class Anglo counterparts. The questions include the following: (1) In what ways can dialect differences affect testing? (2) How can dialect differences directly affect a test of language? (3) Shouldn't standard…

In this discussion of techniques for teaching and testing listening comprehension according to the Provisional Proficiency Guidelines of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, five questions are addressed: (1) the nature of the relationship between listening and speaking; (2) the kinds of listening tasks that should be…

A language-specific test-item is one which includes a distractor which is a predictable mistake made by Persian speakers, and determined by syntactic and lexical contrastive analysis of Persian and English. The term 'universal' is used for a test-item which does not contain contrastive distractors as defined here. (Author)

The issue of language dominance testing is explored with special attention to: (1) a history of language testing in the United States from 1943 to 1974, (2) methods presently utilized for the determination of language dominance, (3) problems encountered in language dominance testing, and (4) some specific research that has been carried out related…

One hundred fifty-seven trainable children (aged 7 to 14 years) in 24 classes were given language stimulation based on the Illinois Test of Psycholinguitic Abilities (ITPA) four or eight times a week for a 1 year period. Also examined were the effects of high and low IQ. Measures used were the ITPA, the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, and the…

The persistent problems in foreign language testing are considered under four headings: (1) validity, (2) scope, (3) efficiency, and (4) the problem of how tests relate to the wider context of instruction. The first consists of insuring that the measurements and assessments obtained reflect what they are intended to reflect. The problem of scope…

Aural comprehension deserves more emphasis. Various test types are critically discussed. Suggestions are given for producing and applying one's own tests. An account is given of two examples in the author's experience. (Text is in German.) (IFS/WGA)