This book is a guide to categorizing, measuring, testing, and assessing aspects of language, and is intended for language teachers, speech therapists and other language-related practitioners, and researchers, in conjunction with other resources on research methods and statistics. The first part is a discussion of basic terminology and the varied…

Discusses how native speakers of Spanish, accustomed to dealing with nonnative Spanish speakers, evaluated 18 taped nonnative speech samples that provided a wide sample of pronunciation. Comprehensibility, voice agreeability/ disagreeability, and nativeness of accent were rated. (32 references) (LB)

Two studies measured the effects of overall and genre-specific extensive reading habits on performance on tests of school-based writing. Results suggest that, at most, extensive exposure to written texts may have little impact on nonnative writing proficiency. Further research is recommended. (13 references) (LB)

The paper considers the effects of study abroad on student second language acquisition (SLA) and suggests areas for further study. It begins with an overview of current research on study abroad, its relationship to foreign language programs, and the innovations that this growing research base holds for program development. Attention then turns to…

After tests are administered, they are scored and the scores are given back to the students. If the real purpose of the test is to improve student learning, simply returning the scores is not sufficient. The first step in evaluating test results is to be sure that the test has tested the intended concepts and content. Calculating the mean and the…

This collection of essays on measurement theory and language testing includes: "Computerized Adaptive Testing: Implications for Language Test Developers" (Peter Tung); "The Promise and Threat of Computerized Adaptive Assessment of Reading Comprehension" (Michael Canale); "Computerized Rasch Analysis of Item Bias in ESL…