Common problems in using and scoring the Developmental Sentence Scoring procedure to quantify young children's grammatic structure expressive language are reviewed. Scoring examples are provided to help clinicians learn the DDS procedure. (Author/CL)

Discusses the development of a language aptitude test designed to help select students to study German. Four areas of assessment are memory ability, ability to deal with stress and intonation patterns, inductive reasoning ability, and ability to recognize grammatical case. (EKN)

Testing English listening skills involves a variety of skills. Sounds are sometimes difficult to discriminate in a language that is not one's native tongue, so testing phoneme discrimination, the ability to tell the difference between sounds, is important. Picture choice items are a good way to select among alternatives to demonstrate…

This discussion of psychoeducational assessment of hearing-impaired students and the influence of language competence focuses on: the nature of the interaction between cognition and language, the nonpragmatic nature of traditional assessments, approaches to reducing intelligence test bias, pragmatic violations in intellectual assessment, and…

The commonly-occurring mismatch between second language student and course level, resulting in student boredom or intimidation, is due to overreliance on standardized language tests. These tests emphasize passive skills, such as recognition of grammatical structures and translation, and they ignore the element of communicative competence. As a…

Of the four language skills, reading is probably tested most often, and it may seem to be the easiest to test. However, testing reading proficiency has its difficulties, and the test constructor must be aware of several issues. Reading involves a number of skills, and the number and complexity of these must be recognized. Choosing the text to test…

A study examined difficulties encountered in producing multiple versions of English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) exams administered during a 3-week period to students in the United Arab Emirates University Distance Learning Program for English. The challenges faced in production of the exams included: how to equalize and maintain test item and text…

Communicative competence is often characterized as an integrated control of language reflected in the speaker's ability to understand and use language appropriately for communication in various situations. The theoretical basis for the communicative competence construct is the anthropological, sociolinguistc, and pragmatic view of language.…

The Nonbiased Assessment module contains seven sections that provide information on various issues relevant to the construction of programs for assessing minority group children. Each section, in addition to the discussion of the topic, contains a list of objectives for the workshop participant or reader, a pretest, simulations, and an annotated…

This research summary identifies major factors affecting the validity of language assessments in bilingual students. The four factors include: (1) determining which language is dominant and in which language the child should be tested; (2) recognizing that bilingual children may use language in a way that is qualitatively different from that of…

This study examined the stability over 1-year and 2-year periods of the relationship between a cognitive measure and 2 language measures in 125 children (ages 3-7) with developmental delays. Findings indicated substantial changes in the cognitive-language relationship over time, suggesting that the discrepancy model is not appropriate for service…

This monograph is designed to acquaint classroom teachers with the language proficiency guidelines of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) and the oral testing guidelines of the Educational Testing Service (ETS). The guidelines are intended for language proficiency assessment by the oral interview technique. Designated…

The content of the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act is described, its current interpretations are examined, and the implications for developing a responsible language and citizenship curriculum to conform to the legislation are discussed. Specific attention is focused on the law's requirement that illegal aliens applying for amnesty and…

The workshop examines testing approaches for use with bilingual or limited English speaking students in determining eligibility and need for special services. The workshop covers the following areas: (1) an overall process for deciding whether a student may be in need of special services; (2) ways to alleviate or avoid problems which may impact on…

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…