The RP Group's Multiple Measures Assessment Project (MMAP) produced this technical report as part of a series on how California's community colleges can ensure more English learners (ELs) successfully complete "gateway" English coursework -- courses that satisfy the English writing requirements for completion of an associate's degree as…

Describes two instruments for eliciting student beliefs about language learning and teaching--the Foreign Language Survey (FLAS) and the Beliefs about Language Learning Inventory (BALLI). Representative responses of prospective teachers are discussed to demonstrate the usefulness of this information for the foreign language methods class. (SED)

The Victorian (Australia) assessment approach of developing national subject profiles has potential for language assessment. Within each language area, levels of development would be identified and defined by observable language behavior, which could then be tested by a variety of test types. Assessment would be done by teachers in schools using…

A study of predictors of reading comprehension in English as a second language had as subjects 33 adult students in full-time intensive English classes at the intermediate and advanced levels of reading. Each was tested with an oral and a written language inventory, and each response was recorded as syntagmatic or paradigmatic. Other tests…

Speaking a second language is probably the most difficult skill to test in that it involves a combination of skills that may have no correlation with each other, and which do not lend themselves to objective testing. In addition, what can be understood is a function of the listener's background and ability as well as those of the speaker. Another…

A study investigated the utility of a measure for assessing the writing apprehension of Japanese students of English as a second language. The Daly-Miller questionnaire, designed to measure writing apprehension, was translated into Japanese and administered to 687 first- and second-year students of English at a Japanese junior college. Results…

A good knowledge of English vocabulary is important for anyone who wants to use the language, so knowledge of vocabulary is often tested. A test may test one or all of the types of vocabulary (active spoken, active written, passive listening, and passive reading), but the test maker should be aware of the differences among the types and which is…

The test manual for the Secondary Level English Proficiency (SLEP) test has been prepared for teachers, counselors, and others responsible for interpreting SLEP test scores. The SLEP is designed to assess the proficiency in English of students entering grades 7 through 12 whose native language is not English. As a test of understanding written and…