The construction of tests of oral competence in a foreign language requires consideration of several factors. The face validity of the test, or the degree to which students feel they are performing a real communicative act, is illustrated with a number of model testing situations. Content validity, or the ability of a test to measure what has been…

The test described here is a particular type of diagnostic test; it is part of a series of tests designed to explore systematically areas of potential lexical difficulty in the English language for French-speaking students of English. The lexical units are considered under their formal, morphological, syntactic and semantic aspects. The test has…

This issue of the National Clearinghouse for ESL Literacy Education (NCLE) newsletter includes an article titled "Assessment and Accountability: What Do We Know and Where Are We Going?" and a profile of Inaam Mansoor, director of the Arlington Education and Employment Program (REEP) in Arlington, Virginia. Also included are resource updates, news…

This volume on language issues within Australia contains five research papers: "Patterns of Inter-Cultural Communication in Melbourne Factories: Some Research in Progress" (Michael Clyne); "Developing Proficiency Scales for Communicative Assessment" (D. E. Ingram, Elaine Wylie); "Rapid Profile: A Second Language Screening…

Five papers in diverse areas of linguistics in education are presented. "Second Language Learning through Interaction: Multiple Perspectives" (Teresa Pica) looks at the variety of theoretical approaches to interaction in second language learning, and how an interactionist perspective lends weight to a number of theories.…

Papers on applied linguistics and language pedagogy include: "A Genre Analysis Study of 80 Medical Abstracts" (Kenneth Anderson, Joan Maclean); "Oral Classroom Testing in an Adult French Community Class" (Sheena Davies, Aileen Irvine, Jacqueline Larrieu); "Whose Relevance? Interpretation of Hybrid Texts by a Multiple…

Reports from Graded Objectives in Modern Languages (GOML) groups throughout Great Britain are included in this annual newsletter on second language learning. It also contains two special reports: (1) report of the 9th annual GOML in-service training course in "Graded Objectives in Modern Languages: Taking Stock" (draft proposals),…

The 12 volumes of the professional journal contain articles on a wide variety of topics on classroom techniques, curriculum design, class activities, and research in English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) teaching at all educational levels. General topics include: communicating with ESL students; current events in the classroom; cultural test bias;…

This is the first issue of a new journal, to be published annually, by the California Association of Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (CATESOL). Articles in this issue include: "English as a Bridge between Cultures: Scotland, Carolina, and California" (Patricia C. Nichols); "Cambodian Refugees: Factors Affecting…

This volume contains the following articles: "Orthography and Identity in Cameroon" (Steven Bird); "Literacy Evaluation Tool" (Becky Feldpausch, Jean Nichols, Robin Rempel); "Kenyang Literacy Program" (Tanyi Eyong Mbuagbaw); "Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E): A Brief Overview" (Ian Mowatt);…

The following articles appear in this issue of a journal devoted to teaching English for science and technology in Kuwait: (1) "An Approach to the Implementation of Dr. J.L. Munby's 'Communicative Syllabus Design'" by Bill Robinson, (2) "Une experience d'elaboration de materiel pedagogique" (An Experiment in Developing Teaching…

This brief presents two articles. The first discusses ways that schools are working to strengthen language learning for English language learners (ELLs), noting that as the population of ELLs is growing, school districts are scrambling for resources and trying to find the best ways to place and educate such students. Despite limited resources,…

Intensive foreign language courses are discussed in terms of historical background, categorization of types, definition of components of intensive instruction as practiced at present in academic settings, and advantages and special problems of intensive instruction. Practical considerations for the implementation of intensive options cover the…

Articles in this volume include the following: "Assessment Challenges in Supported Distance Learning: How the ABE Distance Learning Project Is Implementing the Massachusetts ABE Assessment Policies and Procedures" (Roger Hooper); "The NIFL LINCS Assessment Special Collection" (Dianna Baycich, Tim Ponder); "Making Sense of…

This journal is intended to assist language educators in Hong Kong schools in developing and maintaining high standards of instruction in both English and Chinese. The 11 issues presented here contain articles, some in English and some in Chinese, on a variety of language education topics, including: language education planning; instructional…