The present investigation explores Cognitive Test Anxiety (CTA) in a high-stake oral examination, taking into consideration how face-to-face and computer-based examination formats affect test-takers' anxiety and consequently language performance. Two speaking tests -- face-to-face and computer-based -- were developed for a Spanish university's…

Testing is an issue of increasing importance. While for many teachers language learning should be communicative; in fact, they expect their students to provide evidence of their knowledge. Thus, there is a clear mismatch on the approach to language teaching and language testing. As a consequence, there is an evident need change the testing…

The debate over the extensive use of paired and group oral assessments has yielded an enriched body of theoretical inquiries and empirical investigations, marking a shift from viewing second language (L2) speaking ability as residing in the individual to emphasizing joint construction distributed among interlocutors within local contexts. This…

The present study highlights the effectiveness of Hybrid-Learning in enhancing communicative skill in English among the Trainees of Bachelor of education of School of Distance Education, Bharathiar University,Coimbatore. Hybrid learning refers to mixing of different learning methods or mixing two more methods for teaching learning process. It…

Discusses the advantages and disadvantages of oral examinations of advanced degree candidates. Looks at examiners' attitudes and the kinds of questions which should be asked. Suggests that a fair oral examination ought to include factual as well as nonfactual questions and argues that many factual questions can be justified. (SED)

This article examines how eight advanced ESL learners attend to and utilize the nonverbal information found in a video text. Using verbal report methodology in which test-takers verbalized aloud their thought processes while taking a video listening test, the results suggested that the test-takers varied in how they attended to and utilized the…

Reports on a study designed to measure the various learning abilities of nine-year-old German children as observed during one year of English instruction. Describes a battery of special tests administered to the students during the experimental year and discusses results obtained through correlation analyses. (MES)

Research on two approaches to assessment of second-language performance--second-language acquisition and language testing--is examined and compared with regard to systematic effects on language tests. Findings incidental to a test development project are then presented. It is concluded that a full account of performance testing requires a paradigm…

Comparison of verbal Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) and California Achievement Test (CAT) scores of high school students who had (N=1,333) or had not (N=445) taken at least one year of foreign language study supported the conclusion that length of foreign language study was positively related to high SAT verbal scores. (CB)

Presents a quiz for use in the advanced English classroom that introduces language learners to a variety of amusing slang expressions and idioms. The learner is led to consider the possibility of a little-known rule in English: male=positive, female=negative, and is offered an opportunity for discussion and vocabulary building. (Author/VWL)

A discussion of trends in foreign language testing covers current preferences in test types (especially for oral proficiency testing) and external influences on instructional program development and student evaluation strategies. (MSE)

An oral testing method used in an intensive high school Spanish program is based on a model of communicative competence positing four forms of competence: strategic; sociolinguistic; discourse; and linguistic. All oral domains but linguistic are tested in the first and second years. In the first year, benchmark testing occurs. The rubric used has…

The British Columbia French Speaking Test, administered to grade 3 immersion students, measured their speaking skills through a story- retelling and group discussion task. When 110 immersion children were compared to 25 Francophone children, results indicated that the immersion children were comparable to the francophones in communicative skills…

This review of research on second-language oral testing outlines the nature of early research in interview-format proficiency testing, then reports on new directions in investigation of construct validity of interview-format and other oral skills tests through examination of examinee, interviewer, and rater performance. Research on empirically…