This commentary highlights major validation challenges raised, explicitly or implicitly, from the four articles in the special issue on "Validity Considerations for Assessing Language Proficiency in Young Language Minority Students." They are concerned with: (1) the construct definition in consideration of young language-minority (LM)…

Concludes that the PLAI is a unique test that can be very useful in assessing children's ability to deal with the language of instruction. (FL)

This essay advances a definition of language disadvantage and applies Cummins' theory of language acquisition to a model of assessment designed to determine the existence and degree of language disadvantage. Language disadvantage is defined as the difference between a person's ability to learn a language compared to that same person's actual…

This article introduces this special issue on natural processes involved in spontaneous interactions between children with language disorders and their caretakers. It describes the use of the Child Language Data Exchange System (CHILDES) to study developmental language disabilities by analyzing phonological, morphosyntactic, lexical,…

Systems for classifying speakers' communicative intents are typically limited in scope, in applicability across the full developmental range of language abilities and disabilities, and in their theoretical foundations. Criteria for an adequate system for analyzing communicative intents are discussed, and a system is proposed which meets those…

It is recommended that auditory-verbal clinicians working with children with hearing impairments and their families use a battery of specific language tests when providing an early intervention program that focuses on language growth. These multiple measures should include norm-and criterion-referenced instruments that specifically measure…

This discussion of problems associated with deriving pragmatic norms for older children and adolescents presents a model for analyzing and comparing pragmatic performance across language tasks. The multilevel model involves the interrelationship of situational, discourse, and semantic contexts--knowing what, to whom, when, and how much to say. (DB)

An overview of issues in bilingual vocational education and language assessment is related in this paper to the Limited English Speaking (LES) Program at Mesa Community College (MCC). First, problems with traditional approaches to LES students are cited. Then, the goals of Vocational English as a Second Language (VESL) are discussed and necessary…

Three papers on assessment and planning in bilingual education are presented. In "Language Theory Bases," Rosaura Sanchez advocates an approach toward child bilingual education that takes into account the relationship between the parallel domains of language development and cognitive development. An awareness of this relationship is…