We evaluated external and internal sources of variation in second language (L2) and native language (L1) proficiency among college students. One hundred and twelve native-English L2 learners completed measures of L1 and L2 speaking proficiency, working memory, and cognitive control and provided self-ratings of language exposure and use. When…

The English Resultative Construction (ERC) is a satellite-framed structure with no identical equivalent in Spanish. In a series of studies, we analyzed and compared recognition (acceptability judgment task) and comprehension (sentence comprehension task) of three ERC subtypes with the English Depictive Construction (EDC) (which has a Spanish…

The purpose of this chapter is twofold: (1) to provide a detailed review of current language assessment policies and practices with English language learner (ELL) students under the federal requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB; 2001) and relevant research in order to evaluate their technical quality and validity, and (2) to examine…

Across the globe, educational tests are being used at a rapidly increasing rate. More recently, educational tests are being used to inform educational policy and for holding educators accountable for student learning. One reason educational assessments are used for these important purposes is that they are considered to provide reliable and…

This paper compares two alternative scoring methods--multiple regression and classification trees--for an automated speech scoring system used in a practice environment. The two methods were evaluated on two criteria: construct representation and empirical performance in predicting human scores. The empirical performance of the two scoring models…

Since the Spanish Educational system is changing and promoting the use of online tests, it was necessary to study the transformation of test items in the "Spanish University Entrance Examination" (IB P.A.U.) to diminish the effect of test delivery changes (through its computerization) in order to affect the least the current model. The…

The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education commissioned this paper to explore several questions about students who are English language learners (ELL) in Massachusetts: (1) For how many years is a typical ELL student in Massachusetts classified as limited English proficient (LEP)?; (2) How much variation is there in a the…

This article investigates how measurement models and statistical procedures can be applied to estimate the accuracy of proficiency classification in language testing. The paper starts with a concise introduction of four measurement models: the classical test theory (CTT) model, the dichotomous item response theory (IRT) model, the testlet response…

Both California state law and the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) require that all schools assess the English language proficiency of newly enrolled students who speak a language other than English at home and, annually, all English learners (ELs) already enrolled. California meets this requirement by administering the California English…

Aim: To identify the use and utility of language comprehension tests for unintelligible or non-speaking children with severe cerebral palsy (CP). Method: Severe CP was defined as severe dysarthria (unintelligible speech) or anarthria (absence of speech) combined with severe limited mobility, corresponding to Gross Motor Function Classification…

Many tests classify each examinee into one of multiple performance levels on the basis of a combination of multiple-choice (MC) and constructed-response (CR) items. This study introduces a two-stage scoring method that identifies examinees whose MC scores place them near a cut point, advising scorers on which examinees will be most affected by…

The effect of bilingualism on the cognitive skills of young children was investigated by comparing performance of 162 children who belonged to one of two age groups (approximately 3- and 4.5-year-olds) and one of three language groups on a series of tasks examining executive control and word mapping. The children were monolingual English speakers,…

This article outlines the findings of typological differences between the Level 4 (L4) and Level 5 (L5) of the Interagency Language Roundtable (ILR) in the Russian passages, as explored through the comparative linguistic and content analysis of highly abstract and idiosyncratic philosophical, literary and colloquial perspectives on culture,…

Assessment of pragmatic language skills in normal preschool children revealed high reliability in the use of a specially designed taxonomy; a decrease in the inappropriate responses used by children with an increase in age; and generally, inappropriate responses were confined to the same categories across age levels. (Author/CL)

This analysis evaluates the receptive tests of targeted lexical knowledge in the written medium, which are typically used in empirical research into lexical acquisition from reading foreign/second language texts. Apart from the types of second language cues or prompts, and the language of the responses, the main issues revolve around: (a) the…