Computer quiz games are introduced to improve teaching and learning in a freshman engineering chemistry course in an English-as-a-second-language (ESL) environment. These quiz games are developed and implemented as supplemental and augmentative tools to enhance traditionally delivered lectures. The paper shows an increase in students' motivation…

Second language (L2) anxiety has been the object of constant empirical and theoretical attention for several decades. As a matter of both theoretical and practical interest, much of the research in this domain has examined the relationship between anxiety and L2 achievement. The present study meta-analyzes this body of research. Following a…

Test-taker characteristics (TTCs), or individual difference variables, are known to be a systematic source of variance in language test performance. Although previous research has documented the impact of a range of TTCs on second language (L2) learners' test performance, few of these studies have involved young learners. Given that young L2…

A unique anxiety for foreign language (L2) learning has been hypothesized to explain students' problems with language learning. However, L2 anxiety instruments have been challenged on the grounds that they reflect students' language learning ability and/or perceptions of their language learning skills. In this study, 266 U.S. high school students…

In this interview, JD Brown reflects on language testing/assessment. He suggests that language testing can be seen as a continuum with hard core positivist approaches at one end and post modernist interpretive perspectives at the other, and also argues that norm referencing (be it proficiency, placement, or aptitude testing) and criterion…

In an effort to understand better how and why accuracy in speaking develops during study abroad, a group of 16 U.S. students of Spanish as a second language were followed during their 6-week program in Argentina. They were interviewed in Spanish at the beginning and the end of their stay, each time followed by a stimulated recall session. They…

Each section of the Pimsleur Language Aptitude Battery and the CREDIF CGM 62 tests is briefly described. (RM)

This study aimed to develop, pilot, and validate an aptitude test for Hungarian learners of English. A literature review on the construct and tests of aptitude is followed by two parts: a pilot phase on the development of a new aptitude test and a main study involving 419 12-year-old children in 10 schools. Data were collected on the aptitude…

Discusses the administration of the Test di Attitudine Linguistica per Bambini (TALB) to students 7-9 years of age. Correlations between the TALB and achievement tests administered at the end of the course were very high. It is concluded that aptitude is a main factor in successful learning of a second language. (16 references) (LET)

This study investigated the relationship of first language (L1) skills in elementary school and second language (L2) learning in high school. Students classified as high-, average-, and low-proficiency L2 learners were compared on L1 achievement measures of reading, spelling, vocabulary, phonological awareness, and listening comprehension…

This two-phase experiment was conducted to determine: (1) whether foreign language aptitude as measured by standard aptitude tests (Pimsleur Language Aptitude Battery, Carroll-Sapon Modern Language Aptitude Test) can be significantly increased by training, and (2) whether increases in language aptitude so obtained would result in better language…

Discusses the function of a number of test types--aptitude, level/selection, classroom, progress, achievement, and proficiency tests. The use of these tests in course evaluation is also mentioned. (RM)

Subjects were 45 Italians who were studying English as a second language. They were administered the Modern Language Aptitude Test and a cloze test and were asked to complete a questionnaire regarding their language study. The researcher then analyzed the interrelationships among the subjects' linguistic aptitude, language study history, and level…

A good test should have three qualities: validity, reliability and practicality. It should be designed, keeping the instructional objectives of the course in mind. Language tests can be made to test: (1) knowledge and perception; (2) manipulation; (3) understanding and production; and (4) overall communication proficiency. Examples of test…