Reviews research that sheds light on the comparability of Oral Proficiency Interview and the Simulated Oral Proficiency Interview. Suggestions are provided for further research. (16 references) (VWL)

Seven univariate procedures for testing omnibus null hypotheses for data gathered from repeated measures designs were evaluated, comparing five alternative approaches with two more traditional procedures. Results suggest that the alternatives are improvements. The most effective alternate procedure in controlling Type I error rates is discussed.…

A computer simulation compared significance tests of correlation coefficients calculated from initial scores, from ranks assigned by the Spearman method, and from three kinds of modified ranks. Implications of findings for the idea that rank correlation is a nonparametric correlation method are discussed. (SLD)

Considers whether differences might emerge in writing quality when students wrote examinations by hand or on a computer, and whether raters differed in their evaluation of essays written by hand, on a computer, or by hand and then transcribed to typed form before scoring. Finds no statistically significant differences in ratings among the three…

Communicative Development Inventories (CDIs) were collected from 669 British Children aged between 1 and 2 years. Comprehension and production scores in each age group were calculated. This provides norming data for the British infant population. Data from British infants is compared to data from American infants. (Author/VWL)

Self-system therapy (SST) is a new therapy based on regulatory focus theory (E. T. Higgins, 1997) for depressed individuals unable to pursue promotion goals effectively. The authors conducted a randomized trial comparing SST with cognitive therapy (CT) in a sample of 45 patients with a range of depressive symptoms to test 2 hypotheses: that SST…

Difficulties with figurative language have been highlighted by many researchers and people with autistic spectrum disorders (ASDs) as a core problem of the condition. However, few tests exist which describe and assess the responses of children with autism to figurative language. This paper reports a study which evaluated figurative language skills…

Category knowledge allows for both the determination of category membership and an understanding of what the members of a category are like. Diagnostic information is used to determine category membership; prototypical information reflects the most likely features given category membership. Two experiments examined 2 means of category learning,…

Testing is essential in education and other social science fields because many assessments, decisions, and policies are made according to the results of testing. The purpose of testing is to estimate a person's ability, that is, latent trait or construct. In a test setting, responses to a set of test items by each individual are recorded. Through…

This research note describes the design and testing of a device for unobtrusive, long-term ambulatory monitoring of voice use, named the Portable Vocal Accumulator (PVA). The PVA contains a digital signal processor for analyzing input from a neck-placed miniature accelerometer. During its development, accelerometer recordings were obtained from 99…

Papers from the conference on language testing include: "Foundations and Directions for a New Decade of Language Testing" (Carol Chapelle, Dan Douglas); "A Comparison of the Abilities Measured by the Cambridge and Educational Testing Service EFL Test Batteries" (Lyle F. Bachman, Fred Davidson, John Foulkes); "Judgments in…

Web-based homework (WBH) Technology can simplify the creation and grading of assignments as well as provide a feasible platform for assessment testing, but its effect on student learning in business statistics is unknown. This is particularly true of the latest software development of Web-based tutoring agents that dynamically evaluate individual…

The study enlightens the impact of Activity Oriented Learning in learning Health Education at primary level. Health Education was taught in various methods which were not fruitful to achieve expected level. Activity oriented method encouraged the young children to learn the health awareness quickly.The purpose of the research is to simplify the…

Using an experimental research design, this project investigated the effects of teacher read-alouds when students did, and did not, have access to companion texts. Based on Connectionist theory, the researchers hypothesized that students in the Companion Text group would outperform students in the Listen Only group on the three examined variables:…

This study investigated whether undergraduate teacher education students were prepared to teach their students in both an academically stimulating and culturally sensitive way. During the fall of 2003, student teachers were asked to complete two open-ended questions about diversity. The students were working on certificates in either the preschool…