This study explores the relationship between English Learners (ELs) in the Texas school system and their outcomes on the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) tests and the Texas English Language Proficiency Assessment System (TELPAS). Schumann's Acculturation Model and Krashen's Input Hypothesis were used as theoretical…

The study investigates whether comprehension of derived words in text context requires a complete understanding of word parts. It explores comprehension of derived words as a function of learner proficiency and contextual clues. Ninety English-as-a-foreign-language learners at three proficiency levels participated in three successive tests…

Alignment between standards and assessments is a fundamental component of the larger effort to ensure appropriate and fair use of standards-based assessments and achievement of successful standards-based reform. This article focuses on conceptual and technical issues as well as potential strategies in evaluating alignment between large-scale,…

English language proficiency (ELP) assessment scores are used by states to make high-stakes decisions related to linguistic support in instruction and assessment for English learner (EL) students and for EL student reclassification. Changes to both academic content standards and ELP academic standards within the last decade have resulted in…

The extrapolation of test scores to a target domain - that is, association between test performances and relevant real-world outcomes - is critical to valid score interpretation and use. This study examined the relationship between Duolingo English Test (DET) speaking scores and university stakeholders' evaluation of DET speaking performances. A…

The number of English language learners (ELLs) has increased. The problem is ELLs in a middle Tennessee Charter School network meet challenges in achieving English proficiency, thus limiting academic and social prospects. The purpose of this quantitative correlational study was to determine if there was a relationship between leader-led…

The purpose of this quantitative correlational study was to determine if and to what extent an ELL student's SBELP-RC could predict his or her ACPELA-RC, ACPELA-WP, and ACP-A1. Study participants were ELL students in Grades 9 to 12, attending a Northern Virginia high school. A further purpose of this study was to investigate if and to what extent…

Latinx students make up 77.8% of the English learner (EL) population in the United States (Department of Education, 2017). However, there is a subpopulation of Latinx ELs who are: English-dominant, born in the United States, and identified as long-term English learner (LTEL). ELs who are not reclassified after 6 or 7 years are categorized as LTEL…

Purpose: This study explored approaches for measuring vocabulary among bilingual children with varying levels of proficiency in Spanish and English. Method: One hundred fifteen kindergarten and first-grade Spanish--English-speaking children completed measures of vocabulary and sentence repetition in Spanish and English. Scores were derived from…

Accomplishing a communication task in the real world requires the ability not only to do the task per se but also to manage aspects of the context in which it occurs. For this reason, simulations of target language use contexts have been incorporated into the design of communicative language tests as a way of enhancing the authenticity of…

High stakes test-based accountability systems primarily rely on aggregates and derivatives of scores from tests that were originally developed to measure individual student proficiency in subject areas such as math, reading/language arts, and now English language proficiency. Current validity models do not explicitly address this use of aggregate…

Standardizing accessible test design and development to meet students' individual access needs is a complex task. The following study provides one approach to accessible test design and development using participatory design methods with school community members. Participatory research provides opportunities to empower collaborators by co-creating…

How can one construct a test that provides accurate measurements across the range of performance levels while providing adequate coverage of all of the critical areas of the domain, yet that is not unmanageably long? This paper discusses the approach taken in a linear test of academic English language, and how the transition to a computer-based…

This study intended to explore the different types of phraseological units in IELTS academic writing task 2 and probe into the IELTS candidates' perceptions of phraseological competence. To this end, a corpus entailing 100 essays (26,423 words) written for IELTS writing task 2 was scrutinized, through which phraseological units were extracted and…

Disproportionality in the identification of disabilities among children who are culturally and linguistically diverse is an ongoing challenge for educators. A practice that may help address issues of disproportionality is the use of universal screening and progress monitoring data for academic skills as well as English language proficiency data to…