In recent years, numerous studies have been conducted on language teachers' beliefs about language assessment; however, teachers' collaborative discussion as a mediational tool has received scant attention. The present study aimed to investigate non-native language teachers' beliefs about classroom language assessment regarding features of…

Various approaches to language assessment of the preschool child are reviewed, and the use of language sample analysis as part of a language assessment package is considered. The pros and cons of such approaches as checklists, screening tests, and language sample analysis are considered. Procedures for administering the language sample analysis…

This article explains characteristics associated with the use and evaluation of criterion-referenced measures by speech language clinicians, in contrast to norm-referenced measures. Guidelines are offered for the evaluation and selection of standardized criterion-referenced measures and for the development and ongoing evaluation of informal…

Given the controversy over the use of standardized tests that rely heavily on multiple-choice items reflecting the language, culture, and/or learning style of the middle class majority, arguments are advanced for the use of alternative, supplemental forms of assessment. Informal assessment is defined as techniques that can easily be incorporated…

Public school speech-language clinicians (n=266) in California were surveyed regarding methods for assessing the language of children ages 4-9. Results are discussed in terms of formal and informal expressive and receptive language assessment and ways in which new assessment tools are identified and incorporated. (Author/JDD)

This investigation compared the performances of 24 African American children (mean age 6) with language impairments (LI) to typically developing African American peers on five traditional informal language assessment measures. Performances of the LI children were significantly lower on all measures than typically developing peers. Implications for…

The third of seven booklets on adults with learning disabilities, this manual addresses the evaluation and remediation of oral language difficulties. An assessment section focuses on behaviors and disorders which adult education teachers should look for as well as informal diagnostic tasks in auditory discrimination, grammar, vocabulary, social…

Purpose: To evaluate the effectiveness of a screening instrument (the Swedish Communication Screening at 18 months of age; SCS18), derived from the Swedish MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory, in identification of 18-month-old children who will be severely language disabled by 3 years of age, the authors (a) analyzed which SCS18's…

The assessment manual provides information on test instruments for use with delinquent youth in the areas of achievement, perception, and potential. The manual lists publishers and prices, and gives a description of each test, along with it's purpose and application. Specific areas included are language, audition, vision, visual-motor…

Performance assessment procedures and a portfolio assessment framework are presented for monitoring the language development of language minority students in the upper elementary and middle grades. Unlike standardized achievement tests, performance-based assessment can effectively monitor the progress of language minority students because it can…