A review of Hunt's research to find ways of measuring the growth of syntactic proficiency in American school children explores the possibilities of applying these measures to groups of British native and non-native speakers of English and developing them for use in teaching and testing. (Author/CB)

Evaluates a multimedia program produced to support test takers facing a new performance test for English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) teachers in Hong Kong as part of a language certification test. Describes how groups of trainee ESL teachers in Hong Kong were first introduced to the test via the print syllabus produced by the Hong Kong…

Examined decisions about which languages to include in the school curriculum and which languages to use as languages of learning and teaching in South Africa, paying particular attention to the relative role and status of Xhosa and English from the perspective of high school students studying Xhosa as a first language and English as a second.…

Discusses a study of the relative benefits of a year-long reading comprehension course for English as a foreign language students, compared with an intensive summer course using the same curriculum. Students were separated into groups according to their language abilities. Although improvement in both cases was nearly equal, the summer course is…

Reviews use of mixed-code teaching in Hong Kong schools and outlines educators' efforts to persuade the government to accept mixed-code as not only inevitable, but preferable in most Hong Kong schools. Notes that English must be preserved for business purposes, but the Chinese medium of instruction is receiving greater emphasis as Hong Kong nears…

Investigation of non-native English speakers' ratings of other non-native English learners' oral proficiency. Results indicate that the judges' ratings significantly differed, and the average of three judges' ratings was a better appraisal of the testee's true ability than that of any single rating or pair of ratings. (Author/CB)

Uses a detailed qualitative case study to explore the implementation of task-based teaching in three primary school classrooms in Hong Kong. Reviews six issues that were found to impact how teachers approached the implementation of communicative tasks in their classroom. Themes addressed are teacher beliefs, teacher understandings, the syllabus…

Examines the potential for autonomous learning programs to address the problems of first (minority) language loss. The article outlines personal, political, and practical arguments for preventing such loss during second-language acquisition; describes an autonomous program in Canada addressing these issues; and discusses the implications of these…

Describes a study of English writing by Norwegian English-as-a-foreign-language learners. Language problems on different linguistic levels are analyzed and the theory of compensatory strategies is used to explain the process behind the production. Results show that less proficient learners have a higher number of grammatical, orthographic, and…

Focuses on the effects of changes to high-stakes tests on the performance of those who take them. These effects are explored within the specific context of the Hong Kong Advanced Supplementary (AE) "Use of English" (UE) oral examination. (Author/VWL)

The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology has developed a five-week summer-intensive course in English to improve students' opportunities for speaking, confidence about, and communicative competence in English. The effect of the program on English teachers' roles and the ways they are perceived by students and administrators is…

Looks at the large-scale experiments on the testing of oral proficiency in English, French, and German that have been carried out over the last five years in the Swedish gymnasium. Various kinds of tasks and different grading criteria have been used, and the practical problems of scheduling and of teacher training have been discussed. (nine…

Gives a brief account of some factors which affect the teaching and learning of English pronunciation in Jordanian secondary schools. These factors include negative transfer from Arabic into English, learning strategies, and socioemotional, methodological, and psychological factors. (SED)

Discusses the attitudes students have towards English before and after their tertiary studies. Follows 35 students in their university studies and provides another avenue for examining the language situation in Hong Kong. Findings suggest that students were generally comfortable with the language environments and courses offered in secondary and…

Discusses the issue of oral communication tests through an account of an oral test administered to nearly 1,000 students at Yarmouk University Language Center. The ways in which the institution attempted to overcome problems in the oral test's feasibility, validity, and reliability are presented. (Author/CB)