This report on language testing research focuses on lessons applied to limited English proficient (LEP) students and programs. First, a review of the history of primary and non-primary language testing is provided. The question of why there is no field of primary language testing is then discussed. The second major section of the report is a…

Outlines an agenda for a dialogue that focuses on the relation between acquired language proficiencies (verbal abilities) and non-verbal abilities. Shows the relevance of this to language testing, framing the problem within a general theory of signs and deriving certain testable hypotheses concerning it. (Author/VWL)

A discussion of the theoretical underpinnings of pragmatic approaches to foreign language testing focuses on why methods emphasizing holistic approaches to language through sensible experience are more effective than bit-by-bit, discrete-point, surface-oriented approaches that tend to neglect meaning. (21 references) (Author/CB)

Discusses a general theory of signs showing that the relationship between acquired language proficiencies and nonverbal abilities must be closer than commonly supposed. Presents a general theory of signs showing why it is possible in principle to make linguistically and culturally unbiased judgments about intellectual abilities on the basis of…

Relations between various measures of attitudes toward self, the native language group, the target language group, reasons for learning ESL, reasons for traveling to the U.S. and attained proficiency in ESL were investigated. Attitudes toward self and the native language group were positively correlated with attained proficiency in ESL. (CHK)

Questions the validity of current measurement instruments or techniques which purport to assess affective variables, and relates this to the question of correlation between measures of affective variables and attained language proficiency. (AM)

Presents a re-evaluation of the data given by Oller in the June 1971 issue of ELT. (RM)

Revised version of a paper presented at Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, November 1972. (DD)

Examines: (1) correlations between attitudes of Japanese students toward various variables, and their proficiency in English; and (2) the validity of attitude measures. (Author/AM)

The entries in this annotated bibliography are divided into four major sections. The first includes some of the arguments pro and con on the cloze procedure and a few research studies along with some articles that give "how-to" recommendations. The second major section includes five subsections: the first deals with basic research concerning the…

Discusses three possible sources of nonrandom but extraneous variance in self-reported attitude data, and demonstrates that these data may be surreptitious measures of verbal intelligence and language proficiency. (Author/AM)