Castañeda v. Pickard (1981) mandated that educational programs for emergent bilinguals be tested for program efficacy. Since English language development (ELD) curricular materials are one part of an instructional program, we assess this mandate by examining the effectiveness of ELD materials in Texas. Using local linear matching, we find that…

This study examined the equivalence and reliability of the two versions of the Vocabulary Levels Test in an Iranian context. This study was motivated by the fact that the Vocabulary Levels test is increasingly being used in Iran for both research and pedagogical purposes without having been checked for validity and reliability in this context. The…

This study represents program-level action research. A U.S. university Spanish language program had a goal for students to reach the ACTFL (2012) Intermediate Mid level after 2 years. An empirical question that resulted after regular end-of-year testing was whether the students were doing their best on assessments. To investigate this, 253…

The member states of the European Union have funded many initiatives supporting the teaching and learning of foreign languages. Content and language integrated learning is one of the experimental language programmes that have been introduced in Catalonia, in the north-east of Spain. The aims of this study are to analyse the results achieved by…

This report summarizes the academic performance of students in the Austin Independent School District's bilingual and English as a second language programs during 2018-2019. Students' advanced placement course performance, state academic tests (STAAR and EOC) performance, as well as graduation and dropout rates are summarized.

This study attempts to ascertain if the WebCAPE placement exam can be used to measure improvement in an upper division grammar course. The WebCAPE online placement exam is a widely used instrument designed to help university language programs place students into the basic language course best corresponding to their proficiency level. This is done…

This article reports on a qualitative study that investigated English learners' attitudes toward English as an International Language (EIL). Four major findings were identified in the current study. First, majority of the participants thought that English belongs to all its users, regardless of being its native speakers or not. Second, lack of…

Language programs need multiple test forms for secure administrations and effective placement decisions, but can they have confidence that scores on alternate test forms have the same meaning? In large-scale testing programs, various equating methods are available to ensure the comparability of forms. The choice of equating method is informed by…

The craziness of English spelling has undeniably perplexed learners, especially in an EFL context as in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. In these situations, among other obstacles, learners also have to tackle the perpetual and unavoidable problem of MT interference. Sadly, this perplexity takes the shape of a real problem in the language classroom…

This report summarizes the longitudinal performance of Austin Independent School District bilingual and English as a second language programs' students on state academic reading and math assessments by examining scores across 5 school years, from 2013-2014 through 2017-2018. Students' performance is summarized by program.

Lexical stress is an important contributor to foreign accent as well as intelligibility of second language (L2) speech. The present study intends to find out to what extent Chinese-speaking learners whose native language has less evident stress can acquire English lexical stress. A production test was administered to nine advanced Chinese learners…

English is increasingly common as a medium of instruction in higher education internationally, and evidence of English language proficiency (ELP) forms a vital aspect of many post-secondary admission applications. Scores from different ELP measures (e.g. standardized assessments; institution-specific English programmes) are often used as…

Institution-Wide Language Programme (IWLP) modules are a popular option for international students at the University of Reading. Student feedback and module results show that some of these students face particular challenges in relation to their peers. In this paper, we describe how a team teaching Beginners French -- Common European Framework of…

The underlying methodological approach of the CEFR is defined as being "action-oriented" and task-based (Council of Europe. 2001. "Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, teaching, assessment." Cambridge University Press: 9), although it explicitly leaves room for a variety of approaches, since the CEFR…

The present study aimed at investigating the effect of an instructional program on vocational educational students' proficiency of vocational educational terms in English. The study sample consisted of 60 male and female students from Al-Balqa'a Applied University, Jordan. Moreover, the study investigated the effect the students' gender and…