Lexical diversity (LD) is an important indicator of second language lexical development. Much research has investigated LD indices, with a focus on learners of English. However, further research is needed in languages that are typologically distinct from English, such as Korean. In this study, we evaluated the reliability and validity of LD…

Determining students' language proficiency is essential for successful instruction and learning objectives in many educational settings. To this end, one of the most efficient assessment tools for measuring language proficiency is the C-test. Thus, the primary aim of this research is to assess the performance of university students through the…

The English Diagnostic Test aims to assess reading comprehension skills for first-year students at the University of Costa Rica. In 2022, this test consisted of four instruments with 55 items. Instruments were based on an academic reading, following the criteria B2+ or C1 level according to Common European Framework of Reference for languages.…

The current paper intends to exploit the Many Facet Rasch Model to investigate and compare the impact of situations (items) and raters on test takers' performance on the Written Discourse Completion Test (WDCT) and Discourse Self-Assessment Tests (DSAT). In this study, the participants were 110 English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students at…

In language and second language acquisition research, it is important to have a measure for tracking the proficiency level of participants. Lexical competence is fundamental for communicative purposes in a given language, and vocabulary tests are a reliable measure to assess lexical proficiency. That is why vocabulary tests have a central role in…

This paper presents a new method for accurately measuring the vocabulary size of second language (L2) learners. Traditional vocabulary size tests (VSTs) are limited in capturing a tester's vocabulary and are often population-specific. To overcome these issues, we propose an intelligent vocabulary size measurement method that utilizes massive robot…

"Tests of Aptitude for Language Learning" (TALL) is an openly accessible internet-based battery to measure the multifaceted construct of foreign language aptitude, using language domain-specific instruments and L1-sensitive instructions and stimuli. This brief report introduces the components of this theory-informed battery and…

In this Brief Report, we describe an evaluation of and revisions to a rubric adapted from the Jacobs et al.'s (1981) ESL COMPOSITION PROFILE, with four rubric categories and 20-point rating scales, in the context of an intensive English program writing placement test. Analysis of 4 years of rating data (2016-2021, including 434 essays) using…

This study reviewed conceptualizations and operationalizations of second language (L2) listening constructs. A total of 157 peer-reviewed papers published in 19 journals in applied linguistics were coded for (1) publication year, author, source title, location, language, and reliability and (2) listening subskills, cognitive processes, attributes,…

Studies have shown that raising L2 learners' metaphor awareness contributes to the acquisition of figurative language, which fosters students' development of language skills. However, the instruments measuring metaphor awareness, in the majority of relevant research, did not seem to have undergone proper methodological procedures for checking…

This article details the challenges and best practices of evaluating second language learners for placement into postsecondary Spanish language courses. The literature on testing for placement purposes in second language acquisition and language testing provides a great deal of insight, but language programs must make many decisions as well that…

In 1988 and 2006, "Applied Linguistics" published Low's and Littlemore and Low's seminal theoretical accounts of second language (L2) metaphoric competence (MC). Meanwhile, attempts to elicit metaphor-related skills/competences have been mixed. Instrumentation has varied in reliability, been limited in scope, and used arguably flawed…

Studies on Global Englishes (GE)-related pedagogical and curricular innovations emphasize the importance of exposing students to the diversity of English and its users. However, they do not provide direct evidence of changes in students' attitudes. The reliability and validity of existing quantitative instruments for measuring students' attitudes…

Given the lack of computational tools available for assessing second language (L2) production in Korean, this study introduces a novel automated tool called the Korean Syntactic Complexity Analyzer (KOSCA) for measuring syntactic complexity in L2 Korean production. As an open-source graphic user interface (GUI) developed in Python, KOSCA provides…

Strategic competence, or the cognitive resources necessary for utilizing language knowledge, is widely recognized as an essential component of second language (L2) ability. However, research on strategic competence in the context of L2 speaking assessment has been limited, and findings have been inconsistent, making it challenging to discern the…