Compares the lexical proficiency of 69 grade 6 immersion students with that of 22 native French-speaking peers, based on verb use and in 5 written compositions. Measures of lexical error, variety, specificity, and sophistication show clear differences between the two groups. (33 references) (Author/VWL)

Presents suggestions for more accurately and effectively assessing students' oral foreign language skills, covering classroom atmosphere, testing frequency, and audiotaping student responses. A sample score sheet and evaluation criteria are provided. (CB)

Native speakers act as standard-providers, evaluators, and the evaluated in the development of oral proficiency interviews. Thus, proficiency guidelines cannot be accepted as valid until there is evidence that oral interviews and rating scales mirror the process of the native speaker, both in evaluating and in exhibiting proficiency. (CB)

Discusses the development of an interview test of English proficiency in the 0 to 1+ range on the Australian Second Language Proficiency Rating Scale. Items were written toward 29 specified objectives using specially developed algorithms. A sample set of algorithms used in one of the tests and 23 references are appended. (Author/LMO)

Reviews and comments on the syllabus and lower level examinations held in German used by the Institute of Linguists. Topics include target groups, task-based proficiency examinations, skills examined in L2, skill integration in L2, language integration, task briefs, a listening test, oral tests, and cultural awareness. (CK)

By order of the Civil Service Commission of Belgium, Didascalia, the University of Antwerp developed an adaptive system for evaluating second-language proficiency. A computer model based on probability and information theory was developed; the first module of the ATLAS test currently assesses approximately 15,000 civil servants yearly. (one…

Investigated pragmatic declarative and procedural knowledge as realized by routine formulas and conversational strategies with 19 American college students learning German as a Second Language. The results suggest that language instruction that has the goal of developing metapragmatic declarative and procedural knowledge results in real progress…

Reports on reaction time experiments investigating subject-verb agreement and null subjects in 33 Korean learners of German and a control group of 20 German native speakers. Results found that the two phenomena do not covary in the Korean learners, indicating that properties of agreement and null subjects are acquired separately from one another.…

Discusses the development and use of a computer-adaptive test (CAT) for learners of Chinese. Each time the examinee answers a question, the CAT program registers the answer and, based on the examinee's response, decides whether the next question should be harder or easier. (23 references) (MDM)

Examined the language learning strategies employed by 374 English-as-a-Second-Language students at the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez using the Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL) instrument. Results found higher overall strategy use by women than by men and significant differences by proficiency level and gender in students'…

The hypothesis that good guessers are good second-language learners is investigated. Focus is on one characteristic, cognitive style, of successful and unsuccessful learners. Overall, the study provides continuing evidence for the positive relationship between field independence and English-as-a-Second-Language proficiency. (45 references) (LB)

The relationship between lower-level verbal processing skills and foreign language reading proficiency was investigated with U.S. college students learning Japanese. Focus was on the specific effects of letter identification and word recognition. Findings suggest that efficient lower-level verbal processing operations are essential in foreign…

This study compared 112 younger and older adult monolingual English speakers and English/Spanish bilingual speakers on measures of auditory perception and memory span. The results revealed no age difference in auditory memory span in English but found that both older and younger bilinguals performed better than monolinguals on these tasks.…

This paper examined the assessment of second-language proficiency in 157 research articles published in 5 language journals from 1988 through 1992, finding 4 major conventions for the assessment of language proficiency: (1) impressionistic judgment; (2) institutional status; (3) in-house measures; and (4) standardized test scores. (64 references)…

Study of the conversational interaction of elementary school children, about one-third of whom were limited-English-proficient, found that proficient classmates used little "caretaker speech" or "foreigner talk" and that the amount of social talk did not markedly affect second-language proficiency or the ability to use it in academic activities.…