Purpose: The current intelligibility tests performed on speakers with atypical speech production are limited by the ability of listeners to restore distorted sequences. This results in a measure that is overvalued when compared with the real articulatory performance. In this article, we present a new intelligibility test in order to neutralize the…

Due to the recent Federal redefinition of "basic skills," large scale assessments of speaking and listening proficiencies will proliferate. In planning assessment procedures, educators must be sensitive not only to psychometric validity, but also to pedagogical validity: the effects of testing on curricular content and instructional strategies.…

Average intelligibility scores for a group of 37 hearing-impaired and 2 normally hearing adolescents were determined by 50 normal listeners and were compared with nine acoustically measured speech variables, including measurements of consonant production, vowel production, and prosody. (Author/DLS)

As part of the evaluation of a 5-year longitudinal research and development project in individualized language learning, several alternative methods for testing oral English production were tried out. The Bilingual Syntax Measure was selected for adaptation because of the relative effectiveness of its visual component in eliciting responses.…

This collection, including the proceedings of a colloquium at TESOL 1979, includes the following papers: (1) "Classification of Oral Proficiency Tests," by H. Madsen and R. Jones; (2) "A Theoretical Framework for Communicative Competence," by M. Canale and M. Swain; (3) "Beyond Faith and Face Validity: The Multitrait-Multimethod Matrix and the…

Pilot, field, and final tests in listening and in speaking knowledge, skills, and attitudes for Alberta (Canada) students in grades 3, 6, 9, and 12 were constructed, using the following steps: (1) selection and validation of high-priority measurable objectives; (2) review of existing tests and related literature; (3) pilot test construction,…