Recent literature in the field of L2 vocabulary assessment has advocated for the development of written receptive vocabulary tests such as Vocabulary Levels Tests (VLTs) that use: (a) meaning-recall item formats, (b) a minimum of 40 item counts per 1,000-frequency band to improve level estimates, and (c) lemmas (not word-families) as the lexical…

Although use of high-stakes tests is common across developing societies, very little is known about how these tests are designed, what principles and criteria guide test construction, and what factors influence this process. The present study investigates the development of the English Paper-1 test for the Higher Secondary Certificate examination…

The aim of the present study is to develop a valid and reliable scale evaluating the effectiveness of language preparatory programs in the acquisition of language skills. In the development of Foreign Language Skills Scale (FLSS) in this study, research sample consisted of 326 preparatory school students for the exploratory factor analysis (EFA)…

Assessment has an important role in education and it has a critical role in the teaching process. Through appropriate assessment, teachers can classify and grade their students, give feedback and structure their teaching accordingly. Recently, educators and scientists have been becoming more interested in the requirements of assessment procedures…

The purpose of the study is to have a relook at the ESL reading comprehension assessment system for Malaysian Year Five students. Traditionally, the ESL teachers have been assessing and reporting on their primary year's students by merely giving a composite grade with some vague remarks. This process has been used and is still being employed in…

In response to the need for examples of test validation from which everyday language programs can benefit, this paper reports on a study that used Bachman's (2005) assessment use argument (AUA) framework to examine evidence to support claims made about the intended interpretations and uses of scores based on a new web-based Spanish language…

This article presents and analyses a classroom-based assessment method to test students' speaking skills in a variety of professional settings in tourism. The assessment system has been implemented in the Communication in English for Tourism course, as part of the Tourism Management degree programme, at Florida Universitaria (affiliated to the…

The Applied Language Centre at University College Dublin offers foreign language modules to students in ten languages at CEFR [Common European Framework of Reference for Languages] levels ranging from A1 to B2. Efforts have been underway in the Centre to standardise the assessment components across languages to ensure parity between module credits…

This study and analysis are designed to find a common, practical measurement tool that may be used for intra- and interprogram evaluation of Japanese programs, especially in the higher education context. First, three previous methods of evaluation (the Oral Proficiency Interview, the Nihongo Noryoku Shiken or Japanese Language Proficiency Test,…

In comparison with the C-test, the cloze procedure is recommended for inclusion in a student placement test battery, and as an item of greater flexibility and with application to a wider range of placement test situations. The features considered were validity, reliability, scorability, economy, administrability, practicality, and discrimination.…

The faculty of an intensive program of English as a second language for college-bound students, questioning the objectivity of faculty evaluations of non-native college applicants' written essays, assessed the existing evaluation process, reformed it, tested it, and planned for ongoing development. In the first stage, readers read and graded…

This document examines the concepts of validity, reliability, and appropriateness from a language testing perspective as they apply to the following four assessment issues raised by the National Reporting System (NRS): (1) What type of language assessment seems to be required by the NRS: proficiency or achievement?; (2) Knowing that the NRS…

Communicative competence is often characterized as an integrated control of language reflected in the speaker's ability to understand and use language appropriately for communication in various situations. The theoretical basis for the communicative competence construct is the anthropological, sociolinguistc, and pragmatic view of language.…

Experience and research on the appropriateness and reliability of various criteria used in oral language tests are discussed. It is concluded that global marking schemes, which are less detailed, may enable the scorer to better evaluate communicative effectiveness, which includes both linguistic and paralinguistic factors. (MSE)

On the premise that the value of a test relates to its uses, this article argues that tests should correspond to teachers' methods, objectives, and materials. A distinction is drawn between classroom and standardized testing, and three criteria for testing are offered. (LR)