This paper problematizes the assessment of speakers' proficiency in endangered language communities. We focus in particular on processes of lexical production and elicitation as proxies for full proficiency assessment. Among linguists, it is standard to assess a speaker's knowledge of specific lexical items in order to set a baseline for further…

This article discusses a range of current issues and future research possibilities in Communicative Language Testing (CLT) using, as its departure point, the key questions which emerged during the CLT symposium at the 2010 Language Testing Forum. The article begins with a summary of the 2010 symposium discussion in which three main issues related…

Looking back to the language testing world of the 1980s in the United Kingdom, we need to be aware that how we perceive or remember ourselves to have been then--whether as individual language testing academics or as corporate language testing organisations--will be shaped by multiple influences. Although we may have been present at and shared in…

This is the first collection of research studies to explore the potential for mixed methods to shed light on foreign or second language learning by young learners in instructed contexts. It brings together recent studies undertaken in Cameroon, China, Croatia, Ethiopia, France, Germany, Italy, Kenya, Mexico, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Tanzania and…

This article focuses on the proficiency level of texts in Computer Learner Corpora (CLCs). A claim is made that proficiency levels are often poorly defined in CLC design, and that the methods used for level assignment of corpus texts are not always adequate. Proficiency level can therefore, best be described as a fuzzy variable in CLCs,…

The Guidelines for Good Practice of the European Association for Language Testing and Assessment (EALTA) stress the importance of collaboration between all parties involved in the process of developing instruments, activities and programmes for testing and assessment. Collaboration is considered to be as important as validity and reliability,…

Different experimental techniques for empirical assessment of children's linguistic ability have produced conflicting evidence. A number of such contradictions are discussed, in the context of an analysis of the potential weaknesses, and consequent requirements, of both comprehension and production tasks. (A commentary by P. L. Harris appears on…

The development of the Cambridge Assessment of Spoken English (CASE) is reviewed, with particular reference to the trialling and validation of the rating scales. The objectives of the test are to assess an individual's ability to produce and process spoken English; demonstrate the ability to communicate in English through the use of grammatical,…

In two separate studies involving 98 and 59 moderately mentally retarded children (mean ages 12 and 11 years), factor analyses of the Revised Illinois Test of Psycholinguistic Abilities (ITPA) were performed to determine if the subtests corresponded to the theoretical model of communication channels, processes, and levels. In the first study, raw…

A study investigated factors in design of oral language comprehension tests and their relevance in determining actual language proficiency, focusing on the tests' decoding requirements. Task-based, interactive oral language tests were designed: (1) to elicit information about integration of first (L1) and second languages (L2) in the learner's…

AUDIOLINGUAL TEACHING METHODS HAVE CREATED THE NEED FOR NEW TESTING TECHNIQUES IN THE FOUR LANGUAGE SKILLS OF LISTENING, SPEAKING, AND WRITING. VARIOUS CURRENT METHODS AND SPECIFIC STANDARDIZED TESTS FOR EVALUATING EACH OF THE SKILLS, INCLUDING PURE SKILLS TESTS WHICH UTILIZE ONLY ONE SKILL IN BOTH STIMULUS AND RESPONSE AND HYBRID SKILLS TESTS…

The design of a valid and reliable test of test-wiseness is reported: a 33-item multiple-choice instrument with 4 subscales trialed with several groups of English-as-a-Second-Language students. Findings indicate differential skills in test-taking; some learner scores are influenced by skills that are not the focus of the test. (13 references)…

This report describes research in progress at Duisburg University on a modification of the cloze principle in language testing. Four problem areas in classical cloze tests are isolated and discussed, namely, text selection, test construction, scoring, and interpretation. The "C-tests" in the process of development use the theoretical…

A study examined internal structure of the Discourse Completion Test (DCT), a technique used to elicit data in sociolinguistic research, and effects of systematic modification to its situational prompt on subject response. The DCT is a questionnaire containing situations, briefly described, designed to elicit a particular speech act. Subjects read…