This study determines whether breadth and depth of vocabulary knowledge are related to L2 ease and success in lexical inferencing. To this end, two tests measuring vocabulary breadth and depth were administered to 50 participants. Two weeks later, all participants received an inferencing task and rated the degree of perceived ease in inferencing…

The present study aims at analyzing speech samples of four Bengali speaking children with repaired cleft palates with a view to differentiate between the misarticulations arising out of a deficit in linguistic skills and structural or motoric limitations. Spontaneous speech samples were collected and subjected to a number of linguistic analyses…

The study compares EFL writers' processes in composing reading-based writing (RW) and graph-based writing (GW) tasks developed for a university English proficiency exam. Think-aloud protocols and interviews of ten university-level nonnative English-speaking writers were collected to explore writers' composing processes. The results revealed that…

In 2006, Bhutan changed the secondary school curriculum. This study examines the washback effect of the English assessment system associated with this new curriculum. Based on questionnaire responses from 56 EFL secondary school teachers in Bhutan, the study suggests the new curriculum produces both positive and also negative washback. In order…

The transition from eighth-grade middle school to ninth-grade in high school can be an extremely challenging experience (Kennelly & Monrad, 2007). According to the Texas Center for Educational Research, more students decide to drop out of school during their ninth-grade year than any other time (Marshall, 2003). According to Fulco (2009), this…

In this technical report, we describe the development and piloting of a series of vocabulary assessments intended for use with students in grades two through eight. These measures, available as part of easyCBM[TM], an online progress monitoring and benchmark/screening assessment system, were developed in 2010 and administered to approximately 1200…

In this technical report, we describe the development and piloting of a series of vocabulary assessments intended for use with students in grades two through eight. These measures, available as part of easyCBM[TM], an online progress monitoring and benchmark/screening assessment system, were developed in 2010 and administered to approximately 1200…

In this technical report, we describe the development and piloting of a series of vocabulary assessments intended for use with students in grades two through eight. These measures, available as part of easyCBM[TM], an online progress monitoring and benchmark/screening assessment system, were developed in 2010 and administered to approximately 1200…

In this technical report, we describe the development and piloting of a series of vocabulary assessments intended for use with students in grades two through eight. These measures, available as part of easyCBM[TM], an online progress monitoring and benchmark/screening assessment system, were developed in 2010 and administered to approximately 1200…

In this technical report, we describe the development and piloting of a series of vocabulary assessments intended for use with students in grades two through eight. These measures, available as part of easyCBM[TM], an online progress monitoring and benchmark/screening assessment system, were developed in 2010 and administered to approximately 1200…

In this technical report, we describe the development and piloting of a series of vocabulary assessments intended for use with students in grades two through eight. These measures, available as part of easyCBM[TM], an online progress monitoring and benchmark/screening assessment system, were developed in 2010 and administered to approximately 1200…

In this technical report, we describe the development and piloting of a series of vocabulary assessments intended for use with students in grades two through eight. These measures, available as part of easyCBM[TM], an online progress monitoring and benchmark/screening assessment system, were developed in 2010 and administered to approximately 1200…

Very high-level, functional ability in foreign languages is increasingly important in many walks of life. It is also very rare, and likely requires an early start and/or a special aptitude. This study investigated the extent to which aptitude for explicit learning, defined as "analytic ability" and aptitude for implicit learning, defined…

Performance on integrated tasks requires candidates to engage skills and strategies beyond language proficiency alone, in ways that can be difficult to define and measure for testing purposes. While it has been widely recognized that stimulus materials impact test performance, our understanding of the way in which test takers make use of these…

This research investigated the relation between rater cognition and rater behavior, focusing on differential severity/leniency regarding criteria. Participants comprised a sample of 18 raters examined in a previous rater cognition study (Eckes, 2008b). These raters, who were known to differ widely in their perceptions of criterion importance,…