The measurement of a pupil's comprehension development from literal comprehension to evaluation focused on two questions: (1) How do we measure the various types of comprehension? and (2) How should we measure the various types of comprehension? Literal comprehension is presently measured by the recall or memory-type question. However, one should…

Evaluation specialists need to decide when to use quantitative techniques for evaluation and when to use more qualitative techniques. Different situations require different strategies for evaluation. Some factors which can be used to differentiate situations include: (1) Current state of knowledge; (2) cost of the evaluation process in terms of…

Recent research in syntactic complexity has described and specified structural characteristics that distinguish levels of syntactic density. A computer program, written in Programmer Language I for the IBM 370 at Pennsylvania State University, has been developed to apply a syntactic density formula to samples of natural language and provide a…

The play patterns and stimulus preference of 20 preschool children were observed during low and high stress conditions. The stress manipulation was contingent upon the child's preparation for a medical appointment. Heart rate recordings were used as an index of stress. Children manifested a preference toward creative-constructive play under…

This paper presents the results of research from Project REALISTIC, a program of research to determine REAding, LIStening and arithmeTIC requirements for jobs; and the feasibility of substituting listening for reading as a means for instructing men of different mental aptitude levels as measured by the Armed Forces Qualification Test (AFQT). Two…

A study was conducted of Tanzanian adolescent school children's responses to filmic elements. The design included a very large sample in a complicated factorial design, varying such factors as color, type of action, background and sound of the film, and the demographic characteristics of the subjects. Results showed that of these variables,…

Preschool children copied peg locations with standardized comparison pegboards aligned horizontally and diagonally and with three levels of pegboard complexity. Error patterns varied with type of alignment and display complexity. Results failed to support Bryant's hypothesis that mirror image confusions are no more frequent than other in-line…

This triad of consulting models identifies the assumption upon which each rests. The consultant with adequate knowledge and self-insight will understand which model is appropriate to a given situation. The three models include: (1) purchase of expertise; (2) doctor-patient role; and (3) consultation process for problem solving. (Author/MFD)

Use of the Rasch model for vertical equating of tests is discussed. Although use of the model is promising, empirical results raise questions about the adequacy of the Rasch model. Latent trait models with more parameters may be necessary. (JKS)

Suggests some ways to overcome the problems connected with the use of the Syntactic Density Score. (DD)

New editions of selected college textbooks have been found to be more difficult than former ones, and experiments show that students learn less effectively from the new editions. Guidelines are offered for choosing textbooks, such as writing style, conceptual density, and the utility of readability analyses. (Editor/LBH)

This study compared the item difficulty, item discrimination, and test reliability of three forms of multiple-choice items: (1) one correct answer; (2) "none of the above" as a foil; and (3) "none of the above" as the correct answer. Twelve items in the three formats were administered in a college statistics examination. (BS)

Analysis of spoken repetitions of linguistically-controlled sentences by severely and profoundly hearing-impaired 6- to 19-year-olds (N=45) revealed that grammatical category significantly affected articulatory accuracy of target phonemes, while no effects due to syntactic complexity were noted. No differences were seen in performance between age…

Thirty-one cognitively normal college students unfamiliar with Blissymbolics were able to make reliable ratings of the perceived complexity of 91 Blissymbols. Based on these ratings, a correlational analysis indicated that the semantic variable "semantic elements" and the physical variable "number of strokes" were the best…