The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between a set of item characteristics and the difficulty of TOEFL[R] dialogue items. Identifying characteristics that are related to item difficulty has the potential to improve the efficiency of the item-writing process The study employed 365 TOEFL dialogue items, which were coded on 49…

Although calls for educational reform have been raised in many nations, just how accountable are schools, teachers, or students themselves in Japan for their own language teaching or learning? While the use of course evaluations has come into vogue, many colleges do not assess English majors' linguistic ability in a professional manner, for…

Research reports major concerns over classification and measurement for students with limited English proficiency (LEP). Poor operational definition of the English language proficiency construct and validity concerns on the existing language proficiency tests are among these issues. Decisions on including LEP students in large-scale assessments…

This study was conducted to investigate the dimensionality of language tests by means of latent variable models for categorical data. It differs from previous studies by conducting the analysis at the level of the original items using the structural modeling approach of B. Muthen (1984) for dichotomous and ordered polytomous variables. In this…

To examine the relationship of the Flowers-Costello Tests of Central Auditory Abilities and the Illinois Test of Psycholinguistic Abilities, 20 ethnic minority kindergarten children were administered both tests. (Author)

Describes an intensive program in elementary German at the University of Texas (Arlington) in 1971, in which undergraduates with no previous experience in German could complete the university's four semester foreign language requirement in a single semester. (DS)

Paper delivered at the annual meeting of ACTFL (American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages) on November 27, 1971, in Chicago, Illinois. (DS)