This participant's handbook for a workshop on selecting evaluation designs for bilingual programs presents group activities to facilitate learning about the selection process. The objectives of the workshop are to (1) identify the implied comparisons associated with frequently encountered evaluation questions, (2) select the most appropriate…

Practical and technical aspects of language testing research are considered in 23 articles. Topical areas include: testing of general proficiency; the hypothesis of a single unitary factor accounting for reliable variance in tests; the structure of language proficiency; pros and cons of cloze testing; a new functional testing approach; and…

Findings from an interdisciplinary research project, Methods of Analyzing Samples of Elicited Discourse in English and Spanish for Determining Student Language Proficiency, are presented. The research project was designed to develop a unified framework for the analysis of audiotaped discourse samples elicited from Spanish/English bilingual…

A study is presented which attempts to clarify the notion of communicative proficiency in a foreign language and which outlines an instructional model that incorporates the insights of the study. Communicative proficiency is defined as fluent mastery of the foreign language in different contexts. The definition was operationalized into discourse…

The results of the 1981 data collection and evaluation efforts of Illinois transitional bilingual education programs are reported. Data were drawn from the 76 school districts on (1) the number of identified limited English proficient students served by state-funded transitional bilingual programs, (2) program entrance criteria, (3) daily minutes…

The problems and implications of language assessment of Asian students are examined. The theories of Jean Piaget and Jerome Bruner concerning the relationship between language and cognition are explored. Cognitive operations are assumed by many educators to be related to academic achievement. Culturally, Asians favor the Piagetian interpretation…

A study to determine whether college students in first-, second-, and third-year Spanish courses who saw and heard dialogs between native speakers would score significantly higher on a listening comprehension test than those who only heard the dialogs had as its subjects 178 students randomly divided into two treatment groups. Twenty-seven…

The development of oral language proficiency as a requirement for bilingual and English-as-a-second-language (ESL) teacher certification in New Jersey is chronicled. Efforts made toward the preparation of bilingual and ESL teachers to accommodate the increasing numbers of limited English proficient students in the state are outlined, beginning…

This set of 82 summaries is based on papers written between 1963 and 1982 concerning the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). TOEFL is currently required by more than 2,500 colleges and universities in the United States and Canada to determine the English proficiency of applicants whose native language is not English. It is also required…

The rationale behind most standard English tests is openly political and economic--to perpetuate and protect the advantages of the white middle class. (JH)

Described are scales of communicative interaction which can be used to evaluate children who are marginal communicators (such as the retarded, emotionally disturbed, or culturally deprived) by determining at what level the child uses interactive language in various situations. (LS)

Spanish and English versions of an oral proficiency test were administered to Spanish-surnamed pupils at grade levels K, one, three and five in a bilingual education program. The results indicated that achievement in English appears to be unrelated to the maintenance of Spanish for bilingual children. (Author/ND)

The paper examines aspects involved in providing an accurate evaluation of speech and language of culturally different preschool children. Dialectical differences of Spanish and Black English speakers are detailed. Culturally based nonverbal behaviors and situational factors, including touching behavior and eye contact, are considered. Cultural…

A factor analytic study of the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) was undertaken to determine the component abilities that underlie performance on the test for several major language groups: African, Arabic, Chinese (non-Taiwanese), Farsi, Germanic, Japanese, and Spanish. Evidence was found that three major factors underlie performance…

This is an account of some of the issues raised during 5 years of design, development and operation of the English Language Testing Service (ELTS). The measures in question are made up of five sub-tests: two general tests of reading and listening comprehension, and three modular tests of language study skills in reading, writing, and speaking. The…