This document attempts to clarify the issues surrounding the assessment of English language learners (ELLs) for school board members, administrators, teachers, parents, and community members in school districts that are members of the Council of the Great City Schools. These school districts enroll more than 30% of all ELLs in the United States.…

A classroom study investigated the use of daily action logs as a means for assessing the progress of advanced students of English as a second language (ESL) at the college level. The approach was intended to promote student reflection, help make explicit the class' content, and provide feedback to the teacher on the effectiveness of the…

Describes two total immersion summer programs, one in Latin and one in Greek, each lasting two and a half months, with daily class instruction involving four hours per day, plus three hours of optional classes. In addition, students must spend six to eight hours doing homework each night. (MES)

This article discusses a battery of tests, the "Short Tests of Linguistic Skills," which was developed by the Chicago Board of Education to help teachers determine the language dominance of Spanish bilingual children between the ages of 8 and 13. (CFM)

Explores the role of sonority in constraining the word identification errors of normal listeners by examining the phonological relationships between response errors and stimulus targets. Findings indicate that sonority and lexical phonostatistics may constrain coda-driven word-search processes. (35 references) (Author/CK)

Examined open-ended production tasks in higher level testing in French-as-a-second-language courses in the United Kingdom. The article studied the effect of teachers' linguistic background, training, experience, and ability on their marking of students' oral language tests; the reliability of marking criteria; and the validity of assessing…

Examines the differences in effectiveness of three types of dictionaries--monolingual, bilingual, and "bilingualised" in the comprehension and production of new words by learners of English as a foreign language. The study tested participants on the comprehension of target words and on their ability to use these words in their own sentences. (16…

Compared teachers' holistic scoring of Nigerian English-as-a-Second-Language students' essays and their scores on a standardized language proficiency test. Results revealed that holistic scoring of essays lacked concurrent validity with the subject pool. (32 references) (CB)

Explores the development and application of syllabus and textbook design principles in the creation and use of an English-as-a-Second Language textbook that completely replaced the use of a structurally based course in Sri Lankan schools. Course components, the structural and functional syllabus, testing problems, and materials team training are…

Describes the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages oral proficiency interview and its applications as a measure of French language competence in Canada. Suggests that, as a curriculum-free, criterion-referenced assessment, this test could provide a common national yardstick for both student achievement and teacher qualification.…

Looked at both "wrong words" found in translation texts and "different words" found by comparing vocabulary elicited by Norwegian students and native English speakers in response to test questions. Aims of the study were to establish how learners make wrong lexical choices and what effects these have on discourse; and see to…

Discusses specific instruments and procedures that university-level foreign languages and literatures departments can use in outcomes-assessment of their undergraduate majors, including standardized tests, oral assessments, questionnaires, and portfolios. Case studies of outcomes-assessment programs in language departments at the University of…

The background and rationale for the 2 tests are described and results of a norming and validation study involving 804 Mexican-American college freshmen in 5 border community colleges are reported. The results provide evidence that the DTES and VAT are reliable and effective for Mexican-American students, having overcome inadequacies of other…

Presents results of a background survey and proficiency test of student teachers at Sultan Qaboos University in the Sultanate of Oman. TEFL student teachers lacked confidence in their speaking ability but had a positive attitude toward the use and study of English in their country. (61 references) (LT)

Discusses research to determine whether the methodology used in English-as-a-Second-Language classes affected scores on the Comprehensive Tests of Basic Skills. Test results of students in a Los Angeles school district exposed to a comprehension-based approach were compared to those exposed to a grammar-based approach. (21 references) (CFM)