A study investigated the use of multidimensional scaling (MDS), a statistical technique, to examine the underlying structure of an ability test at the item level. Subjects were over 8,500 Egyptian students in the Department of Public Service at the American University in Cairo. The testing instrument used was a 36-item English language test based…

A study examined the scoring procedure for the second part of the modular section of the English Language Testing Service (ELTS) academic writing test. The scoring is done by external raters according to procedures and a scale specified for the test, resulting in a performance profile. The report chronicles the development of the procedures and…

The role of different types of testing instruments in second language programs is discussed. Knowledge-based tests, including discrete-point and integrative tests are contrasted with direct tests, including the Foreign Service Institute Scale and the Australian Second Language Proficiency Ratings (ASLPR). The ASLPR is described in detail in terms…

Problems and issues in the field of native language proficiency assessment for Asian American students are examined. Language skills assessment in both English and the native language is a crucial step in the provision of equal educational opportunity to language minority students. Language assessment for Asian Americans, the fastest growing group…

The state of the art in testing and teaching communicatively handicapped Hispanic children is examined in eight chapters organized into sections concerned with insights from research, a view of the present, and recommendations for the future. The three chapters of the first section summarize research related to the acquisition of English as a…

This workbook is part of "Contact Canada," a course for teaching English as a second language to adult Francophones. The specific aim of this booklet is to teach the meaningful use of the progressive present tense through comparison and contrast with simple present tense usage. The workbook, which is accompanied by a six-minute animated…

This teacher's manual is designed to accompany the reader and the workbook of the same title. An introduction to the series is followed by a discussion of course objectives and diagnostic testing of reading. The guide follows the structure of the companion reader, which consists of 7 stories dealing with vowels, school, and family. A glossary…

Two hypotheses proposed to explain the variance in second language tests are investigated. Hypothesis 1 (H1) claims that language skill is separable into components either related to linguistically defined categories (e.g., listening, speaking, reading, and writing). Another possibility (H2) is that second language ability may be a more unitary…

As part of the current trend toward adopting modern, objective-standardized test methods in evaluating the teaching of English as a foreign language (EFL) in the schools of the Socialist Republic of Romania, this review of pedagogical literature makes available to the English-reading audience information that has appeared in Romanian materials.…

A profile method was used to analyze the patterns of four English proficiency tests (Comprehensive English Language Test for Speakers of English as a Second Language: Structure, CELT: Listening, Reading for Understanding Test, and The New Cloze Test) regarding two examinee characteristics: their language proficiency levels and native language. One…

A concurrent validation analysis was conducted for the recently developed Test of Spoken English (TSE), using as an external criterion the Foreign Service Institute (FSI) direct proficiency interviewing procedure. Use-related validation data for the TSE were obtained as a predictor of the communicative effectiveness in English of non-native…

An overview of issues in bilingual vocational education and language assessment is related in this paper to the Limited English Speaking (LES) Program at Mesa Community College (MCC). First, problems with traditional approaches to LES students are cited. Then, the goals of Vocational English as a Second Language (VESL) are discussed and necessary…

The annotated bibliography describes 13 standardized tests appropriate for use with American Indians from preschool through high school levels, furnishing authors, copyright date, appropriate age level, physical format (microfiche), and publisher. A separate listing provides names, addresses, and telephone numbers of 33 major U.S. publishers of…

A research project on study habits was conducted at the University of Khartoum, Sudan. This report includes: (1) an overview of the university and the background to the study; (2) previous research on study habits undertaken at the University of Khartoum and elsewhere; (3) the project goals and procedures; (4) findings concerning language…

A manual for use in training French and Spanish language examiners at the Foreign Service Institute is presented here. After a discussion of the history of the language proficiency test and of the testing procedure and evaluation techniques, the following topics are covered: (1) language proficiency ratings based on the absolute criterion of the…