The Hawaii State Department of Education's compliance plan for serving the special needs of minority students of limited English proficiency includes current policies, procedures, and program implementation specifications. The procedures address: surveys of newly enrolled students, English and native language proficiency assessment, program…

A method for asessing second language test validity by modifying and applying statistical test bias techniques to the performance of language learners from different native language groups was developed out of concern for internal test bias, both overall and item-related. Valid tests should contain some items testing differential performance…

A study to evaluate seven commonly employed reading comprehension testing techniques in terms of predictive validity, difficulty and discriminability is described. (Author/RM)

Discusses a system for evaluating student performance in the language laboratory, grading for comprehension and correctness, with four categories: complete, limited, severely limited, unsatisfactory. Evaluation of laboratory performance is more objective, being based on what has been taught and learned under stable conditions. (Text is in German.)…

A language comprehension test using electronically distorted sentences was developed at Bar Ilan University in Israel as an attempt to measure communicative competence. Reliability coefficients, student reactions, and a sample dialogue are provided. (MSE)

Addresses modern language teachers, especially of French, on the notions of objectivity and subjectivity, and the problems of testing knowledge. Specific written and oral measures are discussed, and a glossary of testing terms is provided. (Text is in French.) (MSE)

A testing technique is reported for testing oral production which attempts to combine the advantages of the interview test and the standardized, discrete-point test and to improve standardization of tests of oral production. (RM)

Tests to discover the nature of the second language learner's language are discussed. Such tests are based on the assumptions that the development of the system of the foreign language in the learner follows certain regular patterns, and that the learner's grammar is essentially systematic at any stage of his learning. (RM)

Gives the results of the language examinations given in the spring of 1974 in the people's colleges. Examination fields were: German as a foreign language, Russian, Spanish, English, English (Hotel work), Italian, French. (Text is in German.) (IFS/WGA)

The Cloze test is explained, and an experiment described which was conducted by the Ministry of Education in 1973 using Cloze tests as language exercises in the matriculation examination. Results of the test and teachers' evaluations are reported, and sample passages given. (RM)

A discussion of the present potential impact of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI) and Proficiency Guidelines on classroom teaching and curriculum design argues that proficiency-oriented instruction cannot and should not claim to be a new method for foreign language teaching. Although many…

Two Australian language curriculum development projects are discussed: the Australian Language Levels (ALL) Project and the National Assessment Framework for Languages at Senior Secondary Level (NAFLSSL). While distinct, both projects are closely linked. Each project was launched in 1985 in a favorable climate and in response to cost, enrollment,…

The influence of the communicative approach to second language teaching on the design of the new Certificates in Communicative Skills in English tests is examined, and the evaluation of the tests in practice is discussed from that perspective. It is proposed that a number of characteristics of the new series should relate directly and consciously…

This study examines the effects of foreign students' knowledge of a particular academic area on their comprehension of written texts in English. The students' university majors or areas of study included administration and finance, engineering, math and/or physics, and liberal arts. In two studies, the students performed tasks related to texts in…

Assessment of communicative language learning means evaluating not only whether the language used is correct or incorrect, but also whether it is appropriate for the context. In structuring a communicative exchange for the purpose of testing, it must be determined that the problem used as the subject of an assessment interaction is suitable, and…