A study investigated the validity of an English listening skills test by comparing the results of native American and British English speakers with those of Dutch students of English as a second language. A hypothesis suggested that two-thirds of the items would test listening skills and the remaining third would test other knowledge. Test results…

The system of standardized second language tests administered to Swedish junior and senior high school students is described. The tests are used to give teachers an idea of the performance levels of their entire classes, not individual students, for comparison with national norms. They are administered more than a year before the students leave…

In the Dutch national examinations, reading comprehension tests are used for all languages. For the native language, reading comprehension is tested with reading passages and related questions to which the test-taker provides his own response, not choosing from a group of alternatives. One problem encountered in testing with these items is…

A discussion of teaching and testing oral skills in a second language looks at issues in the testing of speaking ability in general, the effect that testing can have on teaching, and the kinds of communicative activities that can be built into a foreign language program with oral proficiency as a goal. The issues addressed include the differential…

Four approaches to second language classroom teaching methods (audiolingual, cognitive code, communicative, and pragmaticist) are compared on their ability to promote oral communication in English as a second language. Six categories of analysis are used: classroom communicative activities, communicative goals reflecting the teacher's perceptions…

This paper contains a comparison of descriptive information based on analyses of pilot and live administrations of the Alabama High School Graduation Examination (AHSGE). The test is composed of three subject tests: Reading, Mathematics, and Language. The study was intended to validate the test development procedure by comparing difficulty levels…

This 3-year research project sought to determine whether language differences between Gullah-influenced and English speaking students in Charleston County (South Carolina) influenced test performance and subsequent interpretation of test results. A sample population of 503 educable mentally handicapped, learning disabled, and regular students…

The curriculum guide for Latin outlines the general and specific objectives and content of the courses to be offered in the Jefferson County (Colorado) public junior and senior high schools. An introductory section describes the district's comprehensive and second language education goals and philosophy, summarizes the findings of the President's…

It was found that the seemingly greatly increased oral fluency of Middlebury College seniors who had studied in college-sponsored junior year abroad programs did not carry over to written skills or to comprehensive grammatical knowledge. In the oral proficiency interview for Spanish, many returning students had no control of the subjunctive, a key…

Parallel studies at universities in Israel, Finland, Canada, and the United States used a "selected deletion gap-filling test," a variation on the cloze procedure designed to measure reading comprehension by testing the reader's familiarity with cohesive links and grasp of text coherence. The test design responded to the growing demand for a more…

A panel of classroom teachers and a Department of Education inspector respond to questions from participants in a conference on methodological advances in modern language teaching held in Ireland. The questions and answers address the following topics: (1) the usefulness and selection of cloze tests; (2) maintenance of high written language…

This report documents the 1985-86 Title VII Program of the Austin (Texas) Independent School District. Major findings indicated the following: (1) three program components--staff training, tutoring, and curriculum development--were implemented as planned; (2) the staff training component included a series of English as a Second Language…

Los Angeles Pierce College (LAPC) serves many Extended Opportunity Programs and Services (EOPS) students, most of them refugees, for whom English is a second language. In the past, LAPC provided limited English tutoring based on a conversational approach to supplement the more academically oriented ESL instruction available on campus. In response…

Arranged alphabetically by title, the bibliography lists 92 tests, designed for use with students ranging from preschoolers to adults, that are measures of proficiency in English as a second language. Each citation provides title, author, copyright date, age level suitability, publisher, and a brief annotation describing the purpose of the test.…

A report on the results of changes in the introductory core French program summarizes three reports evaluating the effects of increasing the total amount of instructional time in French in grades 7 and 8 on students' acquisition of French language skills, attitudes, and cultural awareness. Random samples of students in four academic year grade 8…