This highly technical, data-rich paper examines how the Many-Facet Rasch Measurement Model can be applied to communicative language test data analyses and how beneficial the model is to language teachers. The results for a 20-item conversational response test and a 15-item sociolinguistic test of oral communication ability in English for 30…

Data from Population 2 of the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) were used to explore relations between teacher classroom practices and student achievement. The sample consisted of 3,400 students and their 319 teachers. Principal components analysis focused classroom practices into four factors: (1) project creation; (2)…

This paper offers a method for evaluating protective factors in young children at risk for emotional and/or behavioral disorders. It reviews the development, standardization, validation, and use of a new, nationally standardized measure of within child protective factors, the Devereux Early Childhood Assessment (DECA). The DECA evaluates the…

Describes changes in cognitive correlates of learning as naval trainees advanced through a computer-managed series of hierarchical instructional modules requiring mastery-learning in electronics. The 24 cognitive characteristic tests measuring cognitive styles, abilities, and attitudes are listed as well as the content of the 11 modules and the…

Describes an experiment with 332 students enrolled in an instructional media course at Pennsylvania State University which evaluated the instructional effectiveness of self-paced instruction when units were accompanied by visual aids differing in amounts of realistic detail and the relationship to a student's reading comprehension level. Nineteen…

A comparative factor analysis on intelligence data from four sex-by-generation groups was performed using the LISREL model. Spatial and verbal factors were isolated. Results were consistent with the hypothesis that males and females have similar intellectual structure. There were sex and generational differences in spatial and verbal factor means.…

Factor analysis of 25 rating scales from Bayley's infant behavior record were performed for a sample of about 300-400 infant twins tested one or more times between 3 and 24 months of age. The analyses provided five major and two minor factors that were considerably consistent at all ages. (Author/DB)

These authors cite their own study of the relationship between traditional measures of intelligence and Piagetian measures of cognitive development in support of Glass and Stephens' contention that there are important qualitative differences. They question Humphreys' and Parsons' conclusions on both substantive and factor theoretical grounds. (CTM)

Two sources of inconsistency were separated by reanalyzing data from a major study on short-term consistency. Little evidence was found for generalizability or behavioral predictability. Results supported the assumption that measurement error from short-term fluctuations is not due to systematic individual differences in response consistency.…

Profiles students' awareness of the functions and influences of expert input in their writing. Data include results of a survey of foreign-language and English-as-a-Second-Language writers' beliefs about feedback behaviors known to interact with revision processes. Results indicate that each group perceives expert response as serving distinct…

Study behaviors common to elementary school students were incorporated into a questionnaire administered to 793 fourth and sixth graders. Factor structures varied by sex and grade level, but gender differences in study strategies apparent by grade six may be the source of persistent gender differences in academic achievement. (SLD)

Discusses the University of Tennessee's externally mandated undergraduate exams in public relations and news-editorial skills. Analyzes (1) whether the exams are valid measures of qualities in students that faculty believe are important; (2) what factors are related to scores; and (3) whether these factors are related to specific courses in the…

Discussion of mood management strategies focuses on a study of pregnant and non-pregnant women and new mothers, that was designed to examine television program preferences as a function of the physiologically induced affective stages of pregnancy. Television viewing habits are examined and affective dispositions are ascertained. (29 references)…

Assigned factor scores to therapist and client utterances. Constructed a 17 x 17 correlation matrix consisting of correlations across 4 lagged utterances. Principal-components analysis revealed 4 therapist-client interaction factors: mutual therapeutic engagement, mutual therapeutic negotiation, undirected client reminiscence, and sustained…

Examined discourse of bereaved individuals using computer-based text analyses. Compared discourse structure of low-distress bereaved individuals, high-distress bereaved subjects, and a single bereaved individual. Meaningful differences between the distress groups and the single individual indicate possible quantitative and qualitative means for…