Disproportionality in the identification of disabilities among children who are culturally and linguistically diverse is an ongoing challenge for educators. A practice that may help address issues of disproportionality is the use of universal screening and progress monitoring data for academic skills as well as English language proficiency data to…

This study examined the perceived and assessed speaking proficiency levels of 10 in-service Spanish teachers, their use of Spanish in and outside of work, and factors that motivate or hinder the maintenance or development of their proficiency. It also compared their current proficiency levels with their proficiency levels before completion of…

This article gives examples of mobile vocabulary apps (MVAs) that can be downloaded from the Google Play or Apple App Stores and used as extension activities or a supplement to in-class vocabulary instruction in EFL such as English word study, advanced English vocabulary, test your English vocabulary, English vocabulary level I, II & III, 1000…

A cluster randomized design was used to investigate effects of the Story Friends vocabulary curriculum on learning of 84 preschoolers in 24 classrooms who were at risk for language difficulties. Children in the treatment condition received explicit vocabulary instruction of 36 words during small-group storybook listening centers with extended…

The problem of not having a language exam by the end of the university years affects thousands of students in Hungary. The literature reveals that this area is less researched, but there are a number of factors that I found important to examine. I did my research in the East Hungarian region. The reason for this is that many studies in this area…

A key concern of washback research in language testing is with the value of test preparation for facilitating learning and improving test performance. Although test takers may draw on a wide range of preparation activities, the majority of research studies examining test preparation have taken place in classroom settings, leaving self-access…

The literature on using scoring rubrics in writing assessment denotes the significance of rubrics as practical and useful means to assess the quality of writing tasks. This study tries to investigate the agreement among rubrics endorsed and used for assessing the essay writing tasks by the internationally recognized tests of English language…

This study introduces a novel differential item functioning (DIF) method based on propensity score matching that tackles two challenges in analyzing performance assessment data, that is, continuous task scores and lack of a reliable internal variable as a proxy for ability or aptitude. The proposed DIF method consists of two main stages. First,…

Since its introduction in 2017, National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) has been contracted by Ofqual to develop, deliver and analyse the results of the National Reference Test (NRT) in English and maths. The NRT is administered annually and shows if student performance in English and maths at GCSE level has changed from year-to-year.…

Purpose: Narrative skill represents a higher-level linguistic skill that shows incremental development in the preschool years. During these years, there are considerable individual differences in this skill, with some children being highly skilled narrators (i.e., precocious) relative to peers of their age. In this study, we explored the…

In the research reported here, we propose a new method for scale alignment and test scoring in the context of supporting students with disabilities. In educational assessment, students from these special populations take modified tests because of a demonstrated disability that requires more assistance than standard testing accommodation. Updated…

Differential Item Function (DIF) analysis is commonly employed to examine potential bias produced by a test item. Since its introduction DIF analyses have focused on potential bias related to broad categories of oppression, including gender, racial stratification, economic class, and ableness. More recently, efforts to examine the effects of…

This paper presents the findings of a study which aimed at exploring the washback of the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) English examinations on English teaching and learning practice at secondary schools in Bangladesh. For this purpose, a qualitative research (employing interviews with English teachers, FGDs with students and classroom…

A majority of Indian schoolchildren are biliterate in that they acquire literacy in at least two language systems, necessitating dyslexia assessment in both. The DALI-DAB assesses risk for dyslexia by evaluating reading ability and literacy-learning potential through a battery including literacy tests (letter and word reading, spelling, nonword…

The computer-based College English Test-Spoken English Test (CET-SET) in China incorporates interactional competence in its construct by using a non-face-to-face paired discussion task. To build validity arguments for this unique computer-mediated interactive task, the present study investigated the impact of delivery mode on test performance in…