In the author's experience, Colombia is among the most misunderstood Spanish-speaking countries. Most of the news about Columbia involves drug trafficking or guerilla warfare, due to the many social and political problems that face the country. It is rare that the public is informed about the culture and people of this beautiful South American…

This study examined scores from 133,906 operationally scored Test of English as a Foreign Language™ (TOEFL®) essays to determine whether the choice of composition medium has any impact on score quality for subgroups of test-takers. Results of analyses demonstrate that (a) scores assigned to word-processed essays are slightly more reliable than…

Four papers relating to literacy education for Australian Aboriginal peoples are presented. "Testing Epenthetic Vowels in Anindilyakwa" by Velma J. Leeding reports on a study of Aboriginal perceptions of a short transitional vowel. In "Diagnostic Testing of the Anindilyakwa Orthography for Both Reading and Writing," Velma J.…

Three articles discuss aspects of current foreign language instruction in Hungary. "Foreign Languages in Hungarian Schools Today" (Karoly Fulop) surveys the current status of second language instruction, the developments made since reforms were recommended in 1972 and 1979, and possible directions for further development. It looks first…

The process of revising and validating two English language tests used by the United States armed forces in hiring foreign nationals overseas is described. Development of the item banks and classification of items are outlined, and field testing in the United States and overseas is described. The tests were the basic and intermediate level…

A 5-item rating scale was developed for the New York City schools to determine eligibility for English as a Second Language instruction in Category C exceptional students exempted from testing. Most students follow a curriculum of daily living skills, and many are nonverbal. The test was piloted with 163 students including severely, trainable, and…

A review of the literature on a variety of issues related to testing vocabulary knowledge in a second language addresses these topics: problems in estimating vocabulary size, including the related questions of what constitutes a word, how a sample should be selected, and what are the criteria for knowing a word; sampling the basic and specialized…

This study was designed to explore the effect of selected test and background variables on the pooled within-school relationship between Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) scores and first year grade average (FYA), and to assess the potential role of selected Test of English as a Foreign Language-related variables as supplemental predictors…

Results of the Wisconsin Pupil Assessment Program's 1984 test administrations are summarized. A sample of 16,000 public school students were tested. Tests included objective-referenced tests in writing and understanding of economics, and the norm-referenced Comprehensive Tests of Basic Skills (CTBS) test of reading, mathematics, and language.…

By analyzing the language proficiency interview style developed by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) in a different way, proficiency profiles can be created that will be of greater use to business language programs and prospective employers than are the ACTFL rankings alone. From the interview, this profile can…

Diverse information is compiled to begin to address the question of how well students in Alaska are achieving. In 1987, each of the 55 districts in Alaska submitted results of its standardized testing program for Reading, Reading Comprehension, Mathematics, Mathematics Problem Solving, and Language Arts for the three school years from 1984-85…

The relationship between the relative language proficiencies of bilingual children and their scores on tests administered in one or both languages was studied in students referred to special education because of suspected learning disabilities. Bilingual Hispanic students (25 males and 15 females) in grades 2 through 4 from an urban school…

In a study of the reliability of an English language proficiency test for non-native teaching assistants (NNS TAs), 18 NNS TAs were administered the SPEAK Test. The results were compared with student evaluations of the intelligibility and clarity of the TAs' classroom speech. Despite problems with the SPEAK Test, the measure was considered a…

The admissable probability measurement (APM) format was used to score a criterion referenced language arts test administered in an inner city junior high school. Its 30 items covered capitalization, punctuation, parts of speech, and sentence analysis. With APM, students indicate their confidence in their answer choice, and guessing is heavily…

Spring 1984 achievement test results for court-identified, minority isolated (MI) schools in the San Diego Unified School District are reported. The Comprehensive Tests of Basic Skills (CTBS) were used to measure progress in the areas of reading, language, and mathematics. Language and math scores trended upwards across grades; reading also…