Defining vocational English as a specific vocabulary of individual words and phases connected with a certain occupation, the author outlines principles of testing, lists types of vocational English tests, and attempts to show that in constructing such tests a whole range of types of question can be used. (FB)

Describes the content areas and types of questions on the advanced placement Latin tests and gives the complete multiple choice section (questions and answers) from the 1980 test. (EKN)

The study involving 18 four year old children was designed to determine whether or not similar processes would be identified when responses obtained through a delayed word imitation task were compared to those obtained through a delayed sentence imitation task. (SB)

Language samples were obtained from 12 Head Start preschool children under the following three experimental conditions: Condition I, Retelling a Story with Toys; Condition II, Playing with Toys; Condition III, Toys with Questions. Results indicated that retelling a story produced the largest mean length of utterance, but toys and questions…

Language sampling was studied with normal four- and six-year-old children in three conditions (conversation, picture description with the experimenter and child looking at the stimuli, and picture description with the experimenter unable to view the stimuli with the child. (Author/CL)

The study determined if a revision in the spatial organization of the response format of the O.V. subtest of the Test of General Abilities, Level I, significantly affected the test performance of 88 six- and seven-year-old Puerto Rican pupils from bilingual classes in three public schools in a large Connecticut city. (NQ)

Discusses sociocultural theory and pedagogy in the second language classroom, especially as it relates to student assessment. Suggests authentic assessment (G. Wiggins, 1990) and instructional conversations (R. Tharp and R. Gallimore, 1988) as better methods of student assessment within this sociocultural framework. (SLD)

Describes procedures implemented by the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) for the development of national versions of the assessment instruments in all instruction languages used in the participating countries. Presents data that provide empirical information on the effectiveness of these procedures. (VWL)

Introduces a framework for systematizing the design of language performance assessments and explicating the role of tasks within them. Their design outlines fundamental components that must be rationalized and operationalized in order for performance assessment to produce coherent evidence of examinees' abilities. (Author/VWL)

Describes recordkeeping for the National Spanish Examinations by the Metropolitan New York Chapter of the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese (AATSP). The layout of census and attendance forms is described, and the use of a word processing or database program to help organize and utilize information obtained from those forms…

This simulation study considered the effects on statistical measures of test dimensionality that result from systematic sampling variation in both a single- and a double-trait assessment model. Results suggest that there are distinct psychological and psychometric states of test dimensionality, and that psychometric unidimensionality may be…

This study examines whether readers of German can identify correctly the coreferents of anaphoric expressions in a German text and whether this ability is related to their overall comprehension of the text and their baseline German language ability. Findings reveal a positive relationship between the ability to resolve anaphoric references and…

This study developed a multidimensional topic analysis sensitive to patterns in topic management appropriate for use with head-injured adults. Language samples of a closed-head-injured adult and a matched normal adult were compared. Results demonstrated the analysis' potential to reliably identify, quantify, and describe differences between…

Guidelines that language teachers need to write valid multiple choice items/questions for vocabulary tests and exams are presented. A sample test is accompanied by an analysis of possible answers to each question. (LB)

Investigates potential presence of a topic effect for the Canadian Academic English Language (CAEL) Assessment using the mechanism of choice. Sought to determine whether test-takers given a choice of topic perform significantly differently from test-takers not given a choice. English-as-a-Second-Language university applicants were assigned one of…