Purpose: This study examined the empirical evidence for using the Structured Photographic Expressive Language Test: Third Edition (SPELT-3; Dawson, Stout, & Eyer, 2003) to diagnose language impairment in preschool children. The SPELT-3 is a revision of the SPELT-II (Werner & Kresheck, 1983), which has been proven in the past to have high levels of…

This study investigated the relationship between examinee proficiency and the structure of the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) and the Speaking Proficiency in English Assessment Kit (SPEAK). Specifically, using multi-group structural equation modeling, this study tested two competing hypotheses about the relationship: whether or not…

Language screenings represent an important tool for early identification of language impairments in young children between 3 and 5 years of age. This investigation examined the utility of a well-established set of assessment measures for screening young African American children. One hundred and ninety-six children participated in the screening.…

Two early publications are often cited as the genesis of the language testing field: (1) Lado's (1961) book on language testing; and (2) Carroll's (1961) fundamental considerations paper. The former is the first textbook on assessing foreign language ability. The latter is the first true statement of theory. The former is the first publication to…

This article reports the results of an investigation, based on a 170,000-word corpus of test performance, of the validity of College English Test-Spoken English Test (CET-SET) group discussion by examining the degree of interaction among candidates in the group discussion task with respect to a set of interactional language functions (ILFs) to be…

Purpose: This study investigated the effects of processing speed and phonological short-term memory (PSTM) on children's language performance. Method: Forty-eight school-age children with specific language impairment (SLI) and age peers completed auditory detection reaction time (RT) and nonword repetition tasks, the Clinical Evaluation of…

Essay tests are widely used to assess ESL/EFL learners' writing abilities for instructional, administrative, and research purposes. Relevant literature was searched to identify 70 empirical studies on ESL/EFL essay tests. The majority of these studies examined task, essay, and rater effects on essay rating and scores. Less attention has been given…

Placing students of a foreign language within a basic language program constitutes an ongoing problem, particularly for large university departments when they have many incoming freshmen and transfer students. This article outlines the author's experience designing and piloting a language placement test for a university level Spanish program. The…

This study explored the effect of two enhancement techniques on L2 learners' look-up behaviour during a reading task and word retention afterwards amongst Flemish learners of German: a Vocabulary Test Announcement and Task-induced Word Relevance. Eighty-four participants were recruited for this study. They were randomly assigned to one of two…

The Test of Language Competence-Expanded Edition (TLC-E) was administered to children and adults with a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Relative to controls, those with ASD were less competent on a range of TLC-E tasks. No differences were found for either child or adult ASD groups on any of the TLC-E measures when re-classified as…

One of the questions frequently asked in second language (L2) lexical research is how L2 learners' patterns of lexical organization compare to those of native speakers (NSs). A growing body of research addresses this question by using word association (WA) tests. However, little research has been done on the role of language proficiency in the…

A major preoccupation in assessment is connecting examinees' performance in assessment and nonassessment contexts. This preoccupation has traditionally been framed in terms of generalizability. This article reconceptualizes this problem from a qualitatively different perspective on human abilities and their development, namely, the Sociocultural…

Background: Studies have suggested that nonmaternal care (NMC) may either carry risks or be beneficial for children's language development. However, few tested the possibility that NMC may be more or less protective for children with different family backgrounds. This study investigates the role of the family environment, as reflected in the…

Purpose: Two studies are presented providing evidence indicating the diagnostic and predictive validity of the American version of "The Renfrew Bus Story" (J. Cowley & C. Glasgow, 1994). Method: Thirty-two children with specific language impairment (SLI) and 32 children with typical language development participated in the first…

Randomly equivalent forms (REF) of tests in listening and reading for nonnative speakers of English were created by stratified random assignment of items to forms, stratifying on item content and predicted difficulty. The study included 50 replications of the procedure for each test. Each replication generated 2 REFs. The equivalence of those 2…