Describes a study of three high/intermediate English as a second language students whose reading comprehension abilities were tested both by verbal interaction between teacher and student and by a multiple-choice fill-in-the-blanks test. Results show that there is a difference between what the text says and what the student understands. (SED)

Foreign-language examinations do not adequately or reliably assess level of skill. Standards and criteria for determining a student's skill level should be improved to provide more guidance and make more appropriate placements in foreign-language classrooms. (CB)

Three methods for evaluating change in the spontaneous language of aphasic subjects were compared. Clinical judgments of experienced speech language pathologists showed excellent agreement with the Shewan Spontaneous Language Analysis (SSLA) and less agreement with the Western Aphasia Battery. The SSLA was found to provide the most comprehensive…

Describes a study that provides further evidence for differentiating between memory for meaningful and for nonmeaningful material in the context of language proficiency, suggesting that foreign language teachers with a good memory have no guarantee of proficiency in language learning. (CB)

The Reporter's Test (DeRenzi and Ferrari, 1978), which investigates the expressive abilities of aphasics, is proven to be useful, through its use in two studies of features of Welsh, for sociolinguists studying language features. The test has great capacity for predicting syntactic forms and eliciting casual styles of speech. (Author/CB)

The Test of Adolescent Language (TOAL) was administered to 7 educable retarded, 23 learning disabled, and 24 possibly gifted adolescents. With 57 percent of the EMR and 27 percent of the LD scoring below the test floor, results suggested that TOAL is not valid for assessing low language levels. (Author/DB)

An examination of concerns about and suggestions for revising the ACTFL (American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages) Oral Proficiency Guidelines indicates that confirmatory empirical research and determination of the relative absence or presence of components are needed. (CB)

Describes the use of an exercise to assess overall language proficiency for placement purposes. The "information gap" test is based on a gapped text which the candidate must complete by asking the tester appropriate questions and writing down the answers. Test rankings have been found to correlate highly with teachers' rankings. (SED)

Discusses a method of measuring oral proficiency in a foreign language called semi-direct testing which elicits active speech by the examinee through means such as tape recordings, printed test booklets, or other methods rather than face-to-face interviews. Describes a study comparing scores of semi-direct and direct tests of German and Spanish.…

Hearing-impaired students (N=508) were administered a language-arts achievement test containing 25 items drawn from a computerized item bank developed with hearing students. Results showed that the items did not form an adequate Rasch-based test. Furthermore, the difficulty order of the items differed in the hearing and hearing-impaired…

Discusses a way of evaluating communicative performance in a second language that focuses on communicative strategies instead of intelligibility, correctness, or style. Describes a study in which an attempt was made to assess communicative performance from this point of view. (EKN)

Discusses the drawbacks of using the ACTFL-ETS Provisional Proficiency Guidelines in a university foreign language department. Recommends that reading skill should be measured by depth of understanding and perhaps speed rather than by the kind and number of specific elements of language the reader has failed to "understand." (SED)

Discusses the experience of a committee at the University of Southern California that was formed to implement the university's requirement that foreign languages become a "Skill Level" requirement. This means that the student must meet the requirement by performing at a certain level on a proficiency examination. (SED)

Discusses problems encountered with the cloze test and describes the development and use of an alternate test, the C-Test. The C-Test consists of a number of short tests. Beginning in the second sentence, the second half of every second word is deleted until the required number of mutilations is reached. (SED)

Looks at recent approaches to communicative language testing and to the testing of English for specific purposes (ESP). Contrasts two approaches to language testing research and discusses Oller's unitary competence hypothesis. Examines problems deriving from scoring procedures associated with ESP tests. (SED)