Using data from a pilot test of science and math from students in 30 high schools, item difficulties were estimated with a one-parameter model (partial-credit model for the multi-point items). Some items were multiple-choice items, and others were constructed-response items (open-ended). Four sets of estimates were obtained: estimates for males…

Responses to previously calibrated items administered in a computerized adaptive testing (CAT) mode may be used to recalibrate the items. This live-data simulation study investigated the possibility, and limitations, of on-line adaptive recalibration of precalibrated items. Responses to items of a Rasch-based paper-and-pencil licensure examination…

Forms used at Rio Salado Community College (Arizona) to monitor student progress toward English language and civics requirements of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 are presented. The forms include the following: (1) a checklist of beginning skills in United States government and history and in English reading and writing; (2) a…

A study compared the effects of cognitive complexity on the speech production of 14 advanced non-native speakers of English and 14 native English-speakers. Cognitively simple and complex tasks were distinguished based on text type (narrative versus expository). Subjects read one narrative and one expository text in separate sessions, then wrote…

A manual for teaching vocabulary to students of English as a second language is introduced by a discussion of the reasons for neglecting vocabulary development in the past and the reasons for the present emphasis on it. The chapters that follow develop practical instructional methods for each language learning level. The topics include: (1)…

A study of beginning college Spanish students' time-on-task in the foreign language classroom is reported. First, appropriate student on-task behaviors were determined, and teacher behaviors influencing or associated with student on-task behavior were defined. An observational instrument for recording and correlating student and teacher behaviors…

This paper presents a conceptual model of information behaviour. The model is part of the Search Situation Transition method schema. The method schema is developed to discover and analyse interplay between phenomena traditionally analysed as factors influencing either information retrieval or information seeking. In this paper the focus is on the…

The study compared two promising item response theory (IRT) item-selection methods, optimal and content-optimal, with two non-IRT item selection methods, random and classical, for use in fixed-length certification exams. The four methods were used to construct 20-item exams from a pool of approximately 250 items taken from a 1985 certification…

This study investigated the cognitive styles, attributions, and self-evaluations of 40 gifted girls and 40 gifted boys, grades 6 through 8. Informational attributional ratings for task difficulty, luck, ability, and effort were studied in the context of: (1) an individual non-competitive goal structure; (2) a competitive goal structure; (3)…

This paper describes a computer program in Microsoft BASIC which selects and administers test items from a small item bank. The level of the difficulty of the item selected depends on the test taker's previous response. This adaptive system is based on the Rasch model. The Rasch model uses a unit of measurement based on the logarithm of the…

A multiple choice achievement test was constructed in which both cognitive level and degree of abstractness were controlled. Subjects were 75 students from a major university in the Southwest. A group of 13 judges, also university students, classified the concepts for degree of abstractness. Results indicated that both cognitive level and degree…

Item analysis data fitting the normal ogive model were simulated in order to investigate the problems encountered when applying the three-parameter logistic model. Binary item tests containing 10 and 35 items were created, and Monte Carlo methods simulated the responses of 2,000 and 500 examinees. Item parameters were obtained using Logist 5.…

A study of the acquisition of Swedish vocabulary by adult immigrants examined both the kinds and contexts of words learned. It found that simple and common words form the bulk of the vocabulary learned, and that frequency of input, complexity of input, and communicative need guide the learning process. Frequency refers to the frequency of both…

The Indiana Foreign Language Generic Competencies for Levels 1-4 define language-learning outcomes in terms of communicative competencies within generic cultural contexts. Nine cultural contexts (travel/transportation, the "world" of the target language, school and education, family and home, leisure time, meeting personal needs, world…

This report examines student performance on a test composed of items developed to be aligned with the Charleston County School District (CCSD) Language Arts Comprehension Curriculum. The report contains a data analysis section that explains the relationship between two basic concepts of the Rasch measurement model, item difficulty and student…