"Autonomous" and "ideological" models of literacy are discussed in the context of the literacy-culture-politics relationship. Assumptions underlying literacy, nationalism, assessment, and the links among them are questioned, and approaches to alternative assessment procedures are considered. Arguments about the formation and…

The process of developing, piloting, and refining an oral proficiency test as part of the Center for Language Education and Research (CLEAR) test battery is described. The test was designed to fill a need for an oral interview-type measure adapted for fifth to seventh grade students. The test was produced first for Spanish immersion students, then…

Eight articles on the state of the art in language teaching are presented as part of a series on language teaching. The articles, by V. J. Cook, M. Swain and J. Cummins, C. S. Butler, N. E. Enkvist, A. Tosi, P. Meara, and A. Davies, cover the following topics: (1) how languages are actually learned, (2) the cognitive aspects of bilingualism, (3)…

The oral interview (OI) was developed to meet the need for a testing procedure of second language speaking skills. It has been refined and expanded several times since first developed in the 1950's for use by the U.S. Government. Now known as the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages/Educational Testing Services (ACTFL/ETS) scale,…

Research has been done on the relationship between students' language learning strategies and test-taking strategies, but often such investigations have taken place after a time lapse. This project entailed asking students to evaluate and explain how they take reading comprehension examinations in a foreign language while they were actually taking…

The limitations of objectives tests, the language skills needed for university work, and effective ways of appraising and communicating these skills to the university are discussed. The goals of university English as a second language (ESL) programs is to train international students in the linguistic and academic skills they will need in American…

Elective English courses in grades 7 to 10 of 10-grade "general educational" polytechnical schools in the GDR are facing increased demands. Student testing has revealed increased attention by teachers to the strengthening of lexical and grammatical knowledge, development of free-variation procedures, and introduction of teaching aids.…

In this study of ability to learn Japanese, six extra-linguistic factors were investigated: multi-linguality, semantic space sensitivity, formal education, Japanophilia, musical training and the introduction of Kanji (ideographs used in Japanese writing). (CK)

Some of the pitfalls in the construction of multiple choice tests are discussed and examples of invalid questions given. (RM)

The JMB, Syllabus B, O level oral examination in French is commented on by an ex-examiner. Mention is made of ways in which candidates lose marks and of the need for teachers to know more about the marking system. (RM)

Discusses the function of a number of test types--aptitude, level/selection, classroom, progress, achievement, and proficiency tests. The use of these tests in course evaluation is also mentioned. (RM)

Vygotskian theory suggests that maturation and learning are not mutually exclusive; rather together they constitute development and are thus dependent on each other and interactive. The concept of the zone of proximal development involves determining two developmental levels of mental functions for each learner--the actual and the potential…

A sample of 150 Japanese English-as-a-Second-Language students at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale was given a reading comprehension test containing three levels of questions: factual, generalization, and inference, to measure comprehension effects at different proficiency strata. The results indicated that there were significant…

Language testing is an area of applied linguistics that combines the exercise of professional judgment about language, learning, and the nature of the achievement of language learning with empirical data about student performance and, by inference, their abilities. The relationship between judgments and empirical data in language testing is…

The oral interview (OI) is a testing procedure that measures a wide range of speaking abilities in a foreign language. Although somewhat different versions are used in different testing situations, the OI always consists of a structured, face-to-face conversation on a variety of topics between a student and one or two testers. The resulting speech…