Inequalities on child cognitive outcomes exist as children enter the first grade. These differences are even wider for children in low-income families. This article aims to examine the extent to which home factors account for variation in early literacy outcomes in the first year of schooling. A total of 72 first graders and their parents from…

The purpose of this non-experimental quantitative study was to investigate the relationship between Pennsylvania's Classroom Diagnostic Tools (CDT) interim assessments and the state-mandated Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA) and to create linear regression equations that could be used as models to predict student performance on the…

The purpose of this study was to examine teachers' levels of mobile device implementation and any measured differences in English Language Learners' (ELLs') performance in each modality of the ACCESS test. Researchers often support the use of mobile devices in the classroom, but this study was unique because of a combination of how it was focused…

This study investigates the effects of conceptual metaphors on Turkish EFL learners' acquisition of phrasal verbs. The participants were 120 beginner, elementary, and pre-intermediate level students. The research follows a pre and post-test quasi-experimental research design. The students were assigned to proficiency levels according to their…

Purpose: Both narrative language samples and norm-referenced language tests can be important components of language assessment for school-age children. The present study explored the relationship between these 2 tools within a group of children referred for language assessment. Method: The study is a retrospective analysis of clinical records from…

Evidence of learning following incidental exposure has been found for aspects of nonnative syntax in adults (Rebuschat & Williams, 2006, 2012; Williams & Kuribara, 2008). However, little research has tested delayed effects of learning under an incidental condition or moved beyond word order. This study investigated learning of third…

This article outlines the current state of and recent developments in the use of corpora for language assessment and considers future directions with a special focus on computational methodology. Because corpora began to make inroads into language assessment in the 1990s, test developers have increasingly used them as a reference resource to…

There is still limited understanding of the impact of high-stakes examinations on students' out-of-class learning. The current study attempts to fill this research gap by addressing this issue in the context of tertiary education in Mainland China. The study examines how far the revised College English Test Band 4 (CET-4) actually influenced…

Purpose: The authors of this study investigated the validity of tense and agreement productivity (TAP) scoring in diverse sentence frames obtained during conversational language sampling as an alternative measure of finiteness for use with young children. Method: Longitudinal language samples were used to model TAP growth from 21 to 30 months of…

The focus of this paper is on the design, administration, and scoring of a dynamically administered elicited imitation test of L2 English morphology. Drawing on Vygotskian sociocultural psychology, particularly the concepts of zone of proximal development and dynamic assessment, we argue that support provided during the elicited imitation test…

This study examines three controversial aspects in differential item functioning (DIF) detection by logistic regression (LR) models: first, the relative effectiveness of different analytical strategies for detecting DIF; second, the suitability of the Wald statistic for determining the statistical significance of the parameters of interest; and…

The aim of this study was to determine whether large variations in the pass rates of different versions of the Taiwanese tour guides' English test were due to inherent differences in the difficulty of the tests. Rasch analysis software was used to measure the difficulty of all items on the 2009 and 2013 versions. It was found that the ability…

Assessing second language speaking has long been an important part of language testing in both large-scale assessment settings and in smaller scale classroom-based assessments. Accordingly, researchers in the second language (L2) assessment field have made efforts to establish a better understanding of the nature of speaking ability and its…

A longitudinal study was conducted to assess changes in and contributing factors of learner belief for a sample of 70 Chinese foreign language learners. Foreign language proficiency and learner factors such as learner belief and learning strategy were measured four times at approximately fifty-day intervals. The results show that there were…

Language learning "folklore" has framed study abroad as one of the most efficient means of improving students' language competences. At the European level, Erasmus has been acting as the flagship student exchange programme for more than 30 years. In this context, the present paper proposes a "zoom in" on the influence that an…