Ninety-three indigenous Hawaiian or part-Hawaiian preschoolers were screened for hearing dysfunction; approximately 85 percent of the children failed the screening, which included pure-tone audiometry, tympanometry, and otoscopy. The research literature indicates that from 30 to 35% of all children experience recurring episodes of…

A collection of papers on the use of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) Proficiency Guidelines for instruction and testing in less commonly taught languages includes: the 1986 ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines; "Testing Speaking Proficiency: The Oral Interview" (Pardee Lowe, Jr., Judith E. Liskin-Gasparro); a…

A study was carried out to assess the French language proficiency of students enrolled in two different programs at the kindergarten level in Montreal: an early immersion program and a "class d'accueil" program. Three groups of students were tested: (1) an early immersion class; (2) a "classe d'accueil," or class for immigrant…

In an appraisal of proficiency tests currently available for English as a second language (ESL), it is found that linguistic competence, rather than communicative proficiency, is being measured. Problems involved in developing standardized communicative tests for use with different age groups in a multicultural school context are discussed.…

Six methods of equating Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) test scores for samples consisting of the usual groups of examinees and groups controlled for native language representation were evaluated in terms of scale stability. The equating methods included three item response theory (IRT) variants (fixed b's scaling, a one-parameter…

Specific areas in foreign language teacher training programs are defined as problem areas: the teaching of culture, activities to promote the study of foreign languages, and language testing. It is stated that foreign language teachers should have competence in (1) content area, (2) the learning-teaching process, and (3) the relationship of…

Interim results of the American Institutes for Research study on the impact of the ESEA Title VII Spanish/English Bilingual Education Program imply that certain inferences can be made about the program, inferences which are unjustifiable. By providing only statistical averages on a national sample, the report does a serious disservice by failing…

It is often the case that intelligence tests do not measure what they purport to measure, although it is commonly assumed that every test with a different name is a test of different skills, and that tests with the same name test the same skills. Spearman attempted to study the relationship between tests that supposedly measured different mental…

This research was designed to construct and validate an effective, reliable, criterion-referenced test--the English-as-a-Second Language Assessment Battery (ESLAB)--for assessing the English skills of secondary students learning English as a second language (ESL) in bilingual education programs. The ESLAB for receptive language was validated…

Documents and articles on second language testing that were included in the ERIC data base from 1966 through 1979 are covered in this bibliography. Each of the approximately 1600 entries is identical to a document resume that appeared in "Resources in Education" or "Current Index to Journal in Education" during that period. The bibliography is…

This book is a survey of all the modern language examinations in the United Kingdom at "GCE"'O' level, Scottish 'O' grade, and "CSE" Mode 1, available in 1979 in French, German, Italian, Russian, and Spanish, as well as the "16+" examination offered by a consortium of boards in the north of England. It is an attempt…

Proposals currently being debated for a reform of the examination system at 18+ in England and Wales, and comments on the proposals, are presented to aid in future planning of language courses in Northern Ireland. The context in which the new proposals arose is briefly examined. The following three standard course proposals are diagrammed for…

The first year of implementation of the California Bilingual Education Act of 1976 is documented and evaluated. The legislation is designed to provide bilingual education for limited-English-speaking and non-English-speaking students. It is concluded that the restrictive nature of the bill caused major delays in the first year of implementation…

This manual for the Marianas Test of English Achievement (MTEA) provides a description of the tests, directions for administration and scoring, a discussion of the interpretation of scores, and norms based on all 1,780 children in grades 6 through 9 in the Northern Marianas Islands in October 1977 and May 1978. There are two equivalent forms of…

This report discusses specific findings of a review of language training and requirements in the Department of Defense. It contains: (1) a letter to the Secretary of Defense from the Office of the Comptroller General of the U.S.; (2) an Appendix giving a description of the Defense Language Institute and an outline of areas that need improvement;…