The purpose of this paper is to describe basic skills students in relation to their participation in basic skills and their success in transitioning to college-level classes, and the momentum they gain towards college success from this participation. In the period of time covered by the data used for this analysis, 24 colleges offered I-BEST…

In late January through early March of 2003, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) grade 4 and 8 reading and mathematics assessments were administered to representative samples of students in approximately 100 public schools in each state. The results of these assessments were announced in November 2003. Each state also carried…

This paper reports the results of generalizability theory (G) analyses done for new writing and speaking tasks for the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). For writing, a special focus was placed on evaluating the impact on the reliability of the number of raters (or ratings) per essay (one or two) and the number of tasks (one, two, or…

Two main instructional approaches have been used to educate English learners in California--English language development (ELD) together with academic instruction in the primary language (bilingual education), and ELD with or without Specially Designed Academic Instruction in English (SDAIE). Since the passage of Proposition 227 in June 1998,…

This study investigated the possible existence of causal links between anxiety and language learning difficulties by using the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) (Horwitz, Horwitz, & Cope, 1986) to examine anxiety and the Foreign Language Screening Instrument for Colleges (FLSI-C) (Ganschow & Sparks, 1991) to explore learning…

The report presents an analysis of the foreign language preparation of first-time undergraduate students at the University of Maryland College Park (UMCP). Basic areas of interest addressed included: the percentage of first-time students with either at least 2 or at least 3 years of preparation in a single foreign language in high school; how the…

The primary focus of this report is to examine the effect that immigrant status and home language background may have on the performance of Australian students who participated in the OECD/Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA 2000). Approximately 5,477 students from 231 schools across Australia participated in the study. In this…

For purposes of the present study, it was hypothesized that field (in)dependence would introduce systematic variance into Iranian EFL learners' overall and task-specific performance on task-based reading comprehension tests. 1743 freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior students all majoring in English at different Iranian universities and colleges…

This paper discusses cohorts of Rio Hondo College (California) fall term students who completed the English/English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) assessment test under the ESL scoring rubric between fall 1996 and spring 2001, and considers the relationships of assessment testing, enrollment, and course success. Report highlights include: (1) the…

This study compared L2 listening comprehension with L2 reading comprehension in terms of the roles of linguistic knowledge, background knowledge, and question types among 168 university students learning English in Korea. The analyses of the data found that L2 listeners processed inferential information more easily than factual information, while…

The results of this assessment policy review indicated that only a few states have formally considered the large-scale assessment needs of English language learners with disabilities. In fact, only one state (Texas) had a separate policy that addressed the inclusion of English language learners with disabilities in large-scale assessment programs…

This investigation of the comparability of writing assessment prompts was conducted in two phases. In an exploratory Phase I, 47 writing prompts administered in the computer-based Test of English as a Foreign Language[TM] (TOEFL[R] CBT) from July through December 1998 were examined. Logistic regression procedures were used to estimate prompt…

This paper examines the assimilation of immigrant families in the United States. Chapter 1, "Introduction," reviews basic issues. Chapter 2, "Why Discuss the Integration of Immigrant Families?" examines such issues as continuing mismatches between immigration and immigrant policies, population dispersal, the shifting political…

Two studies explore the relationship between foreign language teachers' perceptions of their students' academic skills and affective characteristics and their native language skills, foreign language aptitude, and oral and written foreign language proficiency. In Study I (replication), students who scored significantly lower on native language and…

This report describes patterns of continuity and change among spring 2004 high school seniors from the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 (ELS:2002) first follow-up study, spring 1992 seniors from the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS:88) second follow-up study, spring 1980 seniors from the High School and Beyond (HS&B)…