The thought of Samuel Messick has influenced language testing in 2 main ways: in proposing a new understanding of how inferences made based on tests must be challenged, and in drawing attention to the consequences of test use. The former has had a powerful impact on language-testing research, most notably in Bachman's work on validity and the…

Many significant changes in perspective have to take place before efforts to learn the content and capabilities of children's minds can hold much sway in educational testing. The language of testing, especially of high stakes testing, remains firmly in the realm of "behaviors", "performance" and "competency" defined…

The construct validity of children's responses to the Self Description Questionnaire, the Perceived Competence Scale for Children, and the Multidimensional Measure of Children's Perceptions of Control was assessed. The tests' authors emphasized the importance of distinguishing self-perceptions in the physical, social, academic, and general content…

The article present results of standardization of the Meadow-Kendall Social-Emotional Assessment Inventory for Deaf and Hearing-Impaired Students (Meadow, 1983), school-age version, for use in Turkey. The SEAI is a 59-item measure for assessing socioemotional adjustment of school-age deaf and hearing impaired students. A sample of 1,097 deaf…

The construct validity of a multidimensional adolescent self-concept was estimated separately for males and females, and the results were compared across gender. The application of four multitrait-multimethod (MTMM) approaches to estimating construct validity was demonstrated, and the scope and consistency of the findings derived from each were…

The construct validities of the Self Description Questionnaire I, the Perceived Social Competence Scale, and the Multidimensional Measure of Children's Perceptions of Control were assessed, using 508 seventh through ninth graders in Sydney (Australia). Factor analysis, multitrait-multimethod analyses, and patterns of correlations with additional…

The reliability, content validity, and construct validity were compared for two test formats in a public examination used to assess a secondary school geography course. The 11-item geography portion of the Intermediate Certificate Examination (essay examination) was administered in June 1987 to 400 secondary school students in Ireland who also…

In this study, the Resilience Scale for Adolescents (READ) was developed with confirmatory factor analysis and cross-validated factor model. The results show that the READ has sound psychometric qualities and that it measures all the central aspects of the psychological construct of resiliency. (Contains 4 tables.)

During adolescence, one important career-related decision is the choice of a study in higher education. In this article, a new set of measures for different tasks (i.e., orientation, exploration, commitment) that can be distinguished during this career decision-making process was constructed: the Study Choice Task Inventory (SCTI). A sample of 946…

In this article, we examine the construct and criteria validity of student and teacher ratings as indicators of instructional features. As parsimonious measures, student and teacher reports are frequently used to assess aspects of the learning environment. From a methodological perspective, however, both approaches have been questioned. Whereas…

This journal, written in primarily in Chinese, contains the following papers: "Introducing Web-Based Technology Enhanced Language Learning (TELL) Courses and Resources for In-Service EFL Teachers" (Hao-Jan Chen); "A Survey of Primary School English Education in Miao-li County" (Yu-Fang Chang); "Interactions between…

This document contains eight papers from an action research program to foster good practice in adult literacy provision and policy. "Introduction" (J. Joy Cumming, Christina E. van Kraayenoord) presents an overview of the action research project and individual reports. "Assessment: Making a Difference in Adult Literacy and Numeracy…