Discusses predictive and conceptual validity, reports on two experiments on each type of test validity with relation to language tests, and indicates some problems posed by these two forms of evaluation. (AM)

Investigated a means for improving listening comprehension through the use of visualization. Performance on a listening comprehension test was significantly better among students who had used the visualization strategies. (Author/VWL)

A structural equation model of second language (L2; English) reading comprehension was tested on a sample of 135 Spanish-speaking 4th-grade English-language learners (ELLs). The model included 2 levels: decoding and oral language. English decoding measures included alphabetic knowledge and fluency. English oral language measures included…

Lists and discusses factors affecting listening comprehension. List was compiled from a literature survey, consulting a cross-section of teachers working at secondary and tertiary levels, and questioning students who had just finished their secondary education. (EKN)

Previous studies have shown that phonological awareness correlates with children's reading aloud and also adults' literacy experience. More recent research has further suggested that phonological awareness is associated with the processing of spoken language, which is a correlate of reading comprehension. In this paper, I argue that phonological…

The purpose of the study was to investigate video comprehension strategies used by male and female university students. The researcher designed a video comprehension strategy questionnaire including cognitive, compensation, and memory categories. Totally, 168 Taiwanese university participants completed the questionnaire. The quantitative results…

This article examines student attitudes towards and perceptions of technological activities in the language classroom. Data collected from students (n = 71) in the French language departments of five Canadian universities were used to examine which technological activities students preferred, whether and to what degree different activities were…

Content-Based Instruction (CBI) may result in improved proficiency in language skills due to the meaningful combination of subject matter and foreign language as a means of communication. This paper shows how university students improved their level of English by means of a content methodology as they attended a course called Topics in Molecular…

Lack of emphasis on oral aspects of language in the Irish Leaving Certificate foreign language examinations has long been considered by teachers to be the chief reason for their inability to implement the aims of modern language teaching in Ireland. These aims are stated in the Department of Education's "Rules and Programme for Secondary…

Assesses the influence of religious-specific background knowledge on adult ESL listening comprehension. Sixteen Moslems, 20 Christians, and 28 religion-neutral students listened to two passages, one on prayer rituals of Islam and one on those of Christianity. Students better recalled and understood the passage related to their respective religious…

Recent research has shown that effective second-language reading involves an interaction of the reader with the text. This interactive view has relevance for other areas of second-language processing, including listening comprehension, writing, and English for special purposes. Future research is needed in metacognition, relationships among…

A technique for teaching dialog is outlined that provides considerable preproduction input and acquisition experiences through which students create dialog lines. The technique uses these steps: prenarrative activities, narrative, contextual expansion of new vocabulary, reading input, dialog construction from visual cues, dialog recreation, and…

Discusses the process of native language learning and explores the relationship between it and second language learning. It is suggested that in a language curriculum, the initial emphasis should be on receptive skills. Accuracy, appropriateness, and fluency in communication are discussed, as well as instructional modes for training in these…

36 Saudi EFL freshmen students took a listening-spelling test in which they filled out 100 blanks in a dialogue. Results indicated that 63% of the spelling errors were phonological and 37% were orthographic. It was also found that the subjects had more phonological problems with whole words but more orthographic problems with graphemes. Some of…

The present study revisited the issue of simultaneous attention to form and meaning from a methodological perspective that addressed several potential methodological issues of previous research in this strand of inquiry. Seventy-two second-semester-level participants were randomly assigned to one of five experimental groups, including a control,…