This study examined the operationalization of one of the key reforms initiated by the Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975 (U.S. Congress, 1975) and continued through the 2004 reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (U.S. Congress, 2004)--namely, nondiscriminatory assessment. The original and current…

This article presents a writing portfolio project whose primary goal is to integrate the development of proficiency skills, content knowledge, and grammatical competence through literary study. Excerpts from Queneau's (1947) "Exercices de style," which tells the same story 99 times, serve as the basis for this portfolio project: These excerpts are…

Since their initial publication in 1982, the ACTFL Guidelines and oral proficiency interview (OPI) have enjoyed widespread use by foreign language educators. They have also been the target of much criticism by researchers of second language acquisition and testing. Much of this criticism has focused on validity claims for the OPI. Other research…

This article presents the steps taken over three years (2003-2006) by the Consortium for Assessing Performance Standards, a New Jersey Grant Project to create a database of thematically organized, integrated performance assessment tasks at the benchmark levels of proficiency, novice-mid, intermediate-low and pre-advanced as defined by the ACTFL…

One of two publications developed to facilitate bilingual vocational training, this guide is designed to assist educational agencies at the national, state, and local levels in determining priorities for development of materials needed for bilingual vocational training programs. (CE 019 071 contains a handbook for developers of bilingual…

Language laboratory equipment and use in England are described, and guidelines are provided for the choice and purchase of equipment. An introduction explains laboratory function, advantages, and instructional techniques and describes a sample session. A section on preliminary planning explores staff requirements, types of courses, laboratory…

Ensuring that language tests for adult English language learners are appropriate, valid, and reliable is a challenge. Performance-based assessments are complex to develop and implement. Yet, because the focus of assessment, both in the National Reporting System for Adult Education (NRS) descriptors and in the Department of Education's definition…

It is often the case that undergraduates writing essays to fulfil course requirements have an academic audience (i.e. lecturer/s marking the essay) as their target readers. These texts may represent a form of academic writing by novice writers in the process of learning academic discourse and conventions. Though these texts may not be comparable…

This resource guide is designed to provide foreign language teachers with suggestions for helping students learn how to become better language learners. The five chapters of the guide for teaching writing skills are as follows: (1) Teaching Learning Strategies (e.g., rationale for teaching, types, useful strategies, guidelines, instructional…

An attempt is made is this paper to examine the validity of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) scale through a comparison of the scaling of speaking tasks and speech performances by the scale and by a Rasch analysis of judgments made by "naive" persons. The results of the multi-faceted Rasch analysis seem…

The history, linguistic development, and chief characteristics of the French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish languages are presented in short, informative sketches as guidelines for foreign language study. The article also briefly analyzes major literary works and cultural highlights of areas where the languages are spoken. (DS)

Describes differences between the level of English taught in Japanese high school English textbooks and that of English examinations for entrance into Japanese universities from the viewpoints of the size of the vocabulary and readability scores. (Author/VWL)

There has been a significant paradigm shift in foreign language pedagogy from measuring language achievement to measuring proficiency. The ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines (1986) sought to reach consensus about describing and measuring language abilities. With the widespread recognition of these Guidelines have come far-reaching changes in our…

This resource guide is designed to provide foreign language teachers with suggestions for helping students learn how to become better language learners. The four chapters of the guide for teaching listening skills are as follows: (1) Teaching Learning Strategies (e.g., rationale for teaching, types, useful strategies, guidelines, instructional…

Criteria for the evaluation of study/travel abroad programs for high school students of foreign language originally approved in 1966 by the National Council of State Supervisors of Foreign Languages are reevaluated and reexamined in this pamphlet. Guidelines are presented in these areas: (1) selection of students, (2) recruitment of group leaders,…