Across the globe, educational tests are being used at a rapidly increasing rate. More recently, educational tests are being used to inform educational policy and for holding educators accountable for student learning. One reason educational assessments are used for these important purposes is that they are considered to provide reliable and…

In this research investigation of score comparability for language minority students (English language learners [ELLs] and former English language learners), we examined 3 indicators of score comparability (reliability, internal test structure, and differential item functioning) for 4th and 8th grade students who took the NCLB-mandated content…

This document describes the breadth of the research that the ETS (Educational Testing Service) Research & Development division is conducting in 2010. This portfolio will be updated in early 2011 to reflect changes to existing projects and new projects that were added after this document was completed. The research described in this portfolio falls…

This document describes the breadth of the research being conducted in 2008 by the Research and Development Division at Educational Testing Service (ETS). The research described falls into three large categories: (1) Research supported by the ETS research allocation; (2) Research funded by testing programs at ETS; and (3) Research funded by…

The University entrance examination (PAU) is the most important high-stakes exam in the General educational system in Spain. It has 6 sections of which the Foreign Language one is very relevant to the final score. The English section has had almost not significant changes in the last 20 years despite all the research in language learning and…

THE AUTHOR POINTS OUT PROBLEMS IN TEST RESEARCH AND INTERPRETATION, SOME OF WHICH ARE DUE TO CONFLICTS BETWEEN THE FINDINGS OF THE DATA ANALYST WHO IS RESTRICTED TO BASING HIS DECISIONS ON SELECTED DATA ONLY, AND THE TEST INTERPRETER WHO IS AWARE OF VARIABLE VALIDITIES OF SUCH UNTESTED FACTORS AS SITUATIONAL ANXIETY, PERSONALITY, MOTHER-TONGUE…

Two tests of oral English ability are described and presented: (1) the Oral Placement Test, and (2) the Oral Production Test, which contains three forms for three levels. The tests may be used for placement or diagnosis. Each student is tested individually; the placement test takes five minutes, and each achievement test takes less than ten…

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…

Since the last "TESOL Quarterly" commemorative issue 15 years ago, there have been too many important developments in language testing and assessment for all of them to be discussed in a single article. Therefore, this article focuses on issues that we believe are integrally linked to pedagogic and curriculum concerns of English language teaching.…

Summarizes some of the findings of recent study of tests designed to determine the English language proficiency of nonnative speakers. (CFM)

In order to more accurately place its intermediate English-as-a-Second-Language students in English courses, Vancouver Community College at King Edward Campus (KEC) developed the Intermediate English Reading Test (IERT). The goal was to create a test of minimum length that would yield scores with the necessary degree of reliability and validity…

The Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) was administered to 26 hearing impaired college students, in order to test the assumption that the English-language deficiencies of hearing impaired students are similar to those of foreign students. The students were attending Gallaudet College's School of Preparatory Studies and were identified…

The document is a handbook, designed to assist directors, teachers, and counselors in adult basic education (ABE) and high school equivalency programs to plan an overall testing program by offering how-to-do-it ideas in layman terms. It was developed by a group of experienced ABE practitioners to improve testing efforts in adult education programs…