Teachers can make sure students know important facts and concepts before giving unit tests by using the expert group review strategy. Small, mixed-ability student groups review different parts of the unit and present their findings to the class. After the test, students discuss the value of expert group review. (SM)

Reports results of variety of validity analyses involving American Council on Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) Oral Proficiency Interview as it was administered to 59 learners of English and 60 learners of French. Concludes that ACTFL guidelines can be useful as an assessment tool and offer advantages that warrant serious consideration in the…

Modifications in content and structure of basic courses in biochemistry are suggested to amend insufficiencies in biochemical education. Presents information on how molecular cell biology course was designed and evaluated to promote self-study. Senior undergraduate tutors were novelty of the course. Students rated the course highly for being…

Compares the performance of four mainstreamed learning-disabled students on oral and written tests in social studies. Finds superior test performance during oral testing replicated across all four students. Suggests procedures for implementing oral testing by classroom teachers. (RS)

Presents six short statements exploring issues of concern to teachers of English and writing: (1) students with no sense of history; (2) overemphasis on research and publication; (3) low morale among faculty; (4) value/contribution of textbooks; (5) test anxiety; and (6) complementing traditional English courses with technical writing. (SR)

"Performance assessment" is a broad term covering many types of testing methods that requires students to demonstrate their competencies or knowledge by creating an answer or a product. Seven common forms of performance assessment are constructed-response items, writing, essay responses, oral discourse, exhibitions, experiments, and portfolios.…

Discusses the dearth of material concerning how A-level boards assess British students' economics essays. Describes the practices of the Joint Matriculation Board (JMB) in grading papers on various subjects. Reveals how the London Board grades advanced level economics papers. Includes a chart showing London Board grading criteria. (SG)

Reports on an experiment with dictation that integrated the stream of speech and its written representation in an attempt to determine whether repeated practice in taking dictation improves students' language skills. Results are discussed in light of the effect and amount of instruction, the incubation hypothesis, and the fossilization hypothesis.…

Discusses human resources maximization as a means for expanding employee selection criteria to include applicants' strengths and potential for growth, not just their history, then working to develop employees potential. Testing learning style as a means for recognizing potential and the relationship between testing and training are discussed. (KRN)

Argues that mental translation during second-language (L2) reading may facilitate the generation and conservation of meaning by allowing the reader to represent portions of L2 text that exceed cognitive limits in a familiar, memory-efficient form. The study presents hypotheses and questions for future research. (68 references) (Author/CK)

Evaluated the development of temporal location within a cross-linguistic experimental design. The research focused on the transition from a temporal system based on absolute temporal relations involving speech time and event time to a more complex system involving relative temporal relationships and reference time. (48 references) (JL)

Research and practice in detecting and controlling for cheating on objective tests are reviewed and a small survey of attitudes and practices is reported. Potential of two computer programs to detect error similarities and use of multiple answer-sheet forms to control cheating are discussed. Teacher cheating is also addressed. (Author/MSE)

Elementary school children's evaluations of peer tutoring were compared with their evaluations of the traditional practice of solitary work on tests to determine their conceptions of fair practices in testing and learning situations. Findings support the conclusion that children's understanding of different types of situations is reflected in…

Describes a workshop used in teacher development programs to help teachers know what to look for when assessing a students ability to speak English. Also examined is how the selection and weighting of those criteria should depend on the circumstances in which the test takes place. (11 references) (JL)

In this study, 36 Serbian/English bilinguals and 42 English monolinguals (aged 5-8 years) received a successive name training assessment of 2heuristics: criterial use of highlighted features and preservation of mutual exclusivity. Results support the view that monolingual and bilingual acquisition fosters the development of different word learning…