Since competency-based instruction is based on the testing process, this study suggests that careful attention to the construction of tests can produce a reliable, valid measure. The next steps to be taken include developing larger banks of test items, increasingly accurate tests, and instruction to meet specified objectives of the curriculum.…

A questionnaire was distributed to faculty members to determine which of the four basic language skills (reading, writing, listening, speaking) were most essential to nonnative speaker success in university classes. The receptive skills of reading and listening were ranked first. Implications for teaching and curriculum development are given.…

Describes a method for improving engineering student performance in large classes, based on Bloom's four variables for improvement of the educational process, which include time, intelligence, testing, and personality. Describes manipulation of these variables for a more effective undergraduate engineering program. (DS)

It is not necessary for Black children to lose their ethnic, linguistic, and cultural behavior patterns when learning standard English, if they are taught by enlightened teachers using innovative educational programs. (Author/MC)

Discusses several questions concerning the nature of cognitive preferences and their measurement. These questions are of two types: logical, pertaining to matters of principles; and methodological, pertaining to matters of procedures. (HM)

Three studies investigating the psychometric and conceptual properties of the self-report Survey of Ethical Attitudes inventory indicated that the scale is clearly susceptible to response dissimulation through role playing and impression management and is also confounded with sources of stylistic variance in the form of social desirability.…

Presents some arguments for the importance of nature conservation which are intended for British science teachers. A study which investigates students' understanding of a concept is also included. (HM)

Ten colleges and universities and the Educational Testing Service participated in a project that involved testing the Foreign Service Institute's French and Spanish oral proficiency test for possible academic applicability. (AM)

Reports on a testing experiment (at the university level) dealing with the construction and validation of a university entrance test in Romance languages. Discusses the subtest "vocabulary," as to problems of validation--specifically, a self-rating test and an association-speed test. (IFS/WGA)

Available from: Journal of Pediatric Psychology, Child Study Center, 1100 N.E. 13th Street, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73117. The author reviews some research in the area of the neuropsychology of learning disabilities (LD) with emphasis on the qualitative analysis of spelling errors in disabled spellers and the predictive accuracy of various…

Discusses how the use of video media as a mode of language presentation influences the definition, purpose, and research agenda of a second-language listening comprehension instrument. Video media is used as an umbrella phrase to describe the cluster of media in which dynamic visual elements are blended with auditory elements to create a whole…

Describes a study of the teaching of junior secondary French in Queensland schools. The key questions in the study regarding how communicative Australians are and should be are considered through empirical data collected in four junior secondary French classes over two years. The study involved observation and analysis of classroom interaction.…

Evaluated five intelligence test instruments for use with Malaysian children: Raven's Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM), WISC-R, School Failure Tolerance (SFT), Scale for Rating Behavior Characteristics of Superior Students (SRBCSS), and Parent Checklists. Found that Raven's SPM was an effective screening test, and the WISC-R the best measure to…

Examines the relationship between anxiety and native-language skill and foreign-language aptitude measures among high school foreign-language learners using the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS). Findings suggest that skill in one's native language may affect aptitude for learning a foreign language and that the FLCAS may provide an…

Discusses the relevance for the valid testing of reading of the difference between a 'unitary skill' approach to reading and a multiskills approach. The article produces evidence suggesting that a distinction may be drawn between language-based skills and 'global' reading skills. (55 references) (Author/CK)