Reviews the opportunities for and obstacles to promoting independent learning at the middle grades level. Proposes the substitution of compensatory practices that discourage self-directed learning activities, such as test review handouts, with instructional practices that support independent learning activities, such as performance feedback and…

Reviews legal arguments used to challenge traditional testing programs in prior litigation and indicates how these arguments might be applied in a performance-assessment application. Examines discrimination challenges to performance assessments in employment contexts. Suggests ways to deal with the psychometric issues most likely to be encountered…

A former student of French language and French literature recalls how the lack of required essay-writing at a British Redbrick university affected other aspects of learning, including the abilities to compose good answers to examination questions, study effectively for finals, and understand the discipline. (MSE)

Extended matching, a test item format used currently in medical licensing examinations, is described. Procedures for writing and reviewing such test items are outlined, test development and psychometric advantages are discussed, and issues in test administration and scoring are examined. The extended matching form is also seen as having uses for…

Discusses the rationale for, and end results of, a small-scale study of the effects of learners' creativity on language learning. The study was part of an ongoing, larger-scale project on individual differences at Eotvos University in Budapest, Hungary. (Author/VWL)

A survey of 392 American and 276 Japanese college students concerning academic dishonesty found both similarities and differences in attitudes and behaviors, and investigated behavior patterns, types of cheating, attitudes about and responses to own and others' cheating, and deterrents. Explanations for cross-cultural differences and implications…

Two experiments suggest that adults and even preschoolers possess interpretive structures--particularly object structure--that are nonclassical in the sense that they can be used to resolve an apparent contradiction. Results further suggest that certain interpretive structures present themselves in reasoning about particular predicate-object…

Examines whether a defect of the C-test can be avoided by constructing a C-test with five texts and 126 items. The test was tried with 146 Iranian English majors. On the basis of item analysis, a tailored C-test with 100 items was developed and tried with 60 other subjects. Results show no gains were made with the classical item analysis.…

Determines when U.S. children begin to self-handicap, that is, to reduce preparation effort before evaluations. Finds that the high-self-esteem third graders acted adaptively by practicing more for the evaluation task, while the high-self-esteem sixth graders prepared more only if they had been reminded of their personal resources beforehand. (CMK)

Investigates the relationship between language comprehension and language production in Swedish children in a study carried out longitudinally with 10 children with specific language impairment (SLI) and 10 children with unimpaired language development. Results indicate that the relationship between comprehension and production is different at…

Findings are reported from a series of literacy assessments in which four classes of bilingual Grade 3 and Grade 5 students from an indigenous community in Central Mexico participated. Subjects who completed the battery of tests of reading and writing in Spanish and Nahuatl range from balanced bilinguals to Spanish-dominant speakers with at least…

Provides information regarding the input-to-intake phenomenon by exploring data that were gathered but not analyzed in Shook (1994): reading recalls produced by subjects after reading the input passages. Two levels of Spanish students read reading passages containing one of two different target items under one of three different attention…

Explores the nature of formative assessment in a primary language learning context. The research is from nine inner city schools where an early years intervention project is being carried out to address problems of low levels of achievement in English, with specific reference to the language support of learners for whom English is an additional…

Examines the similarities and differences in the methodologies and findings of six projects that investigated the statutory testing of 11-year-old children in England and Wales. Reveals a similarity of results despite a diversity of methods. Reviews the findings in relation to other research and provides suggestions for future research methods.…

Focuses on the use and effects of testing accommodations on the scores of fourth-grade students with disabilities on challenging mathematics and science performance assessment tasks. Results indicate that slightly more than 75% of the testing accommodation packages suggested by students' individual education plan teams had a moderate to large…