Presents findings from the first phase of a longitudinal study examining the development of articulation quality and specific phoneme awareness during the fourth year of life. Articulation and phoneme awareness of /r/ and a control phoneme were assessed for 80 3-year-old children. (Author/JL)

In this longitudinal study, reading acquisition was related to phonological sensitivity and rapid naming in young children. Phonological assessment consisted of rhyme and initial consonant discrimination, whereas rapid naming tasks were made up of pictures, letters, and numbers. Subjects were 95 children from two grade levels, primary and grade…

Within the context of the overall development of a range of assessment instruments for setting standards (language benchmarks) for primary and secondary teachers in Hong Kong, this article describes the origins of a project that developed the Benchmarks Test. Looks at the process of piloting, moderating, ratifying, and implementing the test of…

Describes various collaborative programs between community arts organizations and schools that provide long-range talent development. Considers the aspects of identifying artistic talent within the arts. Addresses artistic underpinnings, perceptual discrimination, metaperception, creative interpretation, student commitment, the procedures, the…

Examines the effect of Catholic school culture on academic achievement in the Higher School Certificate Examination. Attempts to model achievement as the outcome of a Catholic school culture that is the result of variables operating at both the individual and school levels. Develops and tests the model. Discusses the findings in detail. (CMK)

Reports on a study comparing student performances and test reliabilities for the German Speaking Test, a semi-direct tape-mediated oral proficiency test (GST) developed by the Center for Applied Linguistics, and the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages Oral Proficiency Interviews. (Author/VWL)

Addresses the problems of using student test scores to evaluate teachers, citing North Carolina as an example. Considers the problems with accountability laws, misidentifying problems when using student test scores, and teaching to the test. Discusses appropriate accountability mechanisms, the importance of social context, and organizing for…

Discusses activities for developing students' listening comprehension in English-as-a-foreign-language classrooms in China. The activities have proved successful, and students participating in these courses have done well on the National Test for English Majors Band 4. (Author/VWL)

Addresses the challenges faced in developing a task-based language assessment instrument for adult immigrants in Canada that is accountable to the needs of diverse groups of stakeholders, including learners, teachers, and administrators. The test, the Canadian Language Benchmarks Assessment (CLBA), is designed to place adult newcomers in language…

Based on a survey among 1274 secondary school teachers in Flanders (Belgium), this paper describes the relationship between the assessment practices and forms of assessment policy (testing culture or assessment culture) and between forms of general school policy (student-oriented or achievement-oriented) and forms of assessment policy that…

This article discusses "Family Secrets," a problem-based learning (PBL) curriculum module that focuses on the bioethical implications of genetic testing. In high school biology classrooms throughout New York State, students are using "Family Secrets" to learn about DNA testing; Huntington's disease (HD); and the ethical, legal,…

Conditions producing stress are present in all colleges and universities. In this paper we report on an investigation utilizing heart rate as an indicator of stress in students when participating in activities encountered in a college classroom or laboratory. The activities included presenting an oral report, taking an exam, and participating in a…

This article presents an interview with Professor Alan Davies who was born in Wales, studied at Oxford University and Birmingham University, and taught in Scotland at the University of Edinburgh, completing 40 years this year. Professor Davies has travelled widely to give invited talks and seminars, participate in applied linguistics conferences,…

The present study investigated the effects of a special interactive dialogic reading method developed by Whitehurst et al. (1988) on deaf and hard-of-hearing children in Hong Kong. Twenty-eight deaf and hard-of-hearing children in kindergarten, first, or second grade were pretested on a receptive vocabulary test and assigned to one of three…

A culturally appropriate test, The Test of Ability To Explain for Zulu-speaking Children (TATE-ZC), was developed to measure verbal problem solving skills of rural, Zulu-speaking, primary school children. Principles of "non-biased" assessment, as well as emic (culture specific) and etic (universal) aspects of intelligence formed the theoretical…