The Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) measures the English language proficiency of foreign students who apply for higher education in the United States. It is administered according to a strict schedule through the International and Special Center (I&SC) testing program or at ad hoc intervals by institutional users as part of the…

Developments in one major corporation's ongoing program to evaluate employees' English language proficiency are discussed. The testing program was developed by the multinational E. I. DuPont de Nemours corporation for use with international employees. The history and rationale for the selection of the five English tests used are outlined, the…

This publication is a framework for the development of local curricula that will integrate principles of second language acquisition with New York State program requirements and the Board of Regent's goals for elementary and secondary education. The syllabus places emphasis on communicative proficiency and the understanding and appreciation of…

A survey was conducted to learn more about the population of immigrant amnesty applicants in California, which comprises 55% of the population nationwide applying for legalization through the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986. Findings are reported separately, in most cases, for immigrants who have resided in the United States since…

The Netherlands' secondary education system is highly differentiated, with four different school types for four scholastic ability levels. Final examinations must accommodate these four levels, and require a test-independent definition of the intended final ability levels as well as a sample-free evaluation of the range of ability levels at which…

The development of the oral component of the Test in English for Educational Purposes (TEEP) for foreign students in British universities was undertaken using information from previous oral test development efforts and a survey of 645 university admissions officers concerning students' communication skill needs. The resulting test is intended to…

In a study of the relative importance native speakers of French attach to different types of errors produced by second language learners, 231 native French speakers listened to 50 pairs of deviant sentences to determine which sentence in each pair contained a more serious error. The sentences contained 20 different types of errors grouped into…

While a broad range of tests is available for second language testing, two of the basic approaches are developmental and non-developmental testing. The former is based on psycholinguistic evidence that language development is systematic, with all learners progressing through the same stages. The latter includes content selected in an ad hoc…

A study of the use of interactive discourse in the second language classroom begins with a discussion of the regulation of discourse, examines the use of scenarios for the promotion of interactive discourse, and provides evidence from classroom use of the effectiveness of this technique. Three types of discourse control are noted: object…

The present investigation examined the content specificity of math and English anxieties, tested the generality of predictions from the internal/external (I/E) frame of reference model to anxiety responses, and studied sex differences in anxiety responses. Structural equation models, using LISREL, were fit to data from the High School and Beyond…

A report presenting a sampling of proficiency-related projects consists of two parts. The first is a report on the state of the art describing programs, grants in progress, and plans to implement proficiency-based teaching. It was found that the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages and the Educational Testing Service (ETS) have…

Problems faced by Koreans in the United States are identified and analyzed in this paper, and some pragmatic remedies are offered. First, the acculturation process is slow--the mean of the Koreans' sojourn in the United States is only 6.5 years, whereas complete acculturation takes several generations. Second, although most Korean emigres learned…

This study used classical psychometric, latent trait, and nonparametric approaches to analyze 13- and 14-item scales of English language proficiency. Tests of English listening comprehension (dictation) and reading ("copytest") were constructed by modifying the standard dictation testing procedure to create items of text segments which…

Studies show Hispanics to have substantially higher rates of illiteracy than any other major population group in the United States. Illiteracy is one of a number of language problems for this population; other problems include limited oral English proficiency and native language illiteracy. Hispanics drop out of school in higher numbers and leave…

A survey of 40 individuals in various positions in the field of international business in Michigan investigated perceptions about the kind of preparation necessary to function successfully either as an expatriate abroad or in international work from a home base in the United States. Results were similar to those found in the literature. Functional…