To evaluate the effectiveness of a traditional college English program, 100 incoming freshmen (Group A) were requested to postpone freshman English to their sophomore year; another 100 (Group B) were asked to postpone the first term to their sophomore year; another 100 (Group C) were asked to postpone their second term to the sophomore year; and…

An error analysis was conducted with materials published in Spanish in connection with an election in the U.S. Southwest. Most improprieties in the Spanish texts were found to be the result of an inadequate command of Spanish and lack of proficiency in translation skills. (Author/RM)

Children with language disorders experience problems in three dimensions of semantics: (1) content of content (reference, referents, concepts); (2) form of content (structural units of meaning); (3) use of content (functional variation in meaning). Teacher intervention strategies in each area (e.g., for problems of reference, sentence meaning,…

Reports on a study done to test the validity of the Test of Spoken English (TSE) in evaluating foreign nursing graduates. Results show that the TSE is a valid measure of oral proficiency in the nursing profession and that it is possible to establish professionally-based standards of proficiency. (SED)

Cautions against adapting the Interagency Language Roundtable and the ACTFL/ETS guidelines for specific purposes. Defines "hothouse special" as a second language learner who can impressively speak on one or two higher topics but fails to transfer this level of vocabulary and grammar to other topics. Proposes new definitions of proficiency,…

Discusses using redundancy in language as a means of facilitating second-language learning. (EKN)

Reports on study in which students of Hebrew as a second language took four versions of oral proficiency test. Results indicate that different speech styles and topics significantly affected students' scores, and correlational analyses between pairs pointed to low reliability and lack of stability of the test. Urges caution in making decisions…

This survey was developed in 1991 by Marilyn Gillespie, David Spener, and JoAnn Crandall at the Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL), and was used for a 2-year project with funding from the National Center for Adult Literacy, established at the University of Pennsylvania by the U.S. Department of Education. The survey was used to collect…

This digest discusses the simulated oral proficiency interview (SOPI), a performance-based, tape-mediated speaking test. The SOPI follows the general structure of the oral proficiency interview (OPI) used by government agencies and the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) to measure speaking proficiency. Whereas the OPI is…

This paper describes a four-process model for the operation of a generic assessment: Activity Selection, Presentation, Response Processing (Evidence Identification), and Summary Scoring (Evidence Accumulation). It discusses the relationships between the functions and responsibilities of these processes and the objects in the Instructional…

At St. Claire School in Toronto, there is a new class in which students who have come recently from Italy speak and are taught in Italian; English is one of the other subjects taught and it too is taught with Italian as the language of instruction. (Authors/JA)

The purpose of this study was to develop an instrument for measuring the experimental attitude of fourth to sixth graders, specifically in terms of John Dewey's philosophy of experimentalism. (CK)

Describes the preparation, structure and experimental testing of an examination designed to test student achievement in the subsidiary German course at the Lanchester Polytechnic, Coventry, one of several subsidiary language courses aimed at giving Modern Language students a sound working knowledge of a third language. (FB)

Evaluates the commonly held idea that girls are better language learners than boys. Results indicate that boys are not weaker in any of the language skill areas tested. Recommends that future research concentrate on the sex and image of the teacher. (EKN)