This document examines the concepts of validity, reliability, and appropriateness from a language testing perspective as they apply to the following four assessment issues raised by the National Reporting System (NRS): (1) What type of language assessment seems to be required by the NRS: proficiency or achievement?; (2) Knowing that the NRS…

This journal presents the following articles: "Introduction: Volume 14--Examining Performance" (Marie Cora) "Fair Assessment Practices: Giving Students Equitable Opportunities to Demonstrate Learning" (Linda Suskie); "Assessing Oral Communication at the Community Learning Center Development of the OPT (Oral Proficiency Test)" (JoAnne Hartel and…

This 3-year study examined a communicative language teaching (CLT) program within a Taiwanese elementary school, investigating whether the program would improve students' English skills, which variables would account for improved English skills, whether participating students would enjoy the program, and implications for teaching English in other…

The attitudes of faculty members toward international students were studied through comparative case studies of four academic departments at three professional schools of a Midwestern university. The focus was on graduate students because most international students at a 4-year institution study at the graduate level. In all 54 faculty members in…

The nine-year program of studies for French as a Second Language (FSL) is a legal document that specifies from Grade 4 to 12 what Alberta students are expected to acquire as attitudes and linguistic, cultural, and strategic knowledge as they develop and demonstrate their communicative skills. This document contains an introduction, a rationale,…

This digest focuses on reforming mathematics instruction for English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) students who have had limited or interrupted schooling in their first language. These students--referred to as ESL literacy students--must learn in a linguistically and culturally unfamiliar environment, construct understanding without the background…

Australia's Occupational English Test (OET) for health professionals was developed in response to the need for immigrant health professions workers to have increased awareness of Australian colloquialisms, improved language training, both in general and within the professions, and cultural awareness training. The test assesses speaking, reading,…

The Echota trace their roots to the Chickamauga Cherokee of North Alabama. Today the Echota number 22,000 with a tribal council that administers tribal lands, supports a dance team, publishes a newsletter, and supervises an Indian education program. One of the tribe's objectives is to revitalize the Cherokee language. Working with Auburn…

The internal construct validity of the 1989 Advanced Placement Spanish Language Examination was analyzed to determine whether the traditional four-factor examination structure hypothesized by test developers (listening, reading, writing, speaking) was invariant for relevant subpopulations. Using a nested hierarchical design, multiple confirmatory…

The emergence of uniform standards for foreign language learning at the elementary and secondary level will soon substantially affect the teaching and learning of foreign languages at the post-secondary level. This groundswell for some sort of standard pre-dates the establishment of the standards themselves. It has become common for students who…

This study evaluated one professor's teaching of English as a Second Language courses at three Japanese universities. Instruction was modified to make the courses similar communicatively to one another. The professor administered a test, found in a journal, at the three universities, comparing results to evaluate the appropriateness of his own…

This study investigated whether a self-efficacy course would raise English-as-a-Second-Language learners' English ability by raising their self-efficacy. It also examined the reliability and validity of a self-efficacy questionnaire and English test. Participants were 293 Japanese college freshmen. Researchers developed two versions of an English…

This report provides annual information for the 2000-2001 school year on grade-level retention in the Texas public school system, based on the Public Education Information Management System. Data on retention are provided by grade, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, gender, participation in special education, degree of English proficiency, and…

This paper uses a language classroom role-playing scene from a Woody Allen movie to examine the language student who has traditionally been asked to emulate and copy the native speaker and to discuss roles that teachers ask students to play. It also presents the changing paradigm of the native speaker and his or her role inside and outside the…

Two studies assessed the impact of short-term memory on English as a Second Language learning. The first involved 20 graduate students at a Taiwanese university, who were randomly divided into treatment and control groups. It investigated differences in the performance of phrase recollection when the information was chunked versus unchunked.…