This report evaluated the reading and language program in one elementary school which was intended to improve word knowledge, word analysis, and reading comprehension skills for 300 students in grades K through 5. Students who participated in the program were below grade level in reading and language skills. Educational Assistants were assigned to…

This study presents a new version of the cloze procedure used as a placement test for foreign students enrolled in an English language program for non-native speakers. Called the New Cloze Test (NCT), the test was administered to 136 foreign students who were beginning college students and who had not been in the United States longer than one…

There is a lack of adequate measurement techniques for testing language proficiency. Researchers compose specific tests for a certain task, but these have only limited general applicability. Often multiple-choice, true-false or fill-in-the-blank tests are used, but these rely heavily on written language and are inadequate for those with poor…

Some validity criteria were applied to the language proficiency measures used by the British Council, particularly the "Davies Test." Five types of test validity are identified: construct validity; content validity; concurrent validity compared with another test; prediction validity; and face, or apparent, validity. Foreign students…

The Commander Naval Amphibious School is responsible for the Vietnamese language training of certain naval officer and enlisted personnel who are enroute to assignments in Vietnam. Courses of two and six weeks are offered; they were designed to meet the language needs of river boat crewmen and advisors. The Navy Training Research Laboratory was…

Biographical and bibliographical information gathered during 1964-65 by the Hispanic Foundation is provided on 1,884 United States residents who are Latin American specialists. These specialists in the social sciences and the humanities were selected from two categories: (1) "area" specialists; and (2) "non-area" specialists,…

The hypothesis that monolingual and bilingual German-Canadian speakers differ in their attitudes toward German language and culture and in their achievement in the study of German was tested. The results were compared to those obtained by Gardner and Lambert in their French-American studies, in which it was found that home language background is…

To determine the extent to which the perceived English language performance of employed bilingual Mexican-Americans influenced or handicapped them in performing job duties as proficiently as their monolingual counterparts, personal interviews were conducted with equal numbers of Mexican-Americans, their non-Mexican-American occupational peers, and…

The article shows six ways in which communicative competence can be increased. The six sections show how the foreign language student can acquire competence in expressing (as an example) the concept "irritation". For each definition of "irritation," many examples are given. (Text is in German.) (IFS/WGA)

Archaic literature, no matter how great, should not be imposed on secondary students who are not equipped to comprehend it. (JH)

Examines: (1) correlations between attitudes of Japanese students toward various variables, and their proficiency in English; and (2) the validity of attitude measures. (Author/AM)

A writing exercise consisting of a description of an automobile accident was carried out by two groups, one consisting of skilled workers, the other of professionals. The results were compared in terms of clarity, length, grammar, vocabulary, and tone. (AM)

A survey was conducted of 51 universities to determine the English standards for foreign graduate students. Information is presented on English examinations and required test scores, use and acceptability of interviews for determining English proficiency, standards within English departments, English requirements for teaching assistants, and…

Language educators need to consider whether the goal for learning English as a foreign language is to be bookish "correctness" or something approaching the competence and performance of at least moderately well-educated native speakers. Grammatical usages and pronunciations are considered and comparisons with other languages are made. (SW)

Educators concerned with how children learn language cannot allow inadequate measures like standardized tests to interfere with students' learning experiences. The school environment must support teachers who develop the ability to observe children and who understand the dynamics of language development. (Author)