The Basic English Skills Test and its supplement (Best Plus Supplement), a structured oral interview, were administered to 72 of 119 limited English proficient 12th grade students in the Dade County (Florida) Public Schools, to determine their oral proficiency. The students were native speakers of Haitian-Creole, Spanish, and Vietnamese. Oral…

For language minority children who have acquired English through another culture, opportunities to learn in U.S. schools are not equal, either at the point of entry or at any time thereafter. Children's ability to participate meaningfully in school learning activities is intimately linked to cognitive and social skills that presuppose specific and…

A study was carried out to assess the French language proficiency of kindergarten students enrolled in a French early immersion program and two "classes d'accueil," that is, a special program for non-French speaking immigrant children. The particular focus of the study was to investigate whether the level of proficiency in French is…

This collection, including the proceedings of a colloquium at TESOL 1979, includes the following papers: (1) "Classification of Oral Proficiency Tests," by H. Madsen and R. Jones; (2) "A Theoretical Framework for Communicative Competence," by M. Canale and M. Swain; (3) "Beyond Faith and Face Validity: The Multitrait-Multimethod Matrix and the…

The background, methodology, and results of the Children's English and Services Study, a national investigation of educational needs and services of language minority students of limited English proficiency, are reported. This volume provides information on educational needs and services for the target population, while an earlier volume reports…

The results of a national longitudinal survey on the language proficiency of bilingual Hispanic American high school students are reported. Graphs and tables display language proficiency data for sophomores and seniors, language background data by ethnic origin, and family and educational background data by proficiency level. The survey addressed…

An ethnographic study of language proficiency in the home and school languages of bilingual children was conducted. From a qualitative sociolinguistic perspective, language proficiency, the relation of linguistic performance to community language use and attitudes, and the correlation of the sociolinguistic findings on language repertoire with…

This ten-page booklet provides a general assessment of the job situation for people who know foreign languages and a description of how to plot out a personal profile and a job profile. Two basic categories of jobs are presented, with listings of types of jobs in each: (1) jobs based mainly on language skills, (2) jobs requiring language skills…

This paper discusses a research project carried out to study and compare the reading processes of native and second language speakers of English. The procedure developed for the observation and description of the reading process and related language experience included initial diagnostic testing and taped inventories, a sequence of tutorial…

A study was carried out to ascertain whether language instructors or naive judges were more reliable in judging oral proficiency. Fifteen students were chosen from the ESL (English as a second language) center at Southern Illinois University to record a tape while reading passages in English. The tape and a questionnaire were administered to 70…

This study was undertaken to examine the suspicion that a young Greek girl in the short time span of two years had become more fluent in a second language (English) than in her native tongue. To provide a basis of comparison the tests used in this study were also given to the child's older brother who had been in the United States for…

The problem of articulation is examined, including attempts that have been made to resolve it and new proposals for its resolution. In order for the discussion to be meaningful, several relevant terms are defined: articulation, horizontal articulation, vertical articulation, inter-/multidisciplinary articulation, level, learner outcomes, and…

This is a report on a project established to develop a "common yardstick" to describe performance in one or more language skills. Descriptive scales for oral interaction were prepared as well as a general outline of scale characteristics for listening comprehension and reading. Experts in the field reviewed the project proposal and recommendations…

This evaluative and developmental study was undertaken between 1972-74 to determine the effectiveness of items used for the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) in relationship to other item types used in assessing English proficiency, and to recommend possible changes in TOEFL content and format. TOEFL was developed to assess the English…

This is a comparative study of the cognitive, reading, and achievement levels of Italian Americans in bilingual programs and of their monolingual Italian and American peers. Three groups of students age 10 to 13 were matched within and across groups, according to schools, grade level, dialect, and socioeconomic status. Group I was subdivided into…