Multifaceted Rasch measurement was used in the present study with 91 student and 4 teacher raters to investigate how self- and peer-assessments work in comparison with teacher assessments in actual university writing classes. The results indicated that many self-raters assessed their own writing lower than predicted. This was particularly true for…

Contributions from seven European countries pinpoint major projects, problems, and prospects of reforming public language assessment procedures. Each country has faced unique problems in the reform process, yet there have also been several common themes emerging, such as a focus on multilingualism, communicative skills, standardization, reference…

Introduces articles that follow discussing research in progress on assessing foreign language learners at the elementary school levels. The articles describe contexts in Austria, Norway, and Italy. (Author/VWL)

Reviews developments in language testing research and practice over the last 20 years, and suggests future directions in the areas of professionalizing the field and validation research. Argues that concerns for ethical conduct must be grounded in valid test use, so that professionalization and validation research are inseparable. (Author/VWL)

Research on two approaches to assessment of second-language performance--second-language acquisition and language testing--is examined and compared with regard to systematic effects on language tests. Findings incidental to a test development project are then presented. It is concluded that a full account of performance testing requires a paradigm…

Presents a literature review seeking to answer four questions: (1) What is washback? (2) How does washback work? (3) How can we promote positive washback? and (4) How can we investigate washback? A model is proposed that identifies participants, processes and products which may influence or be influenced by, washback. Strategies for investigating…

Outlines research necessary for determining the validity and reliability of Test of Written English, an essay test that directly measures writing ability and complements Test of English-as-a-Foreign-Language's (TOEFL) indirect assessment of writing skills. Research should cover such aspects as construct, criterion-related, concurrent, content, and…

Classical test theory and correlational techniques such as factor analysis have been unable to deal with many language tests' measurement problems. The Partial Credit Model, a latent trait model for the analysis of data scored in ordered categories, is used to construct and analyze an oral interview test of English as a Second Language. (28…

Suggests that language testing should be more performance-based and realigned with a current and richer understanding of the language teaching and learning processes. This kind of testing has questionable validity until a wide range of variables are successfully defined and delimited. (CB)

Discusses the role of the Rasch model IRT in evaluating two subtests of the Occupational English test and argues for its use in exploring test constructs and in considering the implications of the empirical analysis presented for the validity of communicative language tests involving speaking and writing skills. (39 references) (Author/JL)

Presents simplified methods for deriving estimates of the consistency of criterion-referenced, English-as-a-Second-Language tests, including (1) the threshold loss agreement approach using agreement or kappa coefficients, (2) the squared-error loss agreement approach using the phi(lambda) dependability approach, and (3) the domain score…

Explores the origin of the Test of English-as-a-Foreign-Language, with its distinctive characteristics, in a 1961 conference, and seeks thereby to gain an understanding of how developments in language testing theory--and perhaps theory in general--are blended with the requirements and possibilities of real-life implementation. (Author/JL)