ERIC Number: ED217725
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 1981-Sep
Pages: 9
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
The Style Test.
Bonheim, Helmut
Several formats for testing English style are described and discussed. The questions are taken from eight versions of the Cologne placement test for beginning university students and a test battery designed for the German Academic Exchange Service. The first two formats are a multiple choice question and a paragraph with underlined words and phrases. In both types the student has to choose the expression that is not suitable in context. A third format presents a set of texts one of which is of a different author, era, or genre from the others. This format has the advantage of including a variety of operative clues. Style is more difficult to acquire and to test; in contrast to tests in other skill areas of language learning, the style item asks about suitability, not correctness. With regard to the tests under discussion, a number of factors are suggested that point out the special nature of the style test. These factors are: (1) improvement in style over time; (2) identification and analysis of factors in one of the style tests suggested that the role of style is not marginal; (3) a higher prognostic validity than the other subtests; (4) variations in results from one university to the other; and (5) the relationship between style and general achievement. (AMH)
Descriptors: English (Second Language), Higher Education, Language Skills, Rhetoric, Test Interpretation, Test Items, Writing (Composition)
Not available separately; see FL 013 014.
Publication Type: Speeches/Meeting Papers; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Germany
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A