Investigates what can be learned about second language (L2) speech acts using English language multiple choice (MC) instruments and discourse completion tests (DCTs). The study focuses on the primary language (L1) responses of native speakers and the L2 responses given by speakers of Chinese to MC questionnaires and DCTs dealing with the…

Discusses multiple-choice test questions, their advantages, important features, well and poorly written items, and the need to assess students' ability to use higher levels of learning. Cites two ways to include higher level learning skills into the science curriculum and eight rules to consider when constructing multiple-choice tests. (RT)

Investigates the relationship between field independence and language measures. Results indicate varying relationships of field independence with cloze, dictation, and multiple-choice language tests. These relationships also differ for native speakers in regular or remedial English classes, and for nonnative speakers. 53 references cited. Cloze…

Performance by medical school sophomores (N=106) on higher-order questions in a second year introductory medicine course did not correlate with perceived performance in subsequent clerkships any better than did performance on fact-recall items. The use of multiple clinical simulations may emerge as the only satisfactory controlled assay of…

Examination of the correlation between multiple-choice and essay portions of the College Board Advanced Placement (AP) examinations with grades of first-year students from 32 colleges (largest sample=6,243) shows the best correlation for multiple choice tests for 2 examinations, with multiple choice and essay performing nearly equally for the…

Designed as a forum on teaching and learning in Utah's two-year colleges, "Focus" seeks to promote originality, innovation, and needed changes in the state's two-year institutions. The 1994 volume of "Focus" includes the following articles: (1) "Competency Development and Community Colleges," by Phyllis…

The framework and specifications for the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) science assessment were developed in 1991-92 and field tested in 1993. The assessment was postponed, however, and will be administered in 1996. The framework calls for performance-based tasks that probe students' abilities to use materials to make…

The House of Representatives Committee on Education and Labor asked the General Accounting Office (GAO) to look at school testing as it exists, to estimate its extent and cost, and to assess how a new national test might affect those factors. GAO gathered information from a variety of sources, including a 1991 survey with replies from 48 states…

The resources necessary to create, administer, and score performance assessments in science were studied. RAND and the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) designed performance tasks for science in grades five and six as part of a larger study of the feasibility of science performance assessment. Tasks were developed in pairs in task…

A preliminary investigation has been made of some claims regarding alternative assessment. Using the California Learning Assessment System (CLAS)--Middle Grades Mathematics Performance Assessment as a platform, the study examined how alternative assessment operates in actual practice. Early findings are presented in the following areas: (1)…

This report, part of a series of documents which describe assessment of student learning in various curriculum areas, focuses on assessment of student learning in the mathematics classroom, beginning with an overview of current curriculum goals in mathematics. The rationale for reforming the content, instructional practices, and assessment methods…

Across the field of educational assessment the case has been made for alternatives to the multiple-choice item type. Most of the alternative types of items require a subjective evaluation by a rater. The reliability of this subjective rating is a key component of these types of alternative items. In this paper, measures of reliability are…

Science assessment has been included with mathematics and language assessment on the international level since the 1970s. This paper discusses techniques of assessment that have been utilized to measure science process skills. The first section discusses the Assessment Performance Unit, a British project with the aim of developing innovative…

Problems with performance assessment (PA) and multiple-choice tests (MCTs) are outlined, with reference to the literature on accountability. PA for individual teachers who should integrate their assessments with their instruction; PA as a supplement to more traditional examinations for licensure decisions; and some limited, experimental tryouts of…

This study investigates the extent to which beginning to advanced students of English as a second language (ESL) understand antecedent/anaphora relationships in written discourse. The findings are related to previous research on anaphoric reference in first and second language contexts, emphasizing the significance of this factor in measurement of…