[104-10222-10005.pdf — page 202]
# CONFIDENTIALFOREIGN LANGUAGE APTITUDE AND EXPERIENCE REPORTThe category checked below is an interpretation of the scores made by the person named above on a battery of foreign language aptitude tests. The relationships between test performance and subsequent training performance of trainees in Agency language training courses are indicated by the graphs next to the aptitude categories. The graphs to the left are for women and the graphs to the right are for men. From these graphs you can read for each aptitude category the probability that a person in that category will perform in an Agency foreign language training course at an average or better-than-average level. For example, 22 percent of the women who obtain an aptitude rating of "8" can be expected to be average or better in course performance, while 5 percent of the men with ratings of "8" can be expected to be average or better in course performance. A man needs an aptitude rating of "6" to have about the same expectation of success in language training as a woman with a rating of "8." At the other end of the scale, 80 percent of either men or women who obtain aptitude ratings of "2" can be expected to do average or better-than-average work in training. The differences in relationship are due to differences between men and women in both training performance, and test scores. On the average women are somewhat higher on both.| % OF WOMEN WHOSE LANGUAGE TRAINING PERFORMANCE IS EXPECTED TO BE AVERAGE OR BETTER THAN AVERAGE || ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- || 100 80 60 40 20 0                                                                               || 88%                                                                                             || 80%                                                                                             || 72%                                                                                             || 63%                                                                                             || 53%                                                                                             || 41%                                                                                             || 33%                                                                                             || 22%                                                                                             || APTITUDE CATEGORY | % OF MEN WHOSE LANGUAGE TRAINING PERFORMANCE IS EXPECTED TO BE AVERAGE OR BETTER THAN AVERAGE || ----------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ||                   | 0 20 40 60 80 100                                                                             || 1.                | 81%                                                                                           || 2.                | 69%                                                                                           || 3.                | 68%                                                                                           || 4.                | 52%                                                                                           || 5.                | 37%                                                                                           || 6.                | 23%                                                                                           || 7.                | 13%                                                                                           || 8.                | 5%                                                                                            |Since many things other than aptitudes enter into the determination of training course performance, in any class of students there will usually be some whose performance will be better than would be expected from their test scores, just as there will likely be some whose performance is poorer than expected. STRENGTH OF MOTIVATION, PRIOR EXPERIENCE WITH A FOREIGN LANGUAGE, and other factors should be considered in selecting people for language training and in interpreting language training results. For example, the number of languages previously stalled or learned and the amount of academic and nonacademic language-learning experience are factors not measured by the tests but are indicative of probable success in learning a foreign language. Whether such experience was in the same language the one to be studied or in a different one ie, of course, an additional relevant factor.