bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Interactional Perspective of Suffering and Curing in a Japanese Cult
Authors: Sugiyama Takie
Published: August 2007

An analysis is given of the behaviour of participants in a healing-oriented Japanese cult with the main focus on the causality of sufferings and therapeutic measures. As the frame of reference the author singles out the interactional perspective : the holistic view of the interrelationship between the actor and his social environment involving his keen awareness of social interdependence and sensitivity to social demands and approval. This perspective is described in terms of two postulates : (1) The repercussion postulate in which suffering is conceived as a repercussion of the undesirable output of ego's system, and (2) The dependency postulate which assumes the spirit causing the suffering to be totally dependent upon the human sufferer. The interactional perspective thus described is considered as an exaggerated expression of Japanese cultural values with their emphasis upon role sensitisation.
Volunteer Case Aides in the U.S.a
Authors: Lewington Jeanne
Published: August 2007

MRS. Jeanne Lewington was awarded a 1973 Winston Churchill Fellowship to visit the U.S.A. and look at the way volunteers are used, particularly in the field of mental health. She studied projects at State and Private Mental Hospitals and Community Health Centres. She was particularly impressed with the contribu tion of Volunteer Case Aides in one to one work with psychiatric patients and describes this principle in some detail. On her return Mrs. Lewington approached the King's Fund London and has been given a grant to finance the establishment of a two year Volunteer Case Aide Programme based at St. Crispin Hospital, Northam pton, England, evaluation of which will take place during 1975.
The Multiple Recurrent Family Model in the Therapeutic Community
Authors: Lowental Uri
Published: August 2007

An abridged version was presented at the First Scientific Congress of the Israel Psychiatric Association, Jerusalem, December 1972

Staff psychiatrist, head of Dept. C; Eitanim Psychiatric Hospital Jerusalem consulting psychiatrist at the Mevasseret-Zion Mental Health Clinic; candidiate at the Israel Institute for Psychoanalysis.

I wish to express my thanks to H. Klein, M.D., Director of the Eitanim Hospital, and Senior Lecturer of Psychiatry at the Hebrew University, for his fruitful suggestions and encouragement.
Running Amok
Authors: Schmidt Karl , Hill Lee , Guthrie George
Published: August 2007

THIS study examines twenty-four cases of amok, believed the largest number J number of cases ever collected. They were observed in Sarawak, East Malaysia. They occurred in all indigenous groups in Sarawak, excluding the Chinese, such as Malay, Sea Dayak, Land Dayak, Kayan, Punan and Melanau at frequencies more or less following the proportion of these groups in the total population. No differences were found according to religion, the Malay being Muslim and the other groups either predominantly Christian like the Iban or animistic. Only slight diminution in the frequency was observed from 1954 to 1968. The education level of the amok runners was much lower than that of the average population. The weapons used were those immediately at hand be it parang (short sword), ax, sticks, knives, guns, bare hands or a lorry. The classical four stages were largely present: (a) brooding and withdrawal, (b) homicidal paroxysm, (c) continuation of homicidal behaviour until killed, restrained or falling into stupor of exhaustion, (d) complete or partial amnesia. While in 14 no motive could be ascertained, insult, jealousy and paranoid ideation was present in the others. Both family history of mental illness and personal psychiatric history were predominant. All cases fell into accepted diagnostic categories from organic and endogenous psychosis to neurosis and behaviour disorder.
Socio-Cultural and Clinical Determinants of Symptomatology in Obsessional Neurosis
Authors: Akhtar Salman , Varma Vijoy K. , Pershad Dwarka , Verma S.K.
Published: August 2007

Eighty-two obsessional neurotics were studied from a phenomenological view point ir order to unmask the clinical and socio-cultural determinants of symptom- choice in this disorder. The form of obsessions and compulsions seemed to be affected primarily by intrinsic factors (age, sex, I.Q.) while their content was affected equally, if not more, by extrinsic factors (religion, locality, social class). Patient's age at the onset of illness seemed to be an extremely relevant factor inso far as it affected both the form and the content of symptoms. Some socio-cultural explanations have been offered these findings. The data is important insofar as it provides a baseline for cross-cultural studies of the phenomenology of obsessional illness.
Patient Care and Health Provider Attitudes in Alaska
Authors: Berg Lawrence , Miller Sheldon , Helmick Edward , Nutting Paul , Shorr Gregory
Published: August 2007

As part of an overall evaluation of the Alaska Health System's response to the problem of alcoholism, the attitudes of all levels of health providers toward mental health problems were examined. The evaluation instrument was the Opinions About Mental Illness Scale developed by Cohen and Struening. Health workers from physicians to paraprofessional aides were tested and the results scored and compared. Results were examined in relation to geography, discipline and other factors. They were then considered in relation to such things as treatment outcome, selection of workers and possible training programmes.

The rate of death due to alcoholism in the native population of Alaska has increased from 4.6 per 100,000 in 1960 to 41.4 per 100,000 in 1970.(1) This can be contrasted to a U.S. rate of 6.30 per 100,000 for the same period.(2)

In 1972, the Alaska Native Health Board launched an in-depth evaluation of alcoholism treatment services in the state (3,4) as the first step toward the objective of evolving the current pattern of care services into a self-correcting integrated system designed to reduce the impact of alcoholism and mental illness on the native population.

The definite linkage between health care workers' attitudes about mental illness and the impact of these attitudes in compliance to standards within the care process or the outcomes of the care process has not been established. However evidence has been presented that there is a relationship between professional judgment of health workers' performance and health workers' attitudes(5) and patient judgment of health workers' performance and health workers' attitudes(6). As a component of the baseline evaluation study, opinions about mental illness of the health workers were obtained for subsequent analysis and definition of the relationship between attitudes, process and outcomes.
How Fair Is the Culture I.Q. Test?
Authors: Ireland John F. , Kahn Marvin W.
Published: August 2007

If a measure of intelligence is culturally biased it is assumed that disadvantaged individuals will score lower on it than on a less biased instrument. The Cattell purports to be 'culture fair' and it was compared to the WISC with a delinquent juvenile population, controlling for both order effects and individual administration. The results reveal consistently lower mean I.Q. scores for the Cattell under all conditions. The Cattell appears to be a more difficult test for this population. It is concluded that considerable caution should be exercised in using the Cattell as a culture fair method of I.Q,. evaluation with underprivileged delinquent youth.
The Long -Distance Psychiatric Patient in the Emergency Room
Authors: Chmiel Andrew J. , Akhtar Salman , Morris Juanita
Published: August 2007

This paper deals with the motivational, demographic and clinical character istics of individuals who seek psychiatric help at facilities located a great distance from their places of residence. The study identifies two subgroups within this category. The first (Intentional or Type A) group is constituted by persons who, owing to their concerns with the social stigma of mental illness, or driven by the desire for a magical solution to their problems, purposely undertake the journey to a distantly located psychiatric center. The second (Incidental or Type B) group consists of vacationers, hitch-hikers and skid-row individuals. While these 'long distance patients' (LDP) did not show any differences when compared with the remainder of clinic attendance on demographic variables, distinct clinical features differentiated the two populations. Most significantly the LDP had a higher incidence of schizophrenia and alcohol related problems. The difference was entirely accounted for by the Type B subgroup (LDP <0.01; Type A, NS; Type B <0.001). Implications of this finding have been discussed in view of the suggested relationships between travel and mental illness. Administrative problems of the LDP have been briefly commented upon.
Who Receives Psychotherapy? a Study of Demographic and Other Patient Characteristics
Authors: Reder Peter , Tyson Robert L.
Published: August 2007

This study reports on the sources of referral and the demographic characteristics of the 137 patients referred for individual psychotherapy in 1975 to the Adult Outpatient Department of the Paddington Centre for Psychotherapy. The majority of patients were referred by General Practitioners but self-referred patients were most frequently accepted for therapy and most successfully maintained their treatment contract. Young, single and female patients were more frequently referred but more males were accepted for treatment. Married patients, particularly males, appeared to maintain their treatment contracts more frequently than other groups. These findings are comparable for the most part with others reported in the literature.
Psychiatric Patients of Egyptian Culture in Alexandria
Authors: El-Fatatry Mohamed , El-Kashlan Khalil , El-Garem Omar , Ghazi Abdel-Monsif
Published: August 2007

Some observations from a study of 2,745 patients with psychiatric disorders from the outpatients clinics at the Alexandria University Central Hospital have been presented.

There are significantly more neurotics and fewer psychotics among women.

Mental disorders were in general most prevalent in the 15 to 30 age group.

No definite educational correlates with any group of mental disorders were recognized in this study.
Mental Health Problems Amongst Aboriginal Children of North Australia
Authors: Webber D.L.
Published: August 2007

There have been few studies of the mental health of Australian aboriginal children. Adolescent part-aboriginals have been the focus of most of these studies. Only one study has dealt directly with tribally oriented children. To overcome this deficiency a register of child mental health cases from tribally oriented aboriginal communities in the northern half of the Northern Territory of Australia was established. An examination of the diagnostic sex and age groupings in the register was found as well as a preponderance of serious learning difficulties.
A Study On the Personality Characteristics of Iranian Addicts
Authors: Daneshmand Loghman
Published: August 2007

The present study was undertaken to investigate the personality characteristics of addicts in Iran and to investigate the applicability of the Persian version of the Manson Evaluation Scale. A sample of 107 hospitalized male addicts was compared with a group of 90 non- addicts, using the scale. All MES scales attained statistically significant t-values at or better than 1 per cent levels of confidence. The study supports findings in western societies except that the present sample shows more psychoneurotic traits than psychopathic trends.
An Exploratory Study On Depression in Iranian Addicts
Authors: Tarighati SH
Published: August 2007

For the purpose of measuring the degree of depression among drug addicts in Iran, the Beck Depression Inventory was administered to 50 addicts, 46 depressed non-addicts, and 48 normal controls.

Statistical comparison of the BDI for the three groups yielded a significant difference between the addicts and the controls, whereas the difference between the addicts and the depressed non-addicts was not significant; this indicates that depression is one of the clinical symptoms of drug addiction in Iran.
A Common Service for Mental and Neurological Illness
Authors: Kappeter I.
Published: August 2007

A common in- and out-patient service for all patients with diseases of the nervous system was organized within the framework of a common hospital and polyclinic unit of a rural district. The co-operative work in this system seemed to be very useful for both neurologic and psychiatric patients. But it caused overwork to physicians and nurses, and did harm to the moral respect and material interest, and did not agree with the concepts of the physicians and the local authorities.
Precipitating Factors of Neurotic Reactions in Middle and Upper-Middle Class Persian Women (Iran)
Authors: Bagheri Abbas S.
Published: August 2007

(We are publishing this article inspite of the fact that political developments have changed all the cultural and environmental factors which were the basis of this investigation. We hope that a future investigation will be made to provide us with interesting data on a completely new society which has emerged after the revolution).
Consumer Education in Discharge Planning for Continuity of Care
Authors: Ledbetter James E. , Batey Sharyn R.
Published: August 2007

The need to establish continuity of care for patients in transition from the hospital to community is essential for adequate community adjustment. The Resource Group model of discharge planning is based upon a consumer education model which emphasizes the responsibility of the individual in discharge planning. In these groups, the partial hospitalization program staff representative and the clinical pharmacist, in conjunction with inpatient clinical social workers, begin discharge planning with inpatients during the early phase of hospitalization. Increased utilization of partial hospitalization services has resulted in greater continuity of care.
A Comparative Study of Children's Television Programmes: American and Japanese
Authors: Lbata Khisukl
Published: August 2007

American Children's Stories on Television (ACSTV) and Japanese counterparts (JCSTV) vere analysed with emphasis on the transcultural element, according to the main theme and the features of the key characters. The most common theme of both ACSTV and JCSTV was authority. The authority figure in ACSTV was viewed as a competitor, while in JCSTVit was viewed as being evil. The intimacy of the mother-child relationship was prominent in JCSTV. In ACSTV, individualism was emphasised, while in JCSTV group affiliation was more emphasised.
Factors Influencing Early Return of Escapees From a Mental Hospital
Authors: Gangadhar B.N. , John C.J. , Channabasavanna S.M.
Published: August 2007

Factors influencing early return of escapees from a mental hospital were studied retrospectively from among 3,892 admissions in the year 1977. 128 case files of patients who according to the operational definition used, were escapees, were taken in. 39 escapees had returned within one week of escape and were called early returns. When compared with the rest of the esscapees early return was significantly associated with two factors, viz., patients who were brought for admission by a close relative, and patients who were paying as voluntary boarders. The implications of these findings are discussed.
Untreated Depression in a Working Population
Authors: Hoenig J. , Fodor J.G.
Published: August 2007

An attempt was made to assess the six months' prevalence rate of depression in a working population. The survey involved a total of 233 employees, in entertainment industry. Out of the total population of 233, 77 were to participate in the survey because of shift work and 18 refused. One hundred and thirty-eight probands were investigated, a compliance rate of 88.46%. Results show a very high prevalence of depressive illness in working population (9.4%); 21.7% showed "depressive symptoms only" and "terminal insomnia only". The majority of sufferers, particularly the males, remains untreated. The similarity of our findings compared to several well-controlled studies is striking, but this report can only be regarded as preliminary, and further in-depth investigations will have to be carried out.
Symptomatology Differentials Between Urban and Rural Schizophrenics
Authors: Chu Chung-Chou , Klein Helen E. , Lange Marcia H.
Published: August 2007

The frequency of symptoms between urban and rural schizophrenic patients was compared in 275 consecutive admissions of schizophrenics, who were rated on two rating scales by psychiatrists, using a structured interview. There were significant differences between urban and rural schizophrenics; rural patients were more frequently apathetic, blunted, labile, angry, aggressive, negativistic and uncooperative, while urban schizophrenics were more often anxious, rigid, ambivalent, disoriented, conceptually disorganised and asocial. Significant symptom differences were also found for only older or younger schizophrenics.
Psychiatric Symptoms of Maritally-Distressed Wives and Husbands
Authors: Feldman Larry B. , Grodman Joseph , Behrman Debra
Published: August 2007

The relationship between marital distress and psychiatric symptoms of wives and husbands was investigated by comparing the number, intensity, and types of symptoms reported by each spouse in a group of maritally-distressed couples. Wives reported a significantly higher number and intensity of symptoms on the overall SCL-90 and on four of the eight sub-scales. Possible explanations for these findings are discussed.
Organizing Marketized Services: Are Trade Unions Up to the Job?
Authors: Dølvik Jon Erik , Waddington Jeremy
Published: August 2007

In most European countries trade union membership is declining. A contributory factor to this decline has been the failure of trade unions to recruit new members in marketized services at the same rate as members were being lost from areas of traditionally high unionization. This article examines the approaches adopted by trade unions to raise unionization rates in marketized services and identifies some elements of organizational change that might improve the current situation. Central to these reforms is the re-establishment of articulated trade union structures and activity, requiring greater organizational concentration and scope, on one hand, and decentralization of resources and activity on the other. Pivotal is also to develop agendas that accommodate heterogeneity and the needs of individual members and particular groups, at the same time highlighting the interdependence between individual self-realization and collective regulation.
Modern language testing at the turn of the century: assuring that what we count counts
Authors: Bachman Lyle F.
Published: August 2007

In the past twenty years, language testing research and practice have witnessed the refinement of a rich variety of approaches and tools for research and development, along with a broadening of philosophical perspectives and the kinds of research questions that are being investigated. While this research has deepened our understanding of the factors and processes that affect performance on language tests, as well as of the consequences and ethics of test use, it has also revealed lacunae in our knowledge, and pointed to new areas for research. This article reviews developments in language testing research and practice over the past twenty years, and suggests some future directions in the areas of professionalizing the field and validation research. It is argued that concerns for ethical conduct must be grounded in valid test use, so that professionalization and validation research are inseparable. Thus, the way forward lies in a strong programme of validation that includes considerations of ethical test use, both as a paradigm for research and as a practical procedure for quality control in the design, development and use of language tests.
Authenticity in language testing: some outstanding questions
Authors: Lewkowicz Jo A.
Published: August 2007

This article is divided into two main sections. Following the introduction, Section II takes a look at the concept of authenticity and the way this notion has evolved in language testing and more recently in general education. It argues that, although our understanding of the notion of authenticity has developed considerably since it was first introduced into the language testing literature in the 1970s, many questions remain unanswered. In an attempt to address one of the outstanding issues, Section III presents a study looking at the importance of authenticity for test takers. It shows that test takers are willing and able to identify the attributes of a test likely to affect their performance. However, these attributes do not necessarily include authenticity which has hitherto been considered an important test attribute for all stakeholders in the testing process. The article concludes that much more research is needed if the nature and role of authenticity in language testing is to be fully understood.
Coming to grips with lexical richness in spontaneous speech data
Authors: Vermeer Anne
Published: August 2007

In spontaneous speech data, lexical richness is generally operationalized by measures in which the relation between the number of types and tokens plays a role, of which the Type/Token Ratio (TTR) is the most famous. This article discusses the reliability and validity of different measures of lexical richness in various language data research and computer simulations, and examines the behaviour of these measures in spontaneous speech data of first language and second language children learning Dutch, aged four to seven, compared with their lexical abilities as measured by tests. The results show that neither the validity nor the reliability of the measures were satisfactory, especially the widely applied TTR. Initially, the number of types, or lemmas, and the Guiraud and Uber indexes seem to be adequate measures. However, in later stages of vocabulary acquisition (from 3000 words on) neither is valid. It is suggested that more effective measures of lexical richness might be based not on the distribution of or the relation between the types and tokens, but on the degree of difficulty of the words used, as measured by their (levels of) frequency in daily language input.
Effects of cultural schemata on students' test-taking processes for cloze tests: a multiple data source approach
Authors: Sasaki Miyuki
Published: August 2007

The present study investigated how schemata activated by culturally familiar words might have influenced students’ cloze test-taking processes. Sixty Japanese EFL students were divided into two groups with equivalent English reading proficiency. They completed either a culturally familiar or an unfamiliar version of a cloze test. Partially replicating Chihara et al.’s (1989) experiment, several unfamiliar words in the original cloze test passage were changed to more familiar ones in the modified version. Unlike in Chihara et al. (1989), however, students were asked to give verbal reports of their test-taking processes, and to recall the passage after they had completed the tests. Thus, the two groups’ test-taking activities were compared in terms of:

1) item performance;

2) expressing correct understanding of the key terms while solving the items and recalling;

3) the amount of text information they used to complete the items; and

4) the quantities and qualities of the final recalls.

Results demonstrated that those who read the culturally familiar cloze text tried to solve more items and generally understood the text better, which resulted in better performances than those of the students who read the original text. These results also support the claim that cloze tests can measure higher-order processing abilities.
Revising the revised format of the ACTFL Oral Proficiency Interview
Authors: Salaberry Rafael
Published: August 2007

Since the early 1980s proponents of proficiency examinations such as ACTFL (American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages) have been criticized for the low validity and reliability of tests such as the OPI (Oral Proficiency Interview). Despite these strong concerns, the most recent edition of the ACTFL Tester Training Manual (Swender et al., 1999) does not reveal substantial changes from the previous manual published in (Buck et al., 1986). While a complete elimination of proficiency tests such as the ACTFL-OPI may be neither feasible nor necessary, some practical changes may be appropriate. In this article I describe minor structural changes of the ACTFL-OPI framework that would not eliminate the practical benefits of a proficiency test, but which address substantial concerns related to the validity and reliability of the instrument.
Test fairness: a DIF analysis of an L2 vocabulary test
Authors: Takala Sauli , Kaftandjieva Felianka
Published: August 2007

The purpose of this study is to analyse gender-uniform differential item functioning (DIF) in a second language (L2) vocabulary test with the tools of item response theory (the separate calibration t-method) and to study potential gender impact on the test performance measured by different item composites.

The results of the study show that despite the fact that there are test items with indications of DIF in favour of either females or males, the test as a whole is not gender-biased. In spite of this, it was demonstrated that some item composites are gender-biased. In view of item bank building and use, it means that some of the tests constructed on the basis of an item bank might be biased if the item bank contains items with indication for DIF. Although the results of some empirical research suggest that the requirements for items with DIF to be excluded from the final test version may on the whole be too restrictive, this study demonstrated that the traditional advice of excluding biased items gains new significance in the light of item bank building and use since doing so will prevent possible biased item composites.
Sequencing as an item type
Authors: Alderson J. Charles , Percsich Richard , Szabo Gabor
Published: August 2007

A text’s coherence clearly depends upon the way ideas are related within that text, both in terms of their logical relations, as well as the cohesive devices that show, or create, the links between ideas, across paragraphs and sentences. Thus, it would appear that part of the ability of a competent reader is to recognize the appropriate order of ideas in text, to identify cohesion and coherence in text in order to relate the ideas to each other, and to understand authorial intention with respect to the sequence of ideas. It follows from this that a potentially useful test method that might tap such abilities is to require candidates to inspect text in which the elements are out of order, and to reconstruct the original order. This, it might be supposed, would require candidates to detect the relationship among ideas, to identify cohesive devices and their interrelationships.

Such test methods are, indeed, increasingly common in so-called reading tests. However, we know of no reports of research into, or even descriptions of the use of, this promising task type. In this article we report on potential problems in scoring responses to sequencing tests, the development of a computer program to overcome these difficulties, and an exploration of the value of various scoring procedures.
Assessing the language proficiency of teachers: are there any border controls?
Authors: Elder Catherine
Published: August 2007

This article takes up some of the issues identified by Douglas (2000) as problematic for Language for Specific Purposes (LSP) testing, making reference to a number of performance-based instruments designed to assess the language proficiency of teachers or intending teachers. The instruments referred to include proficiency tests for teachers of Italian as a foreign language in Australia (Elder, 1994) and for trainee teachers using a foreign language (in this case English) as medium for teaching school subjects such as mathematics and science in Australian secondary schools (Elder, 1993b; Viete, 1998).

The first problem addressed in the article has to do with specificity: how does one define the domain of teacher proficiency and is it distinguishable from other areas of professional competence or, indeed, from what is often referred to as ‘general’ language proficiency? The second problem has to do with the vexed issue of authenticity: what constitutes appropriate task design on a teacher-specific instrument and to what extent can ‘teacher-like’ language be elicited from candidates in the very artificial environment of a test? The third issue pertains to the role of nonlanguage factors (such as strategic competence or teaching skills) which may affect a candidate’s response to any appropriately contextualized test-task and whether these factors can or should be assessed independently of the purely linguistic qualities of the test performance.

All of these problems are about blurred boundaries, between and within real world domains of language use, between the test and the nontest situation, and between the components of ability or knowledge measured by the test. It is argued that these blurred boundaries are an indication of the indeterminacy of LSP, as currently conceptualized, as an approach to test development.
Language assessment as social practice: challenges for research
Authors: McNamara Tim
Published: August 2007

In this article I argue that a growing awareness of the fundamentally social character of language assessment challenges us to rethink our priorities and responsibilities in language testing research. This awareness has been brought about by the treatment of the social character of educational assessment in Samuel Messick’s influential work on validity, and by the intellectual changes triggered by postmodernism, where models of individual consciousness have been reinterpreted in the light of socially motivated critiques. The article concludes by arguing that the institutional character of assessment often means that the needs of learners are not well served by much language assessment theory and practice, and calls for a reexamination of our research priorities.
Democratic assessment as an alternative
Authors: Shohamy Elana
Published: August 2007

The article describes the strong power of tests and the fact that tests lead to far-reaching and high-stakes decisions and consequences about individuals and groups. Further, there is evidence that tests are often introduced by those in authority as disciplinary tools, often in covert ways for the purpose of manipulating educational systems and for imposing the agendas of those in authority. Yet, such uses of tests as instruments of power violate fundamental values and principles of democratic practices. The article proposes a number of assessment strategies which are based on democratic principles so that society can guard and protect itself from such undemocratic practices. The principles include the need:

• for citizens in democratic societies to play a participatory and active role and transfer and share power from elites to and with local bodies;

• for those who develop powerful tools to be responsible for their consequences;

• to consider voices of diverse and different groups in multicultural societies; and

• to protect the rights of citizens from powerful institutions.

These lead to assessment practices which are aimed at monitoring and limiting the uses of tests, especially those that have the potential to exclude and discriminate against groups and individuals. Specifically, assessment practices include the need:

• to examine the uses of tests through critical language testing (CLT);

• to develop assessment models that are based on shared and collaborative models;

• to assume a growing responsibility for those who are engaged in test development and use;

• to examine the consequences of tests;

• to include different voices in assessment, especially in multicultural societies; and

• for test-takers to protect and guard their rights from the authority and misuses of tests.
Outcomes-based assessment in practice: some examples and emerging insights
Authors: Brindley Geoff
Published: August 2007

The implementation of outcomes-based assessment and reporting systems in educational programs has been accompanied by a range of political and technical problems, including tensions between the summative and formative purposes of assessment and doubts surrounding the validity and reliability of teacher-constructed assessment tasks. This article examines ways in which these problems have been manifested and addressed, using two recent examples from school and adult immigrant education in Australia. The first example concerns a recent controversy surrounding the use of national literacy benchmarks for primary school learners. Analysis of the issues suggests that some learner groups may be disadvantaged by the practice of reporting aggregate outcomes in terms of minimum standards, but that government policy is unlikely to change as long as the accountability function of assessment remains paramount in the public eye. The second example discusses the teacher-developed assessment tasks that are used to assess the achievement of language competencies in the Australian Adult Migrant English Program (AMEP). It is argued that problems of consistency and comparability that have been identified by research can be addressed through the development of fully-piloted task banks and the provision of appropriate forms of professional development. Greater attention needs to be given to the role of the teacher if outcomes-based assessments are to provide high quality information.
Standardized assessment of the content knowledge of English language learners K-12: current trends and old dilemmas
Authors: Butler Frances A. , Stevens Robin
Published: August 2007

Within the context of accountability for US schools, standardized achievement tests are being used for increasingly `high stakes' decisions for all students including those for whom English is a second language, even when their English language skills are not adequate for the task. This article discusses approaches to the standardized assessment of content knowledge for English language learners (ELLs),1 including testing in the student's first language, the use of test accommodations, and measuring growth in English as an alternative for accountability until student control of English is sufficient to assure validity of test scores. Limitations of current research on the use of standardized content assessments with ELLs are presented and alternative approaches suggested.
Mirror, mirror on the wall: identifying processes of classroom assessment
Authors: Rea-Dickins Pauline
Published: August 2007

In a recent issue of Language Testing, Rea-Dickins and Gardner (2000) reported on their work in classroom-based assessment, and provided examples of different ways in which information from learner assessments was used by teachers working with learners for whom English is an additional/second language (EAL). The research reported here is also concerned with classroom assessment in an EAL school context. As in the previous article, it is presented from the perspective that issues of classroom assessment and, in particular, formative assessment require further detailed analysis. Using data from teacher interviews, classroom observations, video and audio recordings of learners, and lesson transcripts, the starting point for this investigation is the concept of the assessment cycle. Taking a grounded approach, it traces different stages in the teacher assessment process and presents a working model for the analysis of teacher decision making in relation to assessment practices. At the same time, it identifies classroom assessment as a multifaceted phenomenon with distinct identities linked to learning, teaching and bureaucratic functions.
What do tests of listening comprehension test? - A retrospection study of EFL test-takers performing a multiple-choice task
Authors: Yi'an Wu
Published: August 2007

A test-taker’s performance in a listening comprehension test is seen to be a function of at least two variables: his or her listening comprehension ability and the test method. To know how this trait-method unit works, it is necessary to look into the test-taking processes of test-takers. Accordingly, employing an immediate retrospective verbal report procedure, a study was conducted among Chinese EFL test-takers. The test format investigated was multiple-choice. The results identified the subjects’ listening processes leading to comprehension and comprehension breakdowns and captured the effect of the multiple-choice format on the subjects’ test performance. The immediate retrospection research methodology as applied to the test of listening comprehension was explored.
Simulating conversations in oral-proficiency assessment: a conversation analysis of role plays and non-scripted interviews in language exams
Authors: Kormos Judit
Published: August 2007

Several recent studies have investigated the nature of interaction in oral proficiency exams and have concluded that the interview format obscures differences in the conversational competence of the candidates. The present paper examines what opportunities test takers have to display their knowledge of managing conversations in the L2 in two types of tasks: non-scripted interviews and guided role-play activities. The data for the study consists of 30 interviews and 30 role-play activities between near-native examiners and intermediate learners used in language exams in Hungary. The interviews and role-plays have been analysed for the number of topics introduced and ratified by the examiner and the candidate respectively, as well as for the number of interruptions, openings and closings produced by the examiner and the candidate. The findings show that the conversational interaction is more symmetrical in the guided role-play activity with the candidates introducing and ratifying approximately the same number of topics as the examiners. In addition, the examinees have the opportunity to interrupt and hold the floor more effectively during the role-play activity and can demonstrate their knowledge of how to open and close a conversation. These findings suggest that guided role-play activities used in the study exhibit several characteristics of real-life conversations and therefore can be used for assessing the candidates’ conversational competence.
Identification and differential diagnosis of phonological disorder in bilingual children
Authors: Holm Alison , Dodd Barbara , Stow Carol , Pert Sean
Published: August 2007

Diagnosis of speech disorder in children acquiring two languages is problematic. There are few norms for bilingual language acquisition, and speech-language path-ologists are unlikely to speak both languages of the bilingual populations they serve. Further, knowledge concerning the phonological structure of many languages is limited. This article describes the development of a phonological assessment for bilingual children. The assessment was administered to normally developing bilingual children as well as children suspected of speech disorder. The children with speech disorder were referred to the Rochdale Healthcare NHS Trust Speech and Language Therapy Department for assessment of their speech. All of the children spoke either Mirpuri, Punjabi or Urdu at home but were exposed to English at nursery or school. The phonological development of bilingual children in each language is described. The normally developing children showed phonological error patterns in English that would be considered atypical of normal monolingual development in English. The error patterns of two children with speech disorder are also described. The error patterns are consistent with research evidence concerning subgroups of speech disorder in monolingual and bilingual children. The findings provide further support for the hypothesis that symptoms (surface error patterns) of speech disorder are language independent, (i.e., that a single deficit underlies the speech disorder across both languages). The clinical implications for assessment and treatment of speech disorder in children exposed to more than one language are discussed.
Effect of semantic inconsistency on sentence grammaticality judgements for children with and without language-learning disabilities
Authors: Windsor Jennifer
Published: August 2007

The effect of semantic inconsistency on performance of an auditory sentence grammaticality judgement task was investigated with 69 school-age children with and without language-learning disabilities (LD). Children judged the grammatical correctness of semantically consistent sentences; for example, She had lovely catlike eyes and * The catlike wouldn’t stop purring (where * indicates an ungrammatical sentence). They also judged the correctness of semantically inconsistent sentences; for example, The catlike corn wasn’t picked and * They flew through the catlike. Children with and without LD showed high accuracy in correctly identifying grammatically correct sentences that were semantically consistent, but showed substantially lower accuracy in identifying sentences as grammatical when they were semantically inconsistent. Although semantic inconsistency affected identification of ungrammatical sentences for each group, the effect was significantly greater for LD children than for their typically-developing (TD) peers. In identifying both grammatical and ungrammatical sentences, the LD children’s performance was similar to a group of younger, typically-developing children with comparable language skills (i.e., children matched for raw score on a test of language abilities). The finding that children’s task performance can be affected by competing linguistic demands within the task is interpreted within a limited capacity, interactionist perspective of language impairment.
Validating the revised Test of Spoken English against a criterion of communicative success
Authors: Powers Donald E. , Schedl Mary A. , Leung Susan Wilson , Butler Frances A.
Published: August 2007

A communicative competence orientation was taken to study the validity of test-score inferences derived from the revised Test of Spoken English (TSE). To implement the approach, a sample of undergraduate students, primarily native speakers of English, provided a variety of reactions to, and judgements of, the test responses of a sample of TSE examinees. The TSE scores of these examinees, previously determined by official TSE raters, spanned the full range of TSE score levels. Undergraduate students were selected as ‘evaluators’ because they, more than most other groups, are likely to interact with TSE examinees, many of whom become teaching assistants.

Student evaluations were captured by devising and administering a secondary listening test (SLT) to assess students’ understanding of TSE examinees’ speech, as represented by their taped responses to tasks on the TSE. The objective was to determine the degree to which official TSE scores are predictive of listeners’ ability to understand the messages conveyed by TSE examinees. Analyses revealed a strong association between TSE score levels and the judgements, reactions and understanding of listeners. This finding applied to all TSE tasks and to nearly all of the several different kinds of evaluations made by listeners. Along with other information, the evidence gathered here should help the TSE program meet professional standards for test validation. The procedures may also prove useful in future test-development efforts as a way of determining the difficulty of speaking tasks (and possibly writing tasks).
The test-takers' choice: an investigation of the effect of topic on language-test performance
Authors: Jennings Martha , Fox Janna , Graves Barbara , Shohamy Elana
Published: August 2007

A fundamental issue in validating topic-based tests of language proficiency is the effect of the topic on the test takers’ performance. Topic-based test developers must ensure that test takers are neither advantaged nor disadvantaged in terms of their test results when presented with a given test topic. We have termed this threat a ‘topic effect’ and argue that this topic effect may constitute a source of construct-irrelevant variance (Messick, 1989). We contend that investigating the possibility of a topic effect is a critical step in establishing the validity of all topic-based tests. This research investigates the potential presence of a topic effect for the Canadian Academic English Language (CAEL) Assessment using the mechanism of choice. The principal research question is to determine if test-takers given a choice of topic perform significantly differently than test-takers not given a choice. ESL university applicants ( n = 254) were randomly assigned to one of two conditions: no choice of topic or choice among five topics. Overall Proficiency Level, Reading, Lecture and Essay scores were compared for the two conditions. Ordinal level data were analysed using the Mann Whitney U, Chi-Square and Kolmogorov-Smirnov tests. While the scores for the choice groups were usually higher than the scores for the no-choice groups, the differences were not statistically significant. Despite the lack of significance, we felt that the scores warranted closer examination. For the topic where the difference between the choice and no-choice groups was largest, a textual analysis of the essays was undertaken to look for instances of the use of information not provided in the test. Again, no difference was found between the choice and no-choice groups. The results provide support for the validity of inferences drawn from this test. Because choice is an essential element of the research design, a second focus of the study is to explore the advantages and disadvantages of the use of choice in language testing settings from the perspective of both the tester and the test-taker. The potential value of choice as a testing feature is discussed and a call for further research is made.