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Since the launch of ChatGPT it is strongly discussed in the media how artificial intelligence (AI) will impact on societies. In this context, it is of importance to understand how people think about AI and to assess their attitudes. Several questionnaires already exist to assess individual differences in attitudes toward AI. With this research single items to assess such atttitudes should be established to allow brief screenings of attitudes toward AI.

Discussed are problems to consider and possible techniques to use in assessing the English speaking skills of bilingual children. Reviewed is literature on the reasons for differences in ease of acquisition of English speaking skills among bilingual children (such as personality variables) and on inadequacies of existing language assessment instruments. Six means of assessing English speaking skills among nonnatives (such as the Bilingual Syntax Measure) are described briefly, and four suggestions for assessment (such as use of an eclectic approach) are offered. (LS)

A study examined the effects of a college business/professional speaking course on the communication skills' development of students. The research examined three hypotheses: (1) that student ratings of their own communication skills would show a significant improvement after a 16-week course on business and professional speaking; (2) that males and females would not show a significant difference in their appraisal of their communication skills following the course; and (3) that undergraduate and graduate students would not show significant differences in their appraisal of their communication skills following the course. The study substantiated the first hypothesis but not the second or third. With regard to the first hypothesis, it was observed that when students viewed a videotape of their performance and then discussed it with a teacher their performance skills improved. With regard to the second hypothesis, male students did not report a significant improvement in their skills, while female students did. There are some indications that males are more developed in terms of their public speaking skills; if these indications are accurate, they could explain why males did not experience the degree of improvement that females did. With regard to the third hypothesis, graduate students did not report the degree of improvement that undergraduates did. These results could be explained by the fact that graduate students have more professional experience and educational background. (TB)

A study examined the effects of a college business/professional speaking course on the communication skills' development of students. The research examined three hypotheses: (1) that student ratings of their own communication skills would show a significant improvement after a 16-week course on business and professional speaking; (2) that males and females would not show a significant difference in their appraisal of their communication skills following the course; and (3) that undergraduate and graduate students would not show significant differences in their appraisal of their communication skills following the course. The study substantiated the first hypothesis but not the second or third. With regard to the first hypothesis, it was observed that when students viewed a videotape of their performance and then discussed it with a teacher their performance skills improved. With regard to the second hypothesis, male students did not report a significant improvement in their skills, while female students did. There are some indications that males are more developed in terms of their public speaking skills; if these indications are accurate, they could explain why males did not experience the degree of improvement that females did. With regard to the third hypothesis, graduate students did not report the degree of improvement that undergraduates did. These results could be explained by the fact that graduate students have more professional experience and educational background. (TB)

In order to assess the feasibility of alternative methods for determining the cognitive development of bilingual or non-English speaking children from a disparate cultural background, 28 Seminole Indian children from two Head Start centers were administered a series of intelligence tests, some based on verbal ability, some not. The tests used were (1) the Ravens Colored Matrices, (2) three Piagetian measures designed to assess the child's stage of concrete operations, (3) two measures of classificatory behavior (class inclusion and object sorting), and (4) the Stanford-Binet. The Ravens test purports to assess a person's present capacity for intellectual activity and has a minumum of verbal requirements. This test showed the least deficit for the Indian children and was a good predictor of the child's functioning on other tasks. The Stanford-Binet showed the children to be very deficient in intellectual ability. The children did poorly on the Piagetian measures, considerably below normative levels. On the sorting tasks, the Indian children scored below urban Negro children who had taken the same test. An appendix containing task descriptions follows this report. (WD)

Self-efficacy is a vital determinant of students’ future accomplishments or setbacks and has been recognized as a significant influencer of their motivation to learn, intimately linked with academic achievement. Nonetheless, English learners often grapple with a lack of self-efficacy in their speaking skills. In order to investigate the current state of undergraduate translation students’ English speaking self-efficacy, a quantitative research design, coupled with a survey strategy, was employed. This investigation involved data gathered from 163 undergraduate translation students across three universities located in Guangxi, China. The findings reveal that translation-major undergraduates possess a moderate level of English speaking self-efficacy. Intriguingly, there were no noticeable differences in speaking self-efficacy and its three dimensions based on the academic year, indicating consistency in speaking self-efficacy across different academic levels. The gender-based comparison also yielded interesting results. There was no significant disparity in English speaking self-efficacy between male and female students. However, when it came to self-regulated self-efficacy—a crucial aspect of autonomous learning—female students significantly outperformed their male counterparts. Drawing from these research outcomes, this paper proposes targeted recommendations to enhance English speaking self-efficacy among undergraduate translation students.

Focusing on the problems of assessing the speaking skills of secondary school students, this paper provides one example of how those problems were addressed in the Massachusetts speaking assessment. The paper identifies four requirements for measures of speaking skills: (1) feasibility, (2) reliability, (3) validity, and (4) freedom from bias. The discussion of these requirements is followed by a general discussion of issues related to developing measures of speaking skills. The paper concludes with a description of the Massachusetts speaking assessment and with data on the reliability, validity, and bias of the assessment instruments. (Author/FL) Primary type of information provided by report: Procedures (Theoretical).

As more and more international students begin attending universities in the United States, the nature of teaching is changing. It is within this change that sojourners experience the "double whammy of intercultural adaptation." International students must learn to deal with and adjust to a completely new cultural and educational environment in which language barriers, everyday experiences, relationships with professors and peers, and a different time schedule are problems for their cultural adjustment. An exploratory study gathered data by interviewing three communication department faculty members with experience teaching international students to uncover the specific behaviors that reflect the process of adaptation and unveil potential ethical dilemmas in assessment. Questions dealt with who is responsible for intercultural adaptation; how instructors define ethics in relation to teaching; and what some of the ethical considerations are in assessing international students. All participants took a middle-of-the-road perspective, agreeing that intercultural adaptation is "everyone's" responsibility and that ethics is situational and negotiated. However, they differed in their practical day-to-day operational strategies to assist students. This preliminary study provides a space to open dialogue as to how communication faculty approach ethics, intercultural adaptation in the classroom, and the dilemmas that may surface in assessment. (Contains 18 references.) (NKA)

As more and more international students begin attending universities in the United States, the nature of teaching is changing. It is within this change that sojourners experience the "double whammy of intercultural adaptation." International students must learn to deal with and adjust to a completely new cultural and educational environment in which language barriers, everyday experiences, relationships with professors and peers, and a different time schedule are problems for their cultural adjustment. An exploratory study gathered data by interviewing three communication department faculty members with experience teaching international students to uncover the specific behaviors that reflect the process of adaptation and unveil potential ethical dilemmas in assessment. Questions dealt with who is responsible for intercultural adaptation; how instructors define ethics in relation to teaching; and what some of the ethical considerations are in assessing international students. All participants took a middle-of-the-road perspective, agreeing that intercultural adaptation is "everyone's" responsibility and that ethics is situational and negotiated. However, they differed in their practical day-to-day operational strategies to assist students. This preliminary study provides a space to open dialogue as to how communication faculty approach ethics, intercultural adaptation in the classroom, and the dilemmas that may surface in assessment. (Contains 18 references.) (NKA)

This collection contains four papers that were presented as part of a short course delivered at the 1991 annual meeting of the Speech Communication Association. The papers discuss various aspects of the development and use of "The Competent Speaker," a public speaking assessment instrument designed for the college sophomore level. The papers and their authors are as follows: "'The Competent Speaker' Assessment Instrument: Its Nature and Rationale" (Michael R. Moore and Conrad C. Awtry); "The Competent Speaker Assessment Instrument: Uses and Logistics for Administration" (Sherwyn P. Morreale and K. Phillip Taylor); "The Competent Speaker Speech Performance Evaluation: A Rasch Analysis" (Donna Surges Tatum); and "'The Competent Speaker': Development, Reliability, and Validity of a Communication-Competency Based Speech Evaluation Form" (Donald D. Morley and others). (SR)

Twenty-five English speaking and twenty-five non-English speaking Canadian children equated on sex and chronological age were given the Ontario School Ability (OSA) test and the performance section of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC). The pilot study was conducted to compare the ability of the two tests to assess the intelligence level of English speaking and non-English speaking children. The Ontario test had been developed originally to decide the eligibility of candidates for admission to the Ontario School for Deaf. Both groups scored higher on the OSA than on WISC. Results showed that the two tests do not tap the same areas of intelligence; therefore, scores on these tests should not be used interchangeably. The age and background of each child should be taken into consideration along with test results. Because results of this pilot study were inconclusive, additional research with a larger group of children is recommended. (MS)

Many educational institutions are currently attempting to improve their attention to speaking and listening in curriculum and instruction, and this guide is intended to assist educators to become more knowledgeable about tools for assessing speaking and listening. Designed for those somewhat knowledgeable in the areas of assessment and language arts instruction, the guide has three major sections. The first section, a short discussion of assessing speaking and listening, includes information about definitions, taxonomies of skills, issues in validity and reliability, the current state-of-the-art in assessing speaking and listening, and what to consider when selecting an assessment tool. The second section contains descriptions and reviews of assessment tools, providing longer reviews for instruments that are readily accessible, that measure some aspect of "communication competence," and that have some technical information available. These longer reviews are evaluative and include descriptions of the purpose(s) the author sees for the assessment instrument; content (tasks, response modes, and scoring procedures); reliability; validity studies; amount of help with interpretation and use; and source. The second section also presents short reviews of research instruments, achievement test series, instruments developed by educational agencies and instruments lacking technical investigation. The final section lists additional resources available to the user such as print resources and professional organizations. The guide also includes a summary table of all instruments reviewed, a 64-item bibliography, a glossary, and an index so that instruments can be easily located. (SR)

Regarding the fundamental role of speaking in language skills, this study intended to investigate the effects of speaking portfolio as an alternative form of assessment for assessing Iranian EFL learners' speaking ability at the intermediate and advanced proficiency levels and also its impact on their attitudes. Accordingly, from the population of 72 students studying at Kowsar Language Institute in Esfahan, a sample of 64 male and female intermediate and advanced students were randomly selected based on their scores on an OPT test and they were assigned to 4 groups: intermediate and advanced experimental groups and intermediate and advanced control groups. In order to collect the data, a pretest and a posttest as well as a questionnaire were employed. To analyze the data, an ANOVA and a series of Chi-square were run in the study and the findings indicated that the experimental groups using speaking portfolios performed better than the control groups in terms of speaking ability. Moreover, the result shed light on the advantages of speaking portfolios such as self-assessment, peer-feedback, and improvement of speaking skill. This study provides instructors, administrators, and test developers with alternative ways to improve and assess speaking skill through speaking portfolios.

This paper describes a comprehensive assessment program utilized in the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs' basic public speaking course, The Speech and Thought Curriculum. The paper begins with a description of the theoretical underpinnings of the course and its approach to assessment. Next, the paper outlines the competency objectives (subsuming cognition, behaviors, affect, and ethics) incorporated in the course. Then the paper describes the course's process for pre- and post-assessment interviews, along with the competency-based approach to evaluating classroom speaking performances. The paper concludes with a discussion of future directions for assessment in the course. (Three tables of data are included; 25 references, the competent speaker speech performance evaluation form, and the syllabus are attached.) (Author/RS)

Intended for administrators and policymakers as well as teachers, this digest explores methods of listening and speaking skills assessment. The digest first provides a rationale for teaching and assessing listening and speaking skills. It then examines definitions of oral communication and listening, noting (1) the trend toward defining oral communication by setting, by purpose, or in terms of basic competencies; and (2) an expanded definition of listening that includes critical and nonverbal listening skills. Next, the digest discusses how speaking skills are assessed, explaining observational and structured approaches and their respective rating systems, and touching on the effects of rater reliability. The digest also discusses how listening skills are assessed, expanding on the three important elements in all listening tests: the listening stimuli, the questions used, and the test environment. Finally, the digest explores how assessment instruments should be selected or designed, noting that selection depends upon the purpose for the assessment, and providing guidelines for various purposes. (HTH)

Prepared as part of a series applying recent research in oral and written communication to classroom practice, this booklet reviews a number of concepts and issues important to communication assessment. The first section of the booklet discusses several issues related to assessing communication at both district and classroom levels. Issues discussed include the availability of assessment instruments, conflicts in definitions, concerns about curriculum, demands placed on teacher time, and mismatches between classroom instruction and standardized tests. The second section answers a number of questions teachers ask before they decide how they will assess student progress, while the third briefly discusses several factors that play an important role in the student-teacher relationship. The fourth examines the role of assessment in developing communication competence and reviews assessment techniques. Writing assessment methods covered include holistic scoring, analytical scoring, T-unit analysis. primary trait scoring, and informal assessment. A copy of a teacher-made rating scale for assessing oral communication is also presented. Examples of student work are included throughout the booklet. (FL)

This study examines the outcomes of having recourse to listening skills as support to improve oral skills in English language teaching. In this context, data from 120 students at a specific higher education institution was analyzed; 60 of whom were provided with totally listening-focused instruction and activities, while a separate group of 60 students receiving normal institutional English teaching. A comparative analysis of pre- and post-test rubric labels and scores indicated a close link between listening proficiency and a slight improvement in functional and interactive oral sub-skills. The results of this study have implications for defining the foundations of future research in English teaching methodologies and strategies, and the second language assessment process for speaking and listening skills.

This project was designed to try to investigate the difficulties EFL learners would have in learning to use hedging as a rhetorical device in academic writing. The participants were 136 native Cantonese-speaking EFL students who enrolled in the one-year course "English for Academic Purposes" offered by a language centre at a university in Hong Kong. Specifically, this paper aimed: 1) to examine whether there was a significant increase in the number of hedges used in the discussion essays written by students at the beginning of a one-year EAP course (the control group) and at mid-course (the experimental group), and 2) to determine whether, in a specific context, the subjects' use of hedges was appropriate. The measurements for the first purpose included a ranking of hedges. Such a ranking, admittedly being arbitrary, was modified from Halliday's (1994) ranking of modal verbs. The measurements for the second purpose entailed frequency counts of hedging errors. It was found that there were not significant differences across the two groups in the types of hedges and in the total number of hedging errors, although a significantly greater degree of hedging was found in the essays written by the experimental group. Both groups of subjects mainly used may to mitigate tone; they also used will copiously, seemingly unaware of the absolute certainty this modal denotes. On the contrary, the use of nouns to show possibility was relatively rare. The excessive use of the simple present tense and the use of "will" constituted the common types of hedging errors. The conditional use of would and the use of could to provide options appeared to confuse most students. [This article was published in "European Journal of Business and Social Sciences" v3 n8 p104-120 Nov 2014.]

The goal of this scoping review is to assess the current literature on the use of the Likert scale in non-English speaking communities.

Parent involvement in schools is often developed through one-way, deficit-oriented relationships, where information flows from schools "to" families and parents are perceived to lack some capacity or knowledge. However, little is known about the conditions facing Spanish-speaking families at Spanish language immersion schools, which presumably might employ fewer deficit perspectives due to the language and culture focus of their educational model. In turn, this study asked: How does school climate discourse shape Spanish-speaking parents' abilities to engage at a Spanish immersion elementary school (SIES)? Do parents enact relational power at SIES, and if so, how? Data analysis centered on school climate surveys completed by 19 Spanish-speaking mothers. Framed by Ecologies of Parental Engagement (EPE) and Foucault's concepts of power, the study ultimately examined not only parent perceptions, but also the research project and its own deficit-driven norms. Findings include: While parents reported trusting the school and teachers, many felt discouraged in SIES's climate. Some blamed their level of involvement on their own (lack of) language or ability. Analyses also explore how the language immersion school and design of the research project--despite good intentions--were not bridging the gap between hegemonic English speaking society and Spanish-speaking families. The discussion then considers the implications for school climate, parent engagement policies, and research at diverse multilingual schools.

Parent involvement in schools is often developed through one-way, deficit-oriented relationships, where information flows from schools "to" families and parents are perceived to lack some capacity or knowledge. However, little is known about the conditions facing Spanish-speaking families at Spanish language immersion schools, which presumably might employ fewer deficit perspectives due to the language and culture focus of their educational model. In turn, this study asked: How does school climate discourse shape Spanish-speaking parents' abilities to engage at a Spanish immersion elementary school (SIES)? Do parents enact relational power at SIES, and if so, how? Data analysis centered on school climate surveys completed by 19 Spanish-speaking mothers. Framed by Ecologies of Parental Engagement (EPE) and Foucault's concepts of power, the study ultimately examined not only parent perceptions, but also the research project and its own deficit-driven norms. Findings include: While parents reported trusting the school and teachers, many felt discouraged in SIES's climate. Some blamed their level of involvement on their own (lack of) language or ability. Analyses also explore how the language immersion school and design of the research project--despite good intentions--were not bridging the gap between hegemonic English speaking society and Spanish-speaking families. The discussion then considers the implications for school climate, parent engagement policies, and research at diverse multilingual schools.

Parent involvement in schools is often developed through one-way, deficit-oriented relationships, where information flows from schools "to" families and parents are perceived to lack some capacity or knowledge. However, little is known about the conditions facing Spanish-speaking families at Spanish language immersion schools, which presumably might employ fewer deficit perspectives due to the language and culture focus of their educational model. In turn, this study asked: How does school climate discourse shape Spanish-speaking parents' abilities to engage at a Spanish immersion elementary school (SIES)? Do parents enact relational power at SIES, and if so, how? Data analysis centered on school climate surveys completed by 19 Spanish-speaking mothers. Framed by Ecologies of Parental Engagement (EPE) and Foucault's concepts of power, the study ultimately examined not only parent perceptions, but also the research project and its own deficit-driven norms. Findings include: While parents reported trusting the school and teachers, many felt discouraged in SIES's climate. Some blamed their level of involvement on their own (lack of) language or ability. Analyses also explore how the language immersion school and design of the research project--despite good intentions--were not bridging the gap between hegemonic English speaking society and Spanish-speaking families. The discussion then considers the implications for school climate, parent engagement policies, and research at diverse multilingual schools.

This report provides suggestions on how a language arts speaking skills assessment program could be structured to ensure that school districts meet the Common Curriculum Goals of the public elementary and secondary schools in Oregon. This report includes: (1) a list of common curriculum goals that relate to speaking; (2) general implications for assessment; (3) criteria for differentiating among insufficient, acceptable, and ideal assessment practices at the classroom and district levels; (4) a bibliography of speaking assessment sources; and (5) sample speaking assessment tools and procedures. (RS)

A large body of research shows the enormous impact of happy relationships on psychological and physical well-being. On an international scale, it is important to have reliable, valid, and comparable measures across different cultural settings and languages. The Perceived Relationship Quality Components Inventory (PRQC; Fletcher et al., 2000) and the Couples Satisfaction Index (CSI; Funk & Rogge, 2007) are widely used measures of relationship satisfaction and quality in the English-speaking world. Although these measures have been in use for years, there are still no psychometrically evaluated German translations for both these instruments. Therefore, this study aims at psychometrically evaluating the German translations of the PRQC and the CSI in the three German-speaking countries Switzerland, Austria, and Germany. For this purpose, 800 participants will be recruited from the three countries using an online survey. In a second wave, with a delay of 8 weeks, participants will be contacted again. At the end of this second wave, they will receive their scores and a brief explanation on each questionnaire online if they wish. Participants will not receive any other incentives for participation. In two separate publications (see studies 1 and 2 below), analyses will focus on the validity and reliability of each of the German translations. Furthermore, we will investigate whether the original factor structure of the questionnaires is confirmed, and the performance of the German translation of the CSI at item level will be tested with an IRT analysis.