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This study investigated the appropriateness of Item Response Theory (IRT) models to analyze language test data. In a university second language institute, results of typical versions of tests of French as a Second Language (n=831 examinees) and of English as a Second Language (n=617 examinees) were subjected to non-linear factor analysis in dimensionality assessment, as a first step in selecting an appropriate IRT model for data sets from students with differing language learning backgrounds. The tests, similar in design and purpose, each included a reading comprehension, listening comprehension, and cloze portion. Examinees were native speakers of one of the two languages tested, but were heterogeneous with respect to their language backgrounds (immersion programs, regular high school programs bilingual families, frequent contact with native speakers). No systematic relationship was found between item performance and strategies hypothesized to characterize each of the two examinee groups, but it is suggested that certain response patterns in the cloze portion of the test merit further investigation. (Author/MSE)

1Boy Crusoe

By Allan Eric

Also published as" A Yankee Crusoe" . A 15 year old hard working and studious farm boy finds the lure of adventure on the seas as a merchant seaman more than he can resist. This is his story. " I was born in a little town in the State of Maine, near the close of the Civil War. My boyhood life did not differ materially from that of the average farmer's son in the remote country districts of New England--except, perhaps, that I read more and thought more. Hard work on the rugged soil, two terms each year in the little yellow country schoolhouse, a day's fishing now and then filled the early years of my life full to over-flowing. " What he gets is enough excitement and adventure to overflow his wildest dreams. How he experiences disaster and uses his wits and knowledge to overcome every problem makes for a great read. - Summary by Phil Chenevert