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Criterion-Referenced Test: A test in Which the performance of an individual is measured not with relation to eeneral norms or scores of other students but with relation to criteria that have been es-tablishęd for a particular unit of learning. Cue: A śtimuluś, (gesture, picture, word, utterance) given to elicit an ora!, written, or physicaTresponse.

Cut-Off Score: The established score level that represents the minima! aptitude or proficiericy rangę deemed essential for admiśsion tó or succęss in a program, ad-vanćement to a higherJeyel, certification, etc.

Deyiation: The amount by which a score diffefs from a pre-established reference point; e.g., the mean, thę norm,.or anoth-er test.

Diagnostic Test: A test used to determine the naturę of a student's strengths, weak-nesses, or problems.    -    ' -

Discrete Items: Test items that measure knowledge of single elemęnts of lan-guage.

Discrete-Ppint Testing; Testing' of single . (discrete) elemehtś of Ianguage as. op-posed to the measurement of integrated skills.    ...    ' >    .

Discriminatiom-The ability of a test item tp sep.arate good students from poor ones in.a particular aspećt of the. foreign lan-guage:    '

Distraćtor;^;An incorrect or unsuitable but .seemingly plausible response-in a m.ulti-ple-choi'ce item intended to attract students whó do not kriow the right anśwer. Bnvirónnient:. The siirrounding śounds, _syllables, or words of any element of lan-guage,-    '

Face Validity: The extent to which a test appearś (6n the face of it) to' measure. what it claims-to measure, .■    • • '    -•

Factor Ąnalysis: A method of studying in-tercorrelafions,among a set óf‘tests or variables. and of accountingfor their inter-correlations in terms of underlying com-

program or in'a certair. !evęŁof a program. Power Test: A test that measures the level of performance of a student. Speed óf response is net a factor; thę examihee is giv-en ample time to. compiete the test.

Predictive Validity': The correlation be-tween scores óbfained ón art-aptitude test (or other such measure) and thóse ob-tained by thę same students ąfter haying cpmpletęd a certair. amount’of' work in . the foreign. Ianguage.

Proficiency Test: A test that measures -ohe's. knowledge and/or ability in a for-eign Ianguage withouf regard- to forma: study ortext used.

Progress’ Test: A test that measures the extent to which a sttident has learned the materiał taught in a cłass or Ianguage lab-orąfóry from.a given point iń -time. to a later one.

Pure Test: A test that measures only the element or skill being tested without the use of another skili.

Rangę of Scores: The differer.ee between the. lewest and highęst scores on a test.

Achievement Test:^-A test that'measures ■ how much of thę .foreign ianguage or cul-t-ure taught"during a given period has ' been learned by the student.

Aptitude Test: A.test that predicts a studentką'success. in foreign-iar.guage study and thę probable time he will heed to ac-quire śome particular knowledge or skili.

. Battery: A group- of tesfś of different lin-■—guistic skills ^_or knowledge administered at the same time to individuals or groups of students.^-; - • '

Biaś: The subjectivity_ shown in scores given by different examiners on orał or written tests of "free" production. Bi-Serial Correlation: The relationship between the student's correct or incorrect response to a test item and his 'score on the test.as a-wriole.-A high correlation in-dicates that an.itęm is reiiable, sińce a student who responds correctly to it also ' do.es we!! on the test as .a whole. .    '

. Concurrent Validity: The extent to which scores on a new-tęśt correspond to scores cbtajnefl iń .other previously -validated measures óf the same skills. .

Construct Validity:' The exterit to whićh the' factors (competenćes, skills) a test is supposed. to measure actually are mea- ' suręd, and other factors are hot.

Content Validify: The extent'fo which the eon tent of the test or a portion .of the coprse represents the content of the entire'. coiirse.    -    '

Continuum: A- coherent whole seen as a progression of eleirients that. change thęir' value only by minutę degrees.

Conyerted Score:. A score .o-btained by precise manipulation. or ..modifićątion of ; the driginal raw score; e.g., a peręentage ■score or a standard score..

Correctipn for' Guessińg:< A reduction in score for incorrect ans wers attributed to a student's random guessing.

Correlation; A relationship between two scores, two tests, two abilities, ór two yariables.    •

. Median: The midpóinf of a series of scores: there are as many scores above as below that score.

Modę: The score that dcćiirś most frę-ąueńtly ina'distribution.

Multiplę-Chóiće Item: A test item that consists of a stem followed by a number of responses (usuąlly. two to five) only one of which is usuaily correct.

Ńormal Curve or Ńormal Distribution Curve: A distribution of scores that in graphic'form is shaped like a beli. (The bulge at the cente.r_coincides-with thę. scores receiyed by most students, The ends of the' beli coincide with the smali number of cases that-are considerably higher or lower than the average.)

Norms: Statistics based on a large number' of test scores madę by varióus groups of students, against which. indmdual test. scores can later be compared..

Objectiye Test; A test in which the re-sporrses can be scoręd as right or wrórig with ho Subjective element to cause varia-tioń among the. scorers. Multiple-choice tests are thę cpmmonest typę of objective

ponents, such as memory,. ve.rb; ior, reasoning, etc. ' ■ Freąuency Distribution: A tabu scores from high to .Iow or Iow shówing the number of ind;vidi obtained the same. score or fell w same -score inter/al.

Grid:. A frame of spaced parailel spirals on which data related to tion can be marked.

. Irifegrative Testing: Testing two (often a number of) points togetb Internał Consistency: The degre mógeneity of items in a test,.śo: used in estimatin-g the reliability c

Internąl Consistency Reliability merical i.ndex obtained from st data on individual items in a test the- correlation between-^- scores ha!ves of.a test.

Intęrpolation: The process of es: iritermediąte values between twi lished.points,

Inter-Ratęr. Reliability: The cón. with. which two or morę raters ■ same score to the same student's -mańce in an orał or written test.

Item Ańalysisftoóking at the res • test.in. terms of-item difficulty a: /discriminatiori—i.e., to see tó wh« any.:single item contributes to th mation proyided on the test as a ’ Item Reliability: A statisfic int how neafly an item divides a g students" into two..halves and hc . performance correlates with total I furmance. y ■ ■

Mean (Arithmetic)': The average s 'a test, obtained by dmdińg the su the scores by the number of sc.ore

Meąsures of'Central Tendency: M "that providę a single typical score resent a group of scores, usuall typę of "average." Three meas central tendency are the mean, the and the modę.

whiefi test performanceś are ęyalii; ther by the same person on.differei śioris ór by different people. Alsć rater reliability,

Śkewhess: Tfie tendency of a distr of test grades tó depart from thę sy ric beil-Iike curye around thę mear

Standard Deyiation: (1) A measure tance ąway from the mean of a grades. The greater the number of that cluster around the mean, the s the standard deyiation; (2) An ave: the degree to which a group of sco: yiafes from the mean. Standardized Test: A test that ha: experimentally evaluated and foum and reiiable.

Subjective Test;. Ą test in which t aminee answers some or aii of the in his own words, so that the scorii have tó be dóne on an individual b Task-Qriented: A descriptión of lei actiyitięs centęred around a tas; the student is asked to do to demor his Comiriunięątiye control of the f Ianguage,