The challenge of validation: assessing the performance of a test of productive vocabulary

This paper assesses the performance of a vocabulary test designed to measure second language productive vocabulary knowledge.The test, Lex30, uses a word association task to elicit vocabulary, and uses word frequency data to measure the vocabulary produced. Here we report firstly on the reliability of the test as measured by a test-retest study, a parallel test forms experiment and an internal consistency measure. We then investigate the construct validity of the test by looking at changes in test performance over time, analyses of correlations with scores on similar tests, and comparison of spoken and written test performance. Last, we examine the theoretical bases of the two main test components: eliciting vocabulary and measuring vocabulary. Interpretations of our findings are discussed in the context of test validation research literature. We conclude that the findings reported here present a robust argument for the validity of the test as a research tool, and encourage further investigation of its validity in an instructional context

Precisão e complexidade gramatical na avaliação de proficiência oral em inglês do formando em Letras: implicações para a validação de um teste

Pós-graduação em Estudos Linguísticos - IBILCE

avaliação de proficiência

In this study we discuss the role of pronunciation in language testing and investigate two features of pronunciation of eight candidates of the Test of Oral Proficiency in English (TEPOLI) along four bands of the test scale. Deviations in vowel segments and in syllable structure are analyzed. The results point to the need for a global assessment of the candidates’ phonological systems

Impact of benign childhood epilepsy with centrotemporal spikes (BECTS) on school performance

BECTS represents the vast majority of childhood focal epilepsy. Owing to the age peculiarity of children who suffer from this disease, i.e., school-going age of between 6 and 9 years, the condition is often referred to as a school disorder by parents and teachers. Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the academic performance of children with BED'S, according to the clinical and electroencephalographic ILAE criteria, and compare the results of neuropsychological tests of language and attention to the frequency of epileptic discharges. Methods: The performances of 40 school children with BED'S were evaluated by applying a school performance test (SBT), neuropsychological tests (WISC and Trail-Making), and language tests (Illinois Test Psycholinguistic Abilities - ITPA - and Staggered Spondaic Word - SSW). The same tests were applied in the control group. Results: Children with BED'S, when compared to those in the control group, showed lower scores in academic performance (SPT), digits and similarities subtests of WISC, auditory processing subtest of SSW, and ITPA - representational and automatic level. The study showed that epileptic discharges did not influence the results. Conclusion: Children with BED'S scored significantly lower scores in tests on academic performance, when compared with those in the control group probably due to executive dysfunction. (C) 2011 British Epilepsy Association. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A systematic review of the animal and human literature on the use of vaccines to prevent dental caries

Streptococcus mutans has been identified as the primary etiological agent of human dental caries. Since its identification, there has been research focused on the development of a vaccine to prevent this disease. Preliminary research has been conducted to test both active and passive vaccines for Streptococcus mutans in animals and humans. Although a vaccine for dental caries caused by Streptococcus mutans would most likely be administered to children, no testing of any type of dental caries vaccines has been conducted on children as of yet. The public health imperative for the development of a vaccine is great. Not only will a vaccine reduce the various consequences, but it would also improve quality of life for many individuals. Among the many possible vaccine antigen candidates, researchers have also been focusing on protein antigens, GTFs, and Gbps as possible candidates for a vaccine. There are also many routes of administration under research, with topical, oral, and intranasal showing a lot of promise. This review will provide an overview on the current state of research, present key factors influencing prevalence of caries, and summarize and discuss the results of animal and human studies on caries vaccines against Streptococcus mutans. The progress and obstacles facing the development of a vaccine to fight dental caries will also be discussed. ^

Implementación de una arquitectura de componentes para un sistema de apoyo a la toma de decisiones en Atención Primaria

Este Proyecto Fin de Grado tiene como objetivo fundamental el perfeccionamiento y puesta en explotación de un sistema de ayuda a la decisión que evalúa el desarrollo del lenguaje en niños de 0 a 6 años de edad. Este sistema está formado fundamentalmente por una aplicación diseñada y construida mediante una arquitectura de componentes de software modular y reutilizable. La aplicación será usada por los pediatras para realizar evaluaciones del desarrollo del lenguaje infantil y además por los neuropediatras, logopedas y miembros de equipos de Atención Temprana para consultar las evaluaciones y validar las decisiones propuestas por el sistema. El sistema es accesible vía web y almacena toda la información que maneja en una base de datos. Asimismo, el sistema se apoya en un modelo conceptual u ontología desarrollado previamente para inferir las decisiones adecuadas para las evaluaciones del lenguaje. El sistema incorpora las funciones de gestión de los usuarios del mismo. ABSTRACT This Grade End Project has as fundamental objective the improvement and deployment of a decision support system for evaluating children language development from 0 to 6 years of age. This system is mainly formed by an application designed and built using a modular and reusable software component architecture. The application will be used by pediatricians for evaluating children´s speech development and also by neuro-pediatricians, speech therapists and early childhood intervention team members, for consulting previous evaluations and for validating system´s proposed decision. The system is web based and stores its information in a database. Likewise, the system is supported by a conceptual model or ontology previously developed to infer the appropriate decision for language evaluation. The system also includes user management functions.

Assessment of the EEE-4 oral test: a discourse analysis based on complex networks.

With the development of information technology, the theory and methodology of complex network has been introduced to the language research, which transforms the system of language in a complex networks composed of nodes and edges for the quantitative analysis about the language structure. The development of dependency grammar provides theoretical support for the construction of a treebank corpus, making possible a statistic analysis of complex networks. This paper introduces the theory and methodology of the complex network and builds dependency syntactic networks based on the treebank of speeches from the EEE-4 oral test. According to the analysis of the overall characteristics of the networks, including the number of edges, the number of the nodes, the average degree, the average path length, the network centrality and the degree distribution, it aims to find in the networks potential difference and similarity between various grades of speaking performance. Through clustering analysis, this research intends to prove the network parameters’ discriminating feature and provide potential reference for scoring speaking performance.

Item and task difficulty in a B2 reading examination: perceptions of test-takers and CEFR alignment experts compared with psychometric measurements

The article presents a study of a CEFR B2-level reading subtest that is part of the Slovenian national secondary school leaving examination in English as a foreign language, and compares the test-taker actual performance (objective difficulty) with the test-taker and expert perceptions of item difficulty (subjective difficulty). The study also analyses the test-takers’ comments on item difficulty obtained from a while-reading questionnaire. The results are discussed in the framework of the existing research in the fields of (the assessment of) reading comprehension, and are addressed with regard to their implications for item-writing, FL teaching and curriculum development.

Motivation and Vocabulary Breadth in CLIL and EFL Contexts. Different age, Same Time of Exposure

Numerous studies have found a positive connection between learners’ motivation towards foreign language and foreign language achievement. The present study examines the role of motivation in receptive vocabulary breadth (size) of two groups of Spanish learners of different ages, but all with 734 hours of instruction in English as a Foreign Language (EFL): a CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) group in primary education and a non-CLIL (or EFL) group in secondary education. Most students in both groups were found to be highly motivated. The primary CLIL group slightly overcame the secondary non-CLIL group with respect to the mean general motivation but this is a non-significant difference. The secondary group surpass significantly the primary group in receptive vocabulary size. No relationship between the receptive vocabulary knowledge and general motivation is found in the primary CLIL group. On the other hand, a positive significant connection, although a very small one, is identified for the secondary non-CLIL group. We will discuss on the type of test, the age of students and the type of instruction as variables that could be influencing the results.

Health Related Quality of Life Assessment questionnaire for children aged 5 to 11 years with HIV/AIDS: cross-cultural adaptation for the Portuguese language

The objective of this study is to describe preliminary results from the cross-cultural adaptation of the Quality of Life Assessment Questionnaire, used to measure health related quality of life (HRQL) in Brazilian children aged between 5 and 11 with HIV/AIDS. The cross-cultural model evaluated the Concept, Item, Semantic and Measurement Equivalences (internal consistency and intra-observer reliability). Evaluation of the conceptual, item, semantic equivalences showed that the Portuguese version is pertinent for the Brazilian context. Four of seven domains showed internal consistency above 0.70 (α: 0.76-0.90) and five of seven revealed intra-observer reliability (ricc: 0.41-0.70). This first Portuguese version of the HRQL questionnaire can be understood as a valuable tool for assessing children's HRQL, but further studies with large samples and more robust analyses are recommended before use in the Brazilian context.

Auditory lexical decisions in children with specific language impairment

This study examined spoken-word recognition in children with specific language impairment (SLI) and normally developing children matched separately for age and receptive language ability. Accuracy and reaction times on an auditory lexical decision task were compared. Children with SLI were less accurate than both control groups. Two subgroups of children with SLI, distinguished by performance accuracy only, were identified. One group performed within normal limits, while a second group was significantly less accurate. Children with SLI were not slower than the age-matched controls or language-matched controls. Further, the time taken to detect an auditory signal, make a decision, or initiate a verbal response did not account for the differences between the groups. The findings are interpreted as evidence for language-appropriate processing skills acting upon imprecise or underspecified stored representations.

Application of Real-Time PCR Stool Assay for Helicobacter pylori Detection and Clarithromycin Susceptibility Testing in Brazilian Children

Background: Helicobacter pylori ClariRes assay is a novel commercially available real-time PCR assay allowing H. pylori detection and clarithromycin susceptibility testing in either gastric biopsy or stool specimens. Objective: The aim of this study was to validate the novel biprobe real-time assay in stool specimens from 217 dyspeptic children. Methods: DNA from gastric biopsies and stool specimens were obtained and submitted to the biprobe real time assay for H. pylori detection and clarithromycin susceptibility testing. Results: The sensitivity, specificity, and test accuracy were 69, 100 and 93.9% for the detection of H. pylori infection and 83.3, 100 and 95.6%, for detection of clarithromycin resistance. Conclusion: This assay proved to be appropriate for H. pylori clarithromycin susceptibility testing, particularly in children populations where a high prevalence of clarithromycin-resistant strains is suspected.