SIL International Publications

Sentence Repetition Testing for Studies of Community Bilingualism

Author(s):
Radloff, Carla F
Description: 

Sentence repetition testing (SRT) is a methodology for investigating patterns of community-wide bilingualism. It is a screening device for testing for bilingualism in an entire community, and it is a valid test for second-language proficiency. High correlations have been found between the performance of second-language speakers on SRTs and descriptive estimations of second-language proficiency. These two methodologies give promise of being reliable in the assessment of language proficiency in low literacy rate contexts.

About the Author

Carla F. Radloff serves with SIL International in the West Asia as a language survey specialist and has conducted language surveys in Pakistan. She received a M.Sc. in Communicative Disorders from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1972..

Table of Contents: 

Foreword by Eugene H. Casad
Preface by John W. Oiler, Jr.
Acknowledgments

1. Introduction

1.1 The place of bilingualism testing in a sociolinguistic survey
1.2 Groundwork for second-language proficiency testing
1.3 Selection of the instrument
1.4 What is a sentence repetition test?
1.5 How does an SRT assess second-language proficiency?

2. Use in Bilingualism Surveys

2.1 Introduction
2.2 Defining the population
2.3 Sampling
2.4 Questionnaire
2.5 Administering the SRT
2.6 Scoring the test
2.7 Interpreting SRT scores

3. Test Development Methodology

3.0 Introduction
3.1 Step One: Sentence elicitation and selection—preliminary form
3.2 Step Two: Rating subjects
3.3 Step Three: Testing the preliminary form
3.4 Step Four: Shortening and calibrating
3.5 Step Five: Training the test administrators
3.6 Step Six: Using the SRT in the field
3.7 Summary of steps

4. Survey of the Literature

4.1 Investigations into sentence imitation
4.2 Second-language proficiency assessment in adults
4.3 Different aspects of the test methodology
4.4 Studies using sentence repetition in dialect testing
4.5 Summary

5. Studies in Reliability and Validity

5.1 Development of the Urdu SRT
5.2 Development of the Pashto SRT
5.3 Development of the revised Pashto SRT

5.4-5.7 Other issues
5.4 A screening test versus control testing
5.5 Effect of two presentations on test score
5.6 Interadministrator reliability
5.7 Comparison with recorded text test

6. The Reported Proficiency Evaluation

6.1 Introduction
6.2 Support from the literature
6.3 Methodology
6.4 RPE as an independent measure of second-language proficiency
6.5 Proficiency descriptions
6.6 RPE level descriptions

7. Conclusion and Call for Research

Appendix A. Figures and Statistics
Appendix B. Sample Score Sheet
Appendix C. Elaborated Transcriptions
Appendix D. Sample Discrimination Index and Difficulty Level
References

Series Volume: 
104
Issue Date: 
1991
Extent: 
xvi, 194 pages
ISBN 13: 
978-0883126677
Subject: 
Survey Report
Language Surveys
Bilingualism
ISBN 10: 
0883126672
Size: 
6 × 9 × 0.44 in
Weight: 
0.8 lb
Country: 
Pakistan
Content Language: