Research Summary Office of Research and Development RS-07, June 2002 SAT® II: Subject Tests in Foreign Languages— Using the Tests for Admission and Placement he SAT® II: Subject Tests in foreign languages Academic achievement across a broad range provide schools with the opportunity to of disciplines—rather than only one or two narrow Tassess their students’ ability to learn domains—is important in determining success in languages other than English in both everyday and college. As many students change their majors academic settings. The following languages are throughout their course of study, cross-discipline represented in the SAT II: Subject Test battery 1: knowledge can be important. Foreign language Chinese Korean skills, for example, can increase success in the French Latin international business field. The well-rounded, aca- German Modern Hebrew demically versatile student is an important asset to Italian Spanish a college as well as to the changing job market. Japanese As a placement tool, the SAT II: Subject Tests Some tests assess reading only (Italian, Latin, and in foreign languages serve the same function as the Modern Hebrew), others assess reading and SAT II: Subject Tests do in other academic areas listening (Chinese, Japanese, and Korean), while such as world history, chemistry, or math. Since others appear in both reading only and reading students are likely to have obtained an advanced and listening modes (French, German, and level of skill in a foreign language before attending Spanish). college, these tests provide a standardized and objective assessment of skill level independent of a Tw o Purposes for the Tests particular textbook or method of instruction, and As the SAT II: Subject Tests in foreign languages irrespective of the school that the student attend- were developed, two purposes were kept in mind: ed or that school’s grading standards. SAT II: (1) admission to institutions of higher education Subject Tests also provide college faculty with a and (2) student placement in college language superior placement tool without using faculty time courses. Foreign languages represent an important to develop, administer, or score the tests. academic domain in both higher education and K–12 education, and SAT II: Subject Tests are the Test Titles Are Selected on only national assessments available that can serve Academic Merit in both the admission and placement function. The test titles for the foreign language tests were As an admissions test, the SAT II: Subject selected on the basis of their ties to academic set- Tests in foreign languages allow students to tings. French, German, Latin, and Spanish are typi- demonstrate academic competence in the cally taught in the public high school, with selected language area. Most four-year colleges Japanese becoming a more frequent addition to and universities have specific academic course curricula. The SAT Program also recognizes that requirements for incoming freshmen in areas such academic settings extend beyond the public as math, language arts, science, or social studies, school classroom, and that students of Hebrew, and many institutions have similar requirements Chinese, and Korean, for example, exist in large for foreign languages. numbers in private and heritage schools. 1Administered with the SAT II: Subject Tests, the English Language Proficiency Test™ provides students for whom English is not their first language with the opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge of English. It is not, however, considered a foreign language test and will not be discussed here. Research Summary Classroom Teachers Determine focuses on events and topics in a thematic, philo- Test Content sophical, or critical nature, and formal rules of College faculty and secondary school teachers of speech are important to student success. each language oversee the development of the Everyday “street” language,2 on the other hand, is SAT II foreign language tests, and are selected to less concerned with formal speech patterns, and reflect an ethnic, gender, and geographic balance. communication about events and topics that the In addition, these teachers represent various sub- two speakers have in common is usually the specialties within the field. For example, some goal.3 Since high school classrooms are increas- may focus on innovative methods of teaching lis- ing the amount of instructional time devoted to tening skills while others may focus on the litera- everyday language, some parts of the test reflect ture of the relevant language. this kind of language; however, the majority of test These test development committees evaluate content is based on academic classroom language. test specifications, write many test questions, and Table 1 demonstrates the extent to which the approve individual questions and final versions of Spanish language test emphasizes the measure- the tests. Periodically, curriculum surveys are con- ment of academic language (learned in a school ducted with classroom teachers from across the setting) over the measurement of everyday lan- United States. The results from these surveys are guage (learned through exposure to language in used to update test specifications and to ensure the community or home). that tests are current with classroom practice. The SAT II: Subject Tests in foreign languages typically focus on the levels of Intermediate and Academic Target Populations Advanced language development as character- Determine Test Difficulty ized by the American Council of Teachers of The first task of a test development committee is Foreign Languages (ACTFL). Studies with the to determine the test’s target population, or the English Language Proficiency Test suggest that group for which the test is intended. Essentially, these levels are equivalent to the level of English the target populations for the SAT II: Subject Tests language development as demonstrated by in foreign languages are students who have studied native speakers in their freshman year of col- the language in high schools or equivalent academic lege.4 Using the Spanish language tests as an settings for two to four years. example, Table 2 demonstrates the percentage of At the beginning of the tests, a questionnaire each test that measures language development asks the academic background of the student. Only levels as characterized by ACTFL. students who fit the description of the target popula- tion are used to determine the difficulty and suitabili- ty of the test questions. Students who indicate that TABLE 1 they have learned the language at home or on APPROXIMATE PERCENT OF TEST extensive stays in foreign countries are excluded QUESTIONS INVOLVING EVERYDAY VS. when testing experts analyze the difficulty and reli- ACADEMIC LANGUAGE ability of the questions. Only students in the target groups are used when placing test scores on the Everyday Academic Test Title Language Language College Board 200 to 800 scale for score reporting. Spanish (reading only) 7% 93% Test Content Stresses Spanish with Listening 35% 65% Academic Achievement Everyday, or conversational, language is notably different from the language experience of the aca- demic classroom. Academic language frequently 2See Cummins, J. (1979). Cognitive/academic language proficiency, linguistic interdependence, the optimum age question and some other matters. Working Papers on Bilingualism, No. 19.Toronto: Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. 3A simplistic example is a response to the question “Who is it?” when knocking on a door.Academically, the correct response is ‘It is I.” Common street usage is “It’s me.” Either would be acceptable in an informal setting; only the first is acceptable in an academic setting. 4Unpublished summaries of data from two large southern colleges. 2 Research Summary It is also true that native speakers of a lan- TABLE 2 guage do not automatically receive excellent APPROXIMATE PERCENT OF TEST scores on the SAT II foreign language tests. MEASURING EACH ACTFL LEVEL Generally, students completing two or more years of a foreign language attain higher scores on SAT II Advanced foreign language tests than do students taking Test Title Intermediate Advanced Plus fewer courses. This relationship holds for stu- Spanish 37% 51% 12% dents who live in homes where that language is Spanish with spoken as well as students who study the lan- Listening 53% 42% 5% guage for the first time in high school. Because the tests emphasize academic language use and intermediate-to-advanced language development Assessing Students Who Are Native levels, students are required to have a better- Speakers of the Language than-street-level understanding of the language in Language is related to performance on virtually order to do well. any test. It is used to give test instructions and to The College Board recommends that colleges write real-world questions in all domains, not just contemplating the use of SAT II: Subject Tests in in English or foreign languages. Similarly, language foreign languages in an admission program is related to performance in school because consider: instruction in any discipline involves speech and • The emphasis on foreign language learning at writing. Students who are native speakers of the institution. English will generally do better on the SAT I: Verbal • The social implications of excluding foreign Test and the SAT II: Writing Subject Test than language from the list of academic subjects students for whom English is a second language. A allowed for admission. similar effect is often found on math or science • The usefulness of the tests for identifying stu- tests that contain longer passages. dents who might succeed in particular acad- Similarly, students who speak a foreign emic subjects (potentially subjects other language at home (with other native speakers) will than foreign languages). generally do better as a group on a test of that par- • The added value of the tests for placing stu- ticular language than will students for whom it is a dents in foreign language classes. second language. These native-speaking students will obviously have greater familiarity with some phrases and uses of the language than nonnative speakers.