April Ginther
Biographic Data
| ID | 8903235 |
|---|---|
| NAME | April Ginther |
| GIVEN NAMES | April |
| FAMILY NAME | Ginther |
| SIGNATURE | GINTHER A |
| AFFILIATIONS | Purdue University, USA |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-0566-5477 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 12 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 0 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 12 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2000 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 0 |
Oller, John W., Jr.
The work of John Oller (1943– ) in the 1970s and 1980s contributed greatly to the emergence and recognition of language testing as a discipline within the field of applied linguistics.
Administration, labor, and love
Great opportunities for language testing practitioners are enabled through language program administration. Local language tests lend themselves to multiple purposes—for placement and diagnosis, as a means of tracking progress, and as a contribution to program evaluation and revision. Administrative choices, especially those involving a test, are strategic and can be used to transform a program’s identity and effectiveness over time
Local tests, local contexts
Aptis test review
Assessment of Speaking
Assessment of speaking requires that we either observe a “live” oral performance or capture the performance by some means for later evaluation. Capturing speaking performances in audio and video, once a considerable challenge, has become a relatively easy task due to technological advances. Language testers and applied linguists have offered cognitive, psycholinguistic, and sociocultural perspectives that provide strong practical and theoretical …
Factor analysis for fairness: Examining the impact of task type and examinee L1 background on scores of an ITA speaking test
This study investigated the construct validity of a local speaking test for international teaching assistants (ITAs) from a fairness perspective, by employing a multi-group confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to examine the impact of task type and examinee first language (L1) background on the internal structure of the test. The test consists of three types of integrated speaking tasks (i.e., text-speaking, graph-speaking, and listening-speaking) …
Interpreting the relationships between Toefl iBT scores and GPA: Language proficiency, policy, and profiles
This study examines the predictive validity of the TOEFL iBT with respect to academic achievement as measured by the first-year grade point average (GPA) of Chinese students at Purdue University, a large, public, Research I institution in Indiana, USA. Correlations between GPA, TOEFL iBT total and subsection scores were examined on 1990 mainland Chinese students enrolled across three academic years (N 2011 = 740, N 2012 = 554, N 2013 = 696). Subs…
Elicited imitation as a measure of second language proficiency: A narrative review and meta-analysis
Elicited imitation (EI) has been widely used to examine second language (L2) proficiency and development and was an especially popular method in the 1970s and early 1980s. However, as the field embraced more communicative approaches to both instruction and assessment, the use of EI diminished, and the construct-related validity of EI scores as a representation of language proficiency was called into question. Current uses of EI, while not discoun…
Assessment of Speaking
Speaking is seen by language testers as the most difficult of the four language skills to assess. Assessing speaking requires that we either observe a “live” oral performance or that we capture the performance by some means for evaluation at a later time. A method for elicitation must be selected, rating scales must be developed, and interviewers and/or raters must be trained. Therefore, understanding the assessment of speaking requires examinati…
Conceptual and empirical relationships between temporal measures of fluency and oral English proficiency with implications for automated scoring
Information provided by examination of the skills that underlie holistic scores can be used not only as supporting evidence for the validity of inferences associated with performance tests but also as a way to improve the scoring rubrics, descriptors, and benchmarks associated with scoring scales. As fluency is considered a critical, perhaps foundational, component of speaking proficiency, temporal measures of fluency are expected to be strongly …
Context and content visuals and performance on listening comprehension stimuli
The listening comprehension section of the TOEFL has traditionally involved audio presentations of language without accompanying visual stimuli. Now that TOEFL is computer based, listening comprehension items are being created that include both audio and visual information. A nested cross-over design (participants nested in proficiency, level and form) was used to examine the effects of visual condition (present or absent), type of stimuli (dialo…
Using Computer-Tagged Linguistic Features to Describe L2 Writing Differences
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Using Computer-Tagged Linguistic Features to Describe L2 Writing Differences
Context and content visuals and performance on listening comprehension stimuli
The listening comprehension section of the TOEFL has traditionally involved audio presentations of language without accompanying visual stimuli. Now that TOEFL is computer based, listening comprehension items are being created that include both audio and visual information. A nested cross-over design (participants nested in proficiency, level and form) was used to examine the effects of visual condition (present or absent), type of stimuli (dialo…
Conceptual and empirical relationships between temporal measures of fluency and oral English proficiency with implications for automated scoring
Information provided by examination of the skills that underlie holistic scores can be used not only as supporting evidence for the validity of inferences associated with performance tests but also as a way to improve the scoring rubrics, descriptors, and benchmarks associated with scoring scales. As fluency is considered a critical, perhaps foundational, component of speaking proficiency, temporal measures of fluency are expected to be strongly …
Assessment of Speaking
Speaking is seen by language testers as the most difficult of the four language skills to assess. Assessing speaking requires that we either observe a “live” oral performance or that we capture the performance by some means for evaluation at a later time. A method for elicitation must be selected, rating scales must be developed, and interviewers and/or raters must be trained. Therefore, understanding the assessment of speaking requires examinati…
Elicited imitation as a measure of second language proficiency: A narrative review and meta-analysis
Elicited imitation (EI) has been widely used to examine second language (L2) proficiency and development and was an especially popular method in the 1970s and early 1980s. However, as the field embraced more communicative approaches to both instruction and assessment, the use of EI diminished, and the construct-related validity of EI scores as a representation of language proficiency was called into question. Current uses of EI, while not discoun…
Interpreting the relationships between Toefl iBT scores and GPA: Language proficiency, policy, and profiles
This study examines the predictive validity of the TOEFL iBT with respect to academic achievement as measured by the first-year grade point average (GPA) of Chinese students at Purdue University, a large, public, Research I institution in Indiana, USA. Correlations between GPA, TOEFL iBT total and subsection scores were examined on 1990 mainland Chinese students enrolled across three academic years (N 2011 = 740, N 2012 = 554, N 2013 = 696). Subs…
Factor analysis for fairness: Examining the impact of task type and examinee L1 background on scores of an ITA speaking test
This study investigated the construct validity of a local speaking test for international teaching assistants (ITAs) from a fairness perspective, by employing a multi-group confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to examine the impact of task type and examinee first language (L1) background on the internal structure of the test. The test consists of three types of integrated speaking tasks (i.e., text-speaking, graph-speaking, and listening-speaking) …
Assessment of Speaking
Assessment of speaking requires that we either observe a “live” oral performance or capture the performance by some means for later evaluation. Capturing speaking performances in audio and video, once a considerable challenge, has become a relatively easy task due to technological advances. Language testers and applied linguists have offered cognitive, psycholinguistic, and sociocultural perspectives that provide strong practical and theoretical …
Local tests, local contexts
Aptis test review
Administration, labor, and love
Great opportunities for language testing practitioners are enabled through language program administration. Local language tests lend themselves to multiple purposes—for placement and diagnosis, as a means of tracking progress, and as a contribution to program evaluation and revision. Administrative choices, especially those involving a test, are strategic and can be used to transform a program’s identity and effectiveness over time
Oller, John W., Jr.
The work of John Oller (1943– ) in the 1970s and 1980s contributed greatly to the emergence and recognition of language testing as a discipline within the field of applied linguistics.
Psychology (9 works) · Linguistics (8 works) · Mathematics education (6 works) · Language proficiency (5 works) · Computer Science (4 works) · EFL/ESL Teaching and Learning (4 works) · Active listening (3 works) · Cognitive psychology (3 works) · Fluency (2 works) · Language assessment (2 works)