This paper examines the concurrent validity of self-rating and interviewer rating of English as a second language proficiency for a stable population of rural Australian migrants. Ratings obtained for two versions of the Australian Second Language Proficiency Ratings Scale for the macroskills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing indicated that migrants tended to overestimate their proficiency with English. However, the strong correlations between their self-ratings and the interviewer ratings showed that self-rating technique is valid for the collection of large-scale research data.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Cohn, B.The effects of group counseling on school adjustment of underachieving junior high school boys who demonstrate acting out behavior. Bedford Hills, New York: Cooperative Research Project D040, 1962.
2.
Foreign Service Institute School of Languages . Absolute Language Proficiency Ratings (Mimeo). Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of State, 1968.
3.
Ingram, D. E.Introduction to the Australian Second Language Proficiency Ratings Scale (Mimeo). Brisbane, Australia: Mt. Gravatt College, February 1979.
4.
Ingram, D. E.Testing practical language skills . A paper presented to the 1981 FIPLV Congress on Second and Foreign Languages in Education, University of Ibadan, Nigeria, August 23-29, 1981.
5.
Shranger, J. S. and Osberg, T. M.The relative accuracy of self-prediction and judgments by others in psychological assessment. Psychological Bulletin, 1981, 90, 322-351.
