Carol Lord

The Language Factor in Mathematics Tests

In this study we investigated the importance of language in student test performance on mathematics word problems. Students were given released items from the National Assessment of Educational Progress mathematics assessment, along with parallel items that were modified to reduce their linguistic complexity. In interviews, students typically preferred the revised items over the original counterparts. Paper-and-pencil tests containing original and revised items were administered to 1,174 8th grade students. Students who were English language learners (ELLs) scored lower on the math test than proficient speakers of English. There were also differences in math performance with respect to socioeconomic status (SES) but not gender. Linguistic modification of test items resulted in significant differences in math performance; scores on the linguistically modified version were slightly higher. Some student groups benefited more from the linguistic modification of items-in particular, students in low-level and average math classes, but also ELLs and low SES students.

Assessment Accommodations for English Language Learners: Implications for Policy-Based Empirical Research

Increased attention to large-scale assessments, the growing number of English language learners in schools, and recent inclusionary policies have collectively made assessment accommodations a hotly debated issue, especially regarding the validity of test results for English language learners. Decisions about which accommodations to use, for whom, and under what conditions, are based on limited empirical evidence for their effectiveness and validity. Given the potential consequences of test results, it is important that policy-makers and educators understand the empirical base underlying their use. This article reviews test accommodation strategies for English learners, derived from “scientifically based research.” The results caution against a one-size-fits-all approach. The more promising approaches include modified English and customized dictionaries, which can be used for all students, not just English language learners

Historical change in serial verb constructions

This work examines both historical and comparative evidence in documenting the sweep of diachronic change in the context of serial verb constructions. Using a wide range of data from languages of West Africa, Asia and the Caribbean, it demonstrates how shifts in meaning and usage result in syntactic, morphological and lexical change.The process by which verbs lose lexical semantic content and develop case-marking functions is described; it is argued that the change is directional, from verb to preposition (or postposition) to affix, along a grammaticalization continuum. This same grammaticalization process is shown to result in the development of complementizers, adverbial subordinators, conjunctions, adverbs and auxiliaries from verbs. Strong parallels across languages are found in the meanings of the verbs that become “defective” and in the functions they come to mark. The changes are documented in detail, with examples from a number of languages illustrating the effect of the changes on typology and word order, implications for the encoding of definiteness and aspect, and the relevance of notions such as discourse topic, foreground and transitivity.With respect to theoretical assumptions and terminology, the author has taken a relatively nonpartisan approach, and the discussion is accessible to students of language as well as of interest to theoreticians.

ITP: description of the Interpretext system as used for MUC-3

The ITP System for MUC3 is diagrammed in Figure 1. The three major modules handle different units of processing: the Message Handler processes a message unit; the ITP NLU Module processes a sentence and builds a Cognitive Model of the message; and the MUC3 Template Reasoning Module processes a segment of discourse.

ITP Interpretext system: MUC-3 test results and analysis

Intelligent Text Processing is a small start-up company participating in the MUC-3 exercise for the first time this year. Our system, Interpretext, is based on a prototype text understanding system. With three full-time and three part-time people, dividing time between MUC-3 and other contract projects, ITP made maximum use of modest resources.