In May 2003, Second Language Testing Foundation (SLTF) was incorporated in Maryland as a private operating foundation.  It’s application for nonprofit charitable status was approved by the IRS.  SLTF is funded through public donations, grants, contracts, and through the sale of its products.  The focus of SLTF is to increase understanding of issues in second language testing among educators and the public. Specifically, the foundation's mission goals are to promote the appropriate use of language skills tests, including language aptitude tests, to develop and/or conduct research on language skills tests, and to conduct research on language learners and formal assessments.

Research and test development

The Foundation conducts research on existing second language tests, and research that informs the development of new second language tests. A specific interest of the Foundation, at least initially, is research on the measurement of language learning aptitude.  

Tests of language aptitude

A number of tests of language aptitude will emerge from the research function of the Foundation. The Modern Language Aptitude Test (MLAT), which is currently made available by the Foundation, is used by government agencies, missionary groups and private corporations to identify and then train employees to work in foreign countries. The MLAT is also used to determine if a person has a language learning disability. It is used today by universities and by psychologists specializing in learning disabilities who are confronted by students who repeatedly fail foreign languages courses while performing well in other courses.

SLTF also makes available to schools a version of the above test for elementary school students. This instrument is called the Modern Language Aptitude Test-Elementary (MLAT-E).

In 2004, SLTF made available the Pimsleur Language Aptitude Battery (PLAB).  This language aptitude test is designed for junior high and high school students and is used to help teachers determine a student’s readiness to begin the study of foreign language and identify the students with a special talent or "ear for language."  The addition of the PLAB completes SLTF’s set of language aptitude tests by filling in the age gap between the MLAT-E test takers and MLAT test takers.

The Second Language Testing Foundation has also recently made available a Spanish adaptation of the MLAT-E, the Modern Language Aptitude Test – Elementary: Spanish Version (MLAT-ES).  The MLAT-ES was developed in conjunction with several schools in Latin America and Spain, and is intended for native Spanish-speaking children in grades 3-6 in the USA and in other countries.  The MLAT-ES sprang from the research of Drs. Charles Stansfield and Daniel Reed of Michigan State University. They developed a framework for the creation of adapted versions of the MLAT for examinees whose first language is not English. 

Since 2004, SLTF has been working with Korean linguists to develop a version of the MLAT-E in Korean.  SLTF has also assisted researchers in developing adaptations of the MLAT-E in other languages for research purposes.

Research

SLTI staff and associates give presentations and present research findings at educational conferences (American Educational Research Association, National Council on Measurement in Education, and the International Language Testing Research Colloquium) to disseminate our results and enrich the knowledge base of researchers and educators on matters pertaining to language competencies, cognitive skills and testing.

ECOLT

Second Language Testing Foundation is a founder and sponsor of the East Coast Conference on Language Testing (ECOLT).  SLTF’s president, Dr. Charles W. Stansfield, was the keynote speaker at the first ECOLT conference in March 2002.  He continues to serve on the ECOLT executive committee, which is responsible for planning the ECOLT conference each year, obtaining financial support, etc.  SLTF prepares the ECOLT program book and pays for its printing.   Each year, SLTI and SLTF personnel assist in the management of the ECOLT conference.   About 100 people, many of whom are language teachers or language specialists working in the government language community, usually attend the ECOLT conference.  Others are language educators in the Washington DC area.  Faculty and graduate students from universities in the Washington DC area also attend and participate.  Other ECOLT sponsors include the Center for Applied Linguistics and Georgetown University.  To locate information on the next or most recent ECOLT conference, click here.

SLTF Summer Internships

In 2005, the Second Language Testing Foundation (SLTF) set up a summer internship program. Our first summer intern was Mr. Sean McGrew, a doctoral candidate in educational linguistics at the University of Pennsylvania. Sean spent June, July, and August at SLTF. Using his background in statistical research methodology, he ran statistics using SPSS and SAS, edited final reports for test development projects, and even contributed to monthly and final reports.

For the summer of 2006, SLTF welcomed applicants Meredith Mislevy and Graham Seibert to the staff.

Meredith Mislevy is entering her third year at the University of Maryland, College Park where she is working toward a Bachelor of the Arts degree in Linguistics and Cognition. During her internship at SLTF, she has worked on processing language aptitude test orders, interacted with MLAT customers, authored entries on "Language Aptitude", "John B. Carroll", the "MLAT" and the "PLAB" for Wikipedia, drafted test items for a higher-level version of the MLAT, reviewed NAEP items for accessible language and worked on updating the Second Language Testing website.

Graham Seibert read about Charles Stansfield in the Washington Post two years ago and contacted him to ask for some second-language test materials to reference for a paper he was writing for a course in assessment design in the University of Maryland's Department of Educational Measurement and statistics. Charles was so generous with his help that Graham invited him for a year-end party of his department.

Graham's interest in education goes back to his experience as a parent, his service on school boards, and his time as a private school teacher of foreign languages before entering his Master's program. His first career as a computer consultant involved extensive travel abroad, during which time he learned Spanish, French, German and Portuguese and became interested in the process of language acquisition itself.

These interests all converged with Charles' offer of an internship at the Second Language Testing Foundation in the summer of 2006. While at SLTF, Graham applied his knowledge of statistics to real-world problems, and used his experience in foreign language and education to represent SLTF to its test users. He used his background in technology to become involved in the operationalization of the computer-based version of the MLAT.

For the summer of 2007, SLTF welcomed applicants Cecilia Zhao and Ching-Ni Hsieh to the staff.

Cecilia Zhao is entering her third year at New York University, where she is working toward a PhD degree in TESOL, with an emphasis on second language testing. During her 2 months internship at SLTF, she worked mainly on SLTF’s language aptitude tests.  She updated the technical manual for the MLAT, drafted test specifications for the MLAT-E and wrote items for a new form.  She also reviewed draft items for new forms of the Defense Language Aptitude Battery and administered pilot test forms of the DLAB to examinees, interviewing them afterwards and writing up the results.  She reviewed NAEP math items for language accessibility, and reviewed a proposal for an Enhanced Assessment grant.  She prepared data from several medical interpreter tests for analysis and conducted classical test analyses of three tests.  

If you are interested in finding out more about SLTF internships or would like to apply, please contact us. SLTF interns are expected to be physically present at SLTF and to work on SLTF projects. We view the internship as a chance to gain real-world experience in language testing matters.