Abstract:
The Slingerland Tests for identifying language and learning problems was designed for use by grade school teachers in the United States who teach children whose home language is Spanish and who are having trouble with the English language. The tests help distinguish between students who are in the process of adapting to a new language and those who have a specific language-learning disability. The test comes in four levels: Level A for the second half of first grade and all of second grade; Level B for the second half of second grade and all of third grade; Level C for advanced third graders, all fourth graders, and less advanced fifth graders; and Level D for advanced fifth graders, all sixth graders, and students in middle school and high school. There are nine test levels and an individual listening skills test can be administered when needed. The Tests are: 1) Copying sentences from a poster (large print); 2) Copying sentences from a page (small print); 3) From a selection of several words printed on cards, the student must choose the word they were shown previously, before a brief interruption; 4) Matching a word on a card with the same word on a card that has been rotated or on which the print is different; 5) Writing or drawing a word or shape that had been shown to the student after the stimulus has been concealed; 6) Taking dictation of letters, numbers, and words when the chance to write what has been dictated is delayed by a brief distraction; 7) Writing the first, last, or middle sound of a word that has been dictated orally, but after a brief distraction; 8) Identifying which of several words printed in a line was part of a dictation given before a brief distraction; and 9) Displaying adequate writing skills (reserved for Level D). The Listening test is used with students who did not perform well on Tests 7-9. In this test, the student repeats words and phrases after the examiner, completes sentences, and retells a short story. Testing time is approximately one hour and 15 minutes. Most scoring is done during the test and subjective items come with examples of actual student performance that can help determine what score to assign. Special educators use the results of the test to draw their own conclusions since scores are not classified in the testing materials. 3,500 children were involved in the development of these tests, but no norms were established. The publishers recommend the use of local norms. No studies of reliability or validity have been conducted.