Abstract:
The Woodcock Language Proficiency Battery - Revised (WLPB -R) is a set of individually-administered tests of English for measuring abilities and achievement in oral language, reading, and written language. It is suitable for people of all ages who are non-native speakers of English. For school age examinees, it can be used to establish language dominance, and to set instructional goals. Overall, its uses include diagnosis, program placement, establishing Individual Educational Plans, educational guidance, assessing growth over time, program assessment, and research. It has three language areas, each of which contains individual tests. These are: Oral Language which tests Memory for Sentences, Picture Vocabulary, Oral Vocabulary, Listening Comprehension, and Verbal Analogies; Reading which tests Letter-Word Identification, Passage Comprehension, Word Attack (vocabulary), and Reading Vocabulary; and, Written Language which tests Dictation, Writing Samples, Proofing, and Writing Fluency which includes an evaluation of Punctuation & Capitalization, Spelling, Usage, and Handwriting. Clusters of the thirteen tests measured above can be administered for different purposes. For pre-school children or people of any age who function at a low level, the Broad English Ability / Early Development Scale is recommended. It is made up of Memory for Sentences, Picture Vocabulary, Letter-Word Identification, and Dictation. Other aggregate scales are the Broad English Ability / Standard Scale, the Oral Language Cluster, three Reading Clusters, and three Written Language Clusters. Most Reading items are presented orally using an easel-style book and involve either illustrations or verbal prompts with the test administrator recording the number of correct responses to make up a raw score which is converted to an Age Equivalent and a Grade Equivalent. The Writing items are also administered verbally, but the examinee records his responses in a test booklet which contains illustrations, brief sentences, and space for several writing samples. Scoring of this part of the test is subjective and variation between raters should be expected. The Handwriting subscore awards points based on a holistic scale which is supplemented by a set of specimens to be used as guidelines. Normative data for the WLPB - R was gathered from 6,359 subjects in over 100 geographically diverse U. S. communities. Estimates of internal consistency for the thirteen subtests as well as for all of the test clusters are in the .80s and .90s, and a sample of writing sample raters from the norming study showed an inter-rater reliability in the .90s after correction for length using the Spearman-Brown formula. Inter-rater reliability on the handwriting scale was in the .70s and .80s. Overall test-retest reliability was in the .70s and .80s. Concurrent validity studies were done with various levels of the test and several other instruments such as Boehm Basic Concepts, Bracken Basic Concepts, Stanford-Binet IV, and the WISC - R. Correlation coefficients ranged from the .30s through the .70s in general, with separate coefficients for each subtest.