Dvelopment of the Japanese Linguistic Ability Test

本研究的目的是为小学和初中阶段日语语言能力的八个因素（词汇、后置、句式、汉字、作文、语篇理解等）制定标准量表。项目的规模比我们预期的要大得多，从制定测试项目，到要求测试对象，再到执行测试，再到统计处理。该试验在日本的广大地区进行，从北海道的札幌和钏路到九州地区和冲绳县。24个县的165多所学校参与了这项研究。两所小学和两所初中的孩子参加了全部八个测试。结果表明，各试验的相关性较高。我们在复习课表的同时，还在词汇测试和汉字测试上运用调节技术进行适应性类型测试。利用所有的分项测试，我们将为居住在海外或回国的儿童以及有语言障碍的儿童制定语言理解指标。适应性类型测试基于Lord的测试理论，能够在短时间内通过少量测试项目准确地估计日语能力水平。因此，对于那些从海外归来，对自己的日语能力知之甚少的孩子来说，这是最好的测试方法。今后，我们将在幼儿园和高中开展测试研究，特别是词汇测试和句型测试。当研究完成后，我们将得到从幼儿园到高中阶段日语发展的标准。

The purpose of this research is to make the standard scale for eight factors (i.e. vocabulary, postposition, sentence type, Kanji, composition, discourse comprehension, etc.)in japanese language ability on elementary and junior high school level.The project became much larger :than we expected in all the aspects, e.g.,making out test items, reguesting subjects, carrying out the tests, or statistic processing. The test was carried out at vast area in Japan, spreading from Sapporo and Kushiro in Hokkaido area to Kyushu area and Okinawa prefecture. more than 165 schools in 24 prefectures participated in this research.The children in two elementary schools and two junior high schools participated in all eight subtests. The results indicated that the correlation of each tests was rather high.We are brushing up the rests, still more, making the adaptive type tests with the eguating technigue on the vocabulary test and the kanji test. Using all the subtests, we will make the indices of language comprehension for the children living in overseas or returned to japan, and also for the children with language disorders.The adaptive type test is based on the test theory of Lord and will be able to estimate the level of Japanese language ability much accurately with a small set of test items i.e. in a short gime. Thus it is the best testing method for the children returned form overseas and with little information for their Japanese language ability.We will carry out the research of testing at nursery schools and high schools, hereafter, especially with the vocabulary test and the sentence type test. When the research will be completed, we will obtain the standard of Japanese language development from nursery school level to high school level.