Test Information Guide

Field 32: Portuguese
Linguistics and Language Structures

The following materials contain:

Sample Test Directions for the Linguistics and Language Structures Assignments

Part 1: Passage

This portion of the Linguistics and Language Structures section of the test consists of a passage to be completed by providing the grammatically correct word in the target language for each numbered space. Directions are provided before the passage. Your final responses to the passage must be typed in the response box provided for the passage.

You may use the erasable notebooklet to make notes, write an outline, or otherwise prepare your responses. However, your final responses must be typed in the response box provided for the assignment.

Please note that special characters (such as letters with accents or other diacritical marks) cannot be entered using the keyboard but are available for insertion in the on-screen response box. To access these characters, click on the ash button that appears in the upper left corner of the screen. Using the mouse, click on the character you wish to include in your response and then select "Insert." The character will be inserted where the cursor is positioned in the response box.

Select the Next button to continue.

Part 2: Short-Answer Questions

This portion of the Linguistics and Language Structures section of the test consists of six short answer questions. Directions are provided before each question. Your final responses to the exercises must be typed in the response box provided for each exercise.

You may use the erasable notebooklet to make notes, write an outline, or otherwise prepare your responses. However, your final responses must be typed in the response box provided for each exercise.

Please note that special characters (such as letters with accents or other diacritical marks) cannot be entered using the keyboard but are available for insertion in the on-screen response box. To access these characters, click on the ash button that appears in the upper left corner of the screen. Using the mouse, click on the character you wish to include in your response and then select "Insert." The character will be inserted where the cursor is positioned in the response box.

Select the Next button to continue.

Description of the Linguistics and Language Structures Open-Response Items

This section of the test consists of exercises that require the candidate to demonstrate command of the grammatical structure of the language. The first part consists of a cloze passage with twelve blanks to be filled in according to specific directions. The words or phrases to be filled in may include verb forms, pronouns, modifiers requiring agreement, inflected noun forms, or other important elements of syntax and usage. The second part consists of six short-answer questions. The first three require transformation of one or more sentences according to specific directions (e.g., from one tense or voice to another, from singular to plural, or from an informal to a formal language style). The second three short-answer questions require candidates to rewrite in correct form one or more sentences containing grammatical errors. In the scoring of this section of the test, all grammatically correct answers consistent with the directions will be accepted.

Sample questions are provided in the Portuguese sample items PDF.

Scoring Rubric

Performance Characteristics

The following characteristics guide the scoring of responses to the linguistics and language structures assignments.

Table outlining performance characteristics.
Grammar 12 tasks that require supplying the grammatically correct term
Transformation 3 tasks that require making a specified transformation
Correction 3 tasks that require correction of errors

Scoring Scale

Each identified scorable task will be "Correct" if the candidate's response is described by one of the following:

Score Scale with description for each score point.
Tasks Notation Notation Description
Grammar:
Tasks 1–12		 C Correct.

The candidate's response is grammatically correct and appropriate within the context of the passage (i.e., the response satisfies all of the target language's rules of grammar demanded by the instructions and intended by the context of the passage).
Transformation:
Tasks 13–15		 C Correct.

The candidate's response correctly transforms the sentence or passage as instructed (i.e., the response follows all applicable grammatical rules of the target language and accurately supplies a transformed word, phrase, or clause construction as directed).
Correction:
Tasks 16–18		 C Correct.

The candidate's response acceptably corrects the syntactic or linguistic errors found in the sentence or passage (i.e., the response has located and corrected the errors of language structure found within the sentence or passage and has retained the original meaning).

Each identified scorable task will be "Not Correct" if the candidate's response is described by the following:

Table outlining scoring scale for not correct response.
Tasks Notation Notation Description
All Tasks NC Not correct.

The candidate's response does not accurately follow the target language's rules of grammar, or the response is incomplete or is blank.