I__. - International Military Testing Association

Development of a New Language Aptitude Eattery
The Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center (DLIFLC) is the
proponent for the current Defense Language Aptitude Battery (DLAB) and is
also the primary agency with the mission of providing language training for
DOD military personnel. DLAB currently exists in one form. The range of
correlations between DLAB and post-training measures of language
proficiency across different language courses and skill modalities is from
.25 to .55. DLIFLC is seeking to develop an improved aptitude test that
would predict the degree to which a potential student will develop language
proficiency in speaking, reading, and listening skills, and also determine
the language or languages to which a potential student is best suited.
This development effort builds upon an extensive database gathered on
DLIPLC students in a a major ongoing project to identify predictors of
success in language training and facto:cs associated with the presence,
direction, and extent of language skill change after training.
B-ground
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At initial screening, candidates for language training must attain a
minimum score on a specified composite of the Armed Services Vocational
Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) in order to be elgibile to take the DLAB. There
is some variation in the definition of required ASVAB composites across the
Services, and certain variations in composite cut scores contingent on
eventual training assignment.
Approximately forty different language courses are taught either at
the DLIFLC Monterey campus or through contract arrangements at other
training locat ions. The length of basic foreign language courses varies
from 24 to 47 weeks.
DLI concentrates on general foreign language skill training with only
relatively modest specialized training oriented toward specific job
applications. After graduating from DLIFLC and prior to job assignment,
military linguists typically receive advanced individual training (AIT)
building on prerequisite basic language skills. Linguists perform a
variety of sensitive jobs in signal intelligence, human intelligence, and
in a liason capability with foreign governments and military forces.
DLIFLC maintains significant contacts with other government and
non-governemnt language training schools and universities. These contacts
have been helpful to DLI in developing instructional systems and measures
of training success that are relatively general in nature, while allowing
more specialized training to benefit from the generally high positive
transfer from basic language skills to more specialized training.
Previous Research
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Since 1985, DLIFLC has actively participated in a joint research effort
under the sponsorship of the U.S. Army Intelligence Center and School
(USAICS), with support from the Army Research Institute for the Behaviorial
and Social Sciences (ARI). This project known as the Language Skill Change
Project (LSCP) investigated the following factors:
1. Optimal predictors of success in language training available at
initial screening prior to assignment of language training.
2. Predictors of training success available during training.
3. Variables related to change in language skills after DLI language
training.
The research design involved the collection of an extensive data base
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