CANAL-F
The Cognitive Ability for Novelty in Acquisition of Language - Foreign (CANAL-F) is a test measuring
Impetus
CANAL-F was developed as an alternative to another aptitude test, the
Organizing Principles
While based on Carroll's theoretical work, the CANAL-F takes a slightly different approach to assessing foreign language aptitude. The test aims to measure:
- ability for acquiring vocabulary,
- comprehending extended texts,
- extracting grammatical rules and
- making semantic inferences
all in the context of the major underlying feature of language aptitude being an ability for the learner to cope with novelty and ambiguity.[4]
Reception
Rod Ellis points out that despite CANAL-F using a new formulation of language aptitude as its base, the results it gets are very similar to those of the MLAT. He says, however, that one advantage of CANAL-F is that it "does afford the possibility of achieving a closer match between specific aptitudes and specific psycholinguistic processes".[3] While sample items were included in the original article, the full CANAL-F test is not commercially available.
Notes
- ^ Grigorenko, Sternberg & Ehrman 2000.
- ^ Grigorenko, Sternberg & Ehrman 2000, cited in Ellis 2008, pp. 655–656.
- ^ a b Ellis 2008, pp. 655–656.
- ^ a b Ranta 2008, p. 143.
- ^ Ranta 2008, p. 142–143.
References
- Ellis, Rod (2008). The Study of Second Language Acquisition (2nd ed.). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. pp. 655–656. ISBN 978-0-19-442257-4.
- Grigorenko, E. L.; Sternberg, R. J.; Ehrman, M. E. (2000). "A Theory-Based Approach to the Measurement of Foreign Language Learning Ability: The Canal-F Theory and Test". The Modern Language Journal. 84 (3): 390. .
- Ranta, Leila (2008). "Aptitude and good language learners". In Griffiths, Carol (ed.). Lessons from Good Language Learners. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press. pp. 142–155. ISBN 978-0-521-71814-1.