Prediction of success in learning Japanese

Abstract

Scores were obtained for two groups of men (at the Marine Corps' Japanese Language School) on a battery of tests which included (1) a specially devised Symbol Digit Test; (2) the Army Language Aptitude Test; (3) Anderson's Adult Placement Test, (4) the Shipley-Hartford Retreat Scale, (5) the Navy Officer Qualification Test; (6) the ACE Psychological Examination, and (7) the AGCT. The pre-school group of 56 men was tested immediately prior to school entrance, while the second ( in-school ) group of 19 men was tested after having some months of training. The criterion used was a pass-fail grade for the whole curriculum. The Army Language Test and the ACE (which gave an intercorrelation of .63) were most discriminating. They gave CR 's between successes and failures of 5.5 and 7.9 respectively. To be discriminative in such a situation, the authors believe that the verbal tests must be oriented in the upper 20% of the college population. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)