The electron-polarized-photon coincidence method is used to determine linear and circular polarization correlations in vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) for the differential electron-impact excitation of neon and argon resonance transitions at impact energies of 25 and 30 eV at small scattering angles up to 40. The circular polarization correlation is found to be positive in the case of Ne at 25 eV and supports the prediction of the present B-spline R-matrix theory concerning the violation of a long-established propensity rule regarding angular momentum transfer in electron-impact excitation of S→P transitions. Comparisons with the results from the present relativistic distorted-wave approximation and an earlier semirelativistic distorted-wave Born model are also made. For the case of Ar, at 25 and 30 eV, the circular polarization measurements remain in agreement with theory, but provide limited evidence as to whether or not the circular polarization at small scattering angles is also positive. For the linear polarizations, much better agreement with theory is obtained than in earlier measurements carried out by S. H. Zheng and K. Becker
