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Languages Testing and Assessment

Resources | Testing services homepages | Projects | Language proficiency tests | Language placement tests | Speaking assessment | Foreign languages | Do it yourself | Survey instruments | Further reading
Resources

Resources | Testing services homepages | Projects | Language proficiency tests | Language placement tests | Speaking assessment | Foreign languages | Do it yourself | Survey instruments | Further reading
Testing services homepages

CAMBRIDGE - At the official Cambridge site: http://www.cambridge-efl.org.uk/ click on examinations in the top menu for info on KET, PET, FCE etc. with samples

The Flo-Joe website hs pages are geared towards writing for Cambridge exams (First Certificate in English and Certificate in Advanced English), and different task types (including letters) are posted each week:

ETS

GRE http://www.gre.org/ (GRE homepage - has numerous GRE preparation tips and free downloads)

IELTS

TOEIC

TOEFL

Resources | Testing services homepages | Projects | Language proficiency tests | Language placement tests | Speaking assessment | Foreign languages | Do it yourself | Survey instruments | Further reading
Database Projects

Rongchang Li, Interim Director, The Culpeper Multimedia Language Learning Center, Gustavus Adolphus College, reports:

The W3 Foreign Languages Testing Database Project (http://138.236.40.190/langtest/index.html) [intends] "to make use of our language instructors' resources to create a big language testing database on the Web. Anyone who is willing to share his or her own testing data will have the right to use this database. There are many advantages to have such a big database. A test can be created on the Web, and taken on the Web. Students can get the results immediately. What's more, testing items are also being tested. Item statistics can be automatically recorded into the database so that we know later how difficult each item is. The database will also allow creation of test specifications or blueprints as we accumulate larger numbers of similar test items. With a careful design, such a database can become extremely useful for both language instructors and researchers."

Glenn Fulcher's reaction on LTEST-L@LISTS.PSU.EDU, "this is not the first time that such a project has been attempted. Take a look at the University of Goteborg: http://www.educ.goteborg.se/usam/pforum/elpa/. This site was set up for similar purposes back in September 1995. The introduction says: "The aim of this homepage is first of all to provide ESL/EFL teachers with one instrument in their crucial work of assessing students. This site is meant to be, in due course, a real source of test materials....We expect teachers around the world to contribute to our test bank. Since then, no one has contributed anything. The real issue for your student to face is not how to set the site up, but how to encourage participation/contribution."

Resources | Testing services homepages | Projects | Language proficiency tests | Language placement tests | Speaking assessment | Foreign languages | Do it yourself | Survey instruments | Further reading
Language proficiency tests

Bell English: http://www.bellenglish.com/courses/activities/assessmentTest.asp has online assessment tests which are freely available after registration. There are 5 different tests randomly selected by the software to prevent students learning the tests. The tests take about 15 mins to complete

Resources | Testing services homepages | Projects | Language proficiency tests | Language placement tests | Speaking assessment | Foreign languages | Do it yourself | Survey instruments | Further reading
Language placement tests

This is from a CALICO-L list posting, Feb 2006

http://www.accuplacer.com was recommended in a 15 Apr 2003 posting to callis-l. "This is a completely computerized on-line assessment consisting of listening, language use, sentence meaning, reading and writing. .... It is an amazing assessment tool, all done on-line. All questions, and even listening scenarios, are automatically adjusted up or down in difficulty depending on whether the student answered the previous question correctly or not. All components are scored and results returned immediately upon completion of the assessment. Even the writing (300-600 word essay) is scored by a computer!!! Amazingly, the computer score is extremely accurate in terms of assigning a score that corresponds to the score descriptors that are provided. If you are in doubt about the essay score assigned by the computer, you can download the student's complete essay and double check it yourself. The program can be adapted to fit any institution's needs in that you can set the parameters of cut-off/threshold scores, and you can set it to assign students to any level that you describe. It can be used to determine both ESL/EFL or undergraduate placement." There is more info on ACCUPLACER at http://www.collegeboard.com/highered/apr/accu/accu.html

Michigan test online - ENGLISH PLACEMENT TEST (EPT) Ordering Info and Price list available at http://www.lsa.umich.edu/eli/ordering.htm

Netlearn Languages has an online level test for the languages it teaches at: http://www.netlanguages.com/demo/test.htm

OUP / UCLES have brought out the Quick Placement Test on CD-ROM, computer-adaptive with calibrated questioning which, according to how the testee responds, determines the subsequent test-items to be answered

Reward CD Rom, goes only up to Upper Intermediate level http://www.reward-net.co.uk/placement.htm

Resources | Testing services homepages | Projects | Language proficiency tests | Language placement tests | Speaking assessment | Foreign languages | Do it yourself | Survey instruments | Further reading
Speaking assessment

PhonePass http://www.ordinate.com offer a free demo and for-pay versions. You get an 800# and pass code from the website, then call the 800 number to take the speaking test, and retrieve the results from the website. From a 15 Apr 2003 posting to callis-l: "Catherine Ross at U. Conn. is using it in place of the SPEAK, and has done some work showing a good correlation between PhonePass scores and the SPEAK." More info at: http://www.itap.uconn.edu (look under English Policy)

The European Union has developed DIALANG as, among other things, a self-assessment tool for oral speaking: http://www.dialang.org/english/summary.html. Some key features:

Resources | Testing services homepages | Projects | Language proficiency tests | Language placement tests | Speaking assessment | Foreign languages | Do it yourself | Survey instruments | Further reading
Foreign Lanaguages

CARLA (Computer-Assisted Recorded Language Assessment)

TestMaker (Dan Soneson soneson@scsu.ctstateu.edu

ExTemplate (Claire M. Bartlett bartlett@ruf.rice.edu may also be worth considering.

Resources | Testing services homepages | Projects | Language proficiency tests | Language placement tests | Speaking assessment | Foreign languages | Do it yourself | Survey instruments | Further reading
Do it yourself

The Quiz Lab and FunBrain Teams, Part of Learning Network: http://www.funbrain.com/teachers. Free, but you can also upgrade now to premium Quiz Lab $29.95: http://www.funbrain.com/teachers/tvindex.html and take a tour of premium Quiz Lab: http://www.funbrain.com/quiztour/

AntiCheat from http://www.wordkitchen.com takes your test (written in MS Word) and scrambles the questions, producing as many versions as you specify. If you are using multiple choice questions, it scrambles the order of the choices. It also produces a matching answer key for each version. (from a posting 29 Sep 2002 to TESLCA-L)

I'm not sure how to place Jeremy Paton's 14 Dec 2002 posting to TESLCA-L; he says it's for TOEIC but the url is to TOEFL and he alludes to development of items for GRE/SAT. I think it's a template, so I'll store this under DIY until I figure out what's going on: "I've just finished a pilot-version of an online TOEIC test using Macromedia Flash, and would really appreciate some feedback. There is currently little else like it on the web, and it allows any user with an internet connection to study English in a highly engaging and interactive format. Due to it's template structure it can also be easily adapted to contain virtually any print-based textbook or test materials you wish, such as ESL textbooks or TOEFL/TOEIC/SAT/GRE tests. Such online textbooks can also retain the same quality and style of design as a print-based book, while taking advantage of the accessibility and interactivity which the Internet presents. ... You can see the Flash template at: http://www.1-language.com/materials/toefl/index.htm "

Webquestions http://www.clever-software.co.uk/webquestions2/ is freeware and creates mixed type webquizzes like this: http://www.prof2000.pt/users/mfrmfr/af15/wq2.html

Resources | Testing services homepages | Projects | Language proficiency tests | Language placement tests | Speaking assessment | Foreign languages | Do it yourself | Survey instruments | Further reading
Survey instruments

User friendly form creation tool: http://www.response-o-matic.com. You create the form with code easily adapted from the Response-o-matic site (and store the form on your site). Submit sends the data to the cgi running on the Response-o-matic server, which in turn emails the results to up to two email addresses specified within your code.

http://www.surveyshare.com/, one of Curtis Bonk's sites, free accounts limited to 12 questions.

MSU's Form Mailer http://clear.msu.edu/mailer/intro.html and http://clear.msu.edu/mailer/

Quiz Center by Discovery.com http://school.discovery.com/quizcenter/quizcenter.html is easy to use and free, allows multiple types of questions, including fill in the blanks, true or false and multiple choice. Once the student takes the quiz, you can have it sent only to the teacher, both the teacher and the student, or just the student

Zoomerang at http://zoomerang.com/Login/index.zgi is a tool for conducting surveys and formulates the results automatically for you. You can see an example at http://users.chariot.net.au/~michaelc/mfo/zoom/results.htm

Dafne Gonzales has placed a report she made for Webheads about different Online Survey Creators here: http://dygonza.esmartweb.com/surveycreators.htm

Teresa Almeida d'Eça has a section on "creating polls/surveys" at: http://www.malhatlantica.pt/teresadeca/webheads/evonline2003/w3-links.htm

Resources | Testing services homepages | Projects | Language proficiency tests | Language placement tests | Speaking assessment | Foreign languages | Do it yourself | Survey instruments | Further reading
Further reading

Thompson J, 'Embedding technology into language examinations', Active Learning, No. 4, July 1996, CTISS Publications, University of Oxford, ISSN 1357-1125

However, find more in my pages of online or print bibliographies. - Vance

Resources | Testing services homepages | Projects | Language proficiency tests | Language placement tests | Speaking assessment | Foreign languages | Do it yourself | Survey instruments | Further reading



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Last updated: October 5, 2009 (updated URL for Fulcher; previous update May 8, 2006)