A comprehensive placement test tool for language centres
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Asuncion Jaime Pastor,
Asuncion Jaime Pastor is senior lecturer in English for Specific Purposes at the Universitat Politécnica de Valencia.
,
Cristina Perez Guillot,
Cristina Perez Guillot is senior lecturer in English for Specific Purposes at the Universitat Politécnica de Valencia.Miguel A. Candel-Mora is senior lecturer in English for Specific Purposes at the Universitat Politécnica de Valencia.
Abstract
One of the main problems relating to language courses offered at language centres is measuring the students' entry-level skills in a fast, efficient and reliable way. This problem is particularly acute in language centres with large numbers of students, especially at the beginning of the academic year, as a mechanism has to be implemented which serves to determine the language skills of students prior to the registration period. For this purpose we have developed a software tool that allows us to determine a student's level quickly and effectively, while managing volumes of approximately 600 students in each of the two academic periods in which the courses are offered. The tool presented has been tested and validated over four years of use, giving results that demonstrate a high degree of reliability. Also, given the program's flexibility, it can be adapted to other specific needs, and can also be used to assess proficiency in terms of the levels of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages.
About the authors
Asuncion Jaime Pastor is senior lecturer in English for Specific Purposes at the Universitat Politécnica de Valencia.
Cristina Perez Guillot is senior lecturer in English for Specific Purposes at the Universitat Politécnica de Valencia.
Miguel A. Candel-Mora is senior lecturer in English for Specific Purposes at the Universitat Politécnica de Valencia.
©[2011] by Walter de Gruyter Berlin Boston
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Articles in the same Issue
- Masthead
- Approche systémique de l'innovation pour l'apprentissage en Centre de Langues
- Tensions entre politique du changement et stabilité : une dynamique nécessaire pour l'innovation dans les centres de langues universitaires
- From politics to policy: Rethinking the relationship between language centres and Modern Foreign Language departments
- Quality through networking – from reactive administration to proactive cooperation
- The student voice in quality assurance
- A comprehensive placement test tool for language centres
- Evaluating and improving informal assessment in the university language classroom
- Learning environments in university language centres: Transferring support to learners
- My Pronunciation Coach: Improving English pronunciation with an automatic coach that listens
- Effective writing tasks and feedback for the Internet Generation
- Communicating the cultural richness of Finnish hiljaisuus (silence)
- The eye of the beholder: Is English as a Lingua Franca in academic settings a monolingual or multilingual practice?
- Attitudes and motivational factors behind Finnish business students' choices of foreign languages
- A new LSP educational experience in Nebrija University
