Gateways, Placements and Grouping: Automating the C-Test for Language Proficiency Ranking
Abstract
Foreign language departments with the goal of advanced literacy require optimizing student learning, especially at the initial stages of the program. Current practices for admission and placement mainly rely on students’ grades from previous studies, which may be the main reason why intra-group language proficiency often varies dramatically. One essential step for creating an environment that enables students to progress according to their skill level is the development of assessment procedures for admission and placement. Such assessment must prominently include proficiency in the target language. This article promotes the incorporation of an automated C-test into gateway and placement procedures as an instrument that ranks candidates according to general language proficiency. It starts with a review of the literature on aspects of validity of the C-Test construct and contains an outline of the functional design of such an automated C-Test. The article highlights the economic benefits of an automated C-Test platform and the central role of proficiency-based student placement for the success of programs aiming to develop advanced literacy in a foreign language. The findings implicate that developing and using the outlined C-Test platform has the potential to increase student achievement in advanced foreign language instruction significantly
Keywords
References
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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.6667/interface.8.2019.76
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