--- Forwarded Message from "David Pankratz" <[log in to unmask]> --- >Date: Fri, 04 Feb 2005 14:39:36 -0600 >From: "David Pankratz" <[log in to unmask]> >To: <[log in to unmask]> >Subject: Moving from Placement to Proficiency Dear LLTIers, My university has used the BYU placement exam for years to help place students into the appropriate language course. Now a new chapter has started. We need to start testing proficiency not only for placement, but to determine if students are knowledgeable enough to be exempt from having to take additional courses. This means that in the past only students who were motivated to take the exam (happily) did so. Now we will soon have to test 5 times the number of students, many of whom will not be happy at the prospect of having to take language courses. My other thought is that our placement exam is not adequate to really test competency when the stakes for the student are this high. I feel we need to incorporate a listening component at the least, perhaps a speaking component, if feasible. If any of you have made such a daunting transition, or have advice about the mechanics of testing large numbers of students in various languages when "exemption" is at stake, I would really like to hear from you. Please share your thoughts here or with me personally at [log in to unmask] Thank you. David Pankratz Loyola University Chicago *********************************************** LLTI is a service of IALLT, the International Association for Language Learning, and The Consortium for Language Teaching and Learning (http://consortium.dartmouth.edu). Join IALLT at http://iallt.org. Otmar Foelsche, LLTI-Editor ([log in to unmask]) ***********************************************