English Skills Assessment of Esl Listeners at Cefr A1 Level
1. Background
This research presents the analysis of a listening assessment of a group of CEFR A1 Level adult learners of English in the UAE. 22 students participated in this study and consist of two groups at Elementary level – E2 and E4, with the latter being of a higher stage. Learners in the UAE usually involve a mix of nationalities and are either professionals looking to improve their English or young students who are aiming to sit for the IELTS test for admission to university.
At entrance to the teaching centre’s Elementary courses, learners are expected to have a basic repertoire of English, with knowledge of simple expressions and lexis. Although grammar, vocabulary, reading, writing and speaking are considered at placement tests, no formal listening evaluation is carried out to measure the extent to which students are able to perform tasks in competency-based listening. Recognition of a learner’s understanding is usually subjectively determined via brief interviews in the speaking test.
2. The Development Process
2.1. Overview
Formal listening tests have been largely ignored not only in British Council Sharjah’s placement tests but also in continuous assessment, which tends to favour productive skills. Consequently, students have quite often found themselves misplaced and unable to cope with various listening situations in the classroom. As such, this test aims to confirm if candidates are indeed appropriately placed within the CEF A1 level strata and will serve to inform teachers of what the scores indicate, what learners can do and what they need to learn in relation to the course aims.
2.2. Key issues and decisions
Before drawing up the test, several factors had to be considered. One challenge is to break away from the “integrative socio-linguistic trend” that British Council Sharjah adopts in its cursory and undetailed nature of listening assessment and yet capture tasks that are as close to realistic situations as possible. The
This research presents the analysis of a listening assessment of a group of CEFR A1 Level adult learners of English in the UAE. 22 students participated in this study and consist of two groups at Elementary level – E2 and E4, with the latter being of a higher stage. Learners in the UAE usually involve a mix of nationalities and are either professionals looking to improve their English or young students who are aiming to sit for the IELTS test for admission to university.
At entrance to the teaching centre’s Elementary courses, learners are expected to have a basic repertoire of English, with knowledge of simple expressions and lexis. Although grammar, vocabulary, reading, writing and speaking are considered at placement tests, no formal listening evaluation is carried out to measure the extent to which students are able to perform tasks in competency-based listening. Recognition of a learner’s understanding is usually subjectively determined via brief interviews in the speaking test.
2. The Development Process
2.1. Overview
Formal listening tests have been largely ignored not only in British Council Sharjah’s placement tests but also in continuous assessment, which tends to favour productive skills. Consequently, students have quite often found themselves misplaced and unable to cope with various listening situations in the classroom. As such, this test aims to confirm if candidates are indeed appropriately placed within the CEF A1 level strata and will serve to inform teachers of what the scores indicate, what learners can do and what they need to learn in relation to the course aims.
2.2. Key issues and decisions
Before drawing up the test, several factors had to be considered. One challenge is to break away from the “integrative socio-linguistic trend” that British Council Sharjah adopts in its cursory and undetailed nature of listening assessment and yet capture tasks that are as close to realistic situations as possible. The