By Elisabeth Levi
English proficiency is crucial to economic success in our globally connected reality. The increased demands for higher levels of English skills across a much wider range of jobs drives a need for more effective, easily accessible, and fair assessments. Such assessments are available, but they are not widely in use in India.
Adopting more up-to-date assessments that use the latest technologies will benefit both individuals and companies. Here are some of the features to consider:
Accent agnostic testing – India is a diverse nation with more than 100 languages. The varied cultures, dialects and accents often impact spoken English as well. For a test to be unbiased, it must assess the clarity and comprehensibility of speech without consideration to accent. This ensures that the individuals are tested based on their skill, not on their accents.
Accessibility – Many job functions are able to be performed remotely or through hybrid working. However, this convenience has not been extended to language assessment tests yet. Travelling to designated centres on specific dates makes testing inconvenient and limits access disproportionately for those living in smaller cities, towns, and villages – the majority of Indians. Internet-based tests can help increase access and convenience.
Test security – Current technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) allow for user verification, test security, and prevent cheating. Choosing a test with these features helps to make testing fairer and more secure. An additional benefit of using technology to achieve these goals is that they can be implemented remotely.
Comprehensive assessment – Language expertise is a holistic skill which encompasses reading, writing, listening, and speaking. Each of these skills comprises several subskills which contribute to effective communication. An assessment needs to evaluate all these to accurately provide an individual’s language proficiency level. Most tests in India today assess only a single aspect of the language. Choosing a more comprehensive test allows employers to ensure that their workforce can communicate effectively in English.
Affordability – Most English tests in India are expensive. When testing is too expensive, academic institutions and small and medium scale companies often choose to forgo effective testing, or they limit their applicant pool to candidates who can afford the credentials provided by the high cost tests. The results are either a lack of English proficient workers, or a lack of opportunities for individuals and SMBs to find their perfect match. Lower cost tests offer the possibility of wider scale testing.
Alignment to International Standards – Using international standards increases the transparency of results and allows the same tests to be used within India and throughout the world. Comparability of results helps all stakeholders to understand the levels of English needed to perform different jobs. This helps companies to choose the most capable candidates and helps the candidates to prepare for their chosen careers.
There are a few solutions on the market that meet international standards of language assessment and have many or all of the features described. The Association of Language Testers in Europe (ALTE) lists assessments such as Speak now, Learning Matters, and Progos along with others, and can serve as a resource for choosing assessments that meet the needs of employers, educational institutions, job applicants, and students.
The author of this article is the VP of Linguistics, Assessment and Research at Speaknow. Views expressed are personal.