Placement Test Administration Guide

The test consists of three parts: an Objective Placement Test, a Placement Conversation, and an essay. The three parts are designed to complement one another and provide a comprehensive picture of students' language ability. It is possible - and highly desirable - for multiple raters to be involved in the Placement Conversation and the Placement Essay.

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Placement Test Administration Guide

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Victor Manuel Felix Menchaca

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Placement Test Administration Guide

The New Interchange/Passages Placement Testing Program is designed to identify the optimal level for students entering programs where New Interchange and Passages are used. Placement can be made into the rst or second half of each level of New Interchange and Passages. The test consists of three parts: an Objective Placement Test, including a recorded listening section; a Placement Conversation; and a Placement Essay. For users convenience, there are fteen versions of the Objective Placement Test. There are also three versions of the Placement Essay. Each version of the Objective Placement Test and Placement Essay covers exactly the same areas. The Objective Placement Test is a 70-item multiple-choice test; the Placement Conversation is a plan for eliciting and rating a brief sample of spoken language; and the Placement Essay outlines the process of giving and evaluating a writing sample. The Objective Placement Test measures primarily receptive skills (listening, reading, grammar recognition), whereas the Placement Conversation and the Placement Essay measure students productive skills (speaking and writing). The three parts of the test are designed to complement one another and together provide a comprehensive picture of students language ability. All parts of the test are based on the objectives, content, and language of different levels of New Interchange and Passages. The different components of the test may be administered to individuals or to groups, and in any order. For example, if there are a large number of students to be tested, the students may be divided into three groups with each group taking a different part of the test. As the groups complete one part of the test, they may be given the next part in rotation until all groups have completed the entire test. Placement depends on an individual students performance on all three measures (see Placement Procedure). It is possible and in fact highly desirable for multiple raters to be involved in the Placement Conversation and the Placement Essay as additional raters can add valuable input to the process. If two or more raters are present during the Placement Conversation, it is expected that one of the raters will be primarily responsible for leading the discussion. When multiple raters are used for evaluating either the conversation or the essay, all raters must confer and agree on the nal ratings. In non-intensive English programs or in language programs with limited language objectives, it may be appropriate to use only one or two components of the New Interchange/Passages Placement Testing Program. For example, a conversational program with a near-exclusive emphasis on developing listening and speaking skills may obtain satisfactory results by using only the Placement Conversation.
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Before administering the New Interchange/Passages Placement Testing Program, the teacher will need to print out and photocopy the following materials for each student being tested: the Placement Conversation Rating Form the Final Placement Form a Placement Essay Form (A, B, or C) an Objective Placement Test with Answer Sheet The fteen versions of the Objective Placement Test on this CD-ROM have been prepared by scrambling the question order of the tests originally published in New Interchange/Passages Placement and Evaluation Package. To enable teachers to administer multiple Objective

Placement Tests to a single class, each group of ve tests shares a common Listening section and common recordings: Tests 15 (corresponding to tracks 211 on Audio CD 1) Tests 610 (corresponding to tracks 1221 on Audio CD 1) Tests 1115 (corresponding to tracks 2231 on Audio CD 1)

Copyright Cambridge University Press