What is testyourlevel (TYL)?

Transcription

1 1. Manual Outline a) What is testyourlevel? b) Why have you been chosen to form part of the TYL global team? c) How do you get started? d) What students will you be giving the TYL to? e) How does TYL work? f) testyourlevel results g) Giving the testyourlevel oral exam h) Scoring the student i) Why do clients recommend testyourlevel? j) How can testyourlevel be used? 2. Certification exam 20 questions multiple choice What is testyourlevel (TYL)? testyourlevel was developed by the Training Express Group in response to a growing demand for a quick, accurate and practical means of assessing language skills. The four key competences of language (speaking, listening, reading and writing) are covered in testyourlevel.com using a blend of on-line activities and the option of structured telephone or face-to-face oral interviews. Languages are tested in a business context and cover all levels from beginner to native. The languages include English, French, German, Spanish and Italian. The testyourlevel oral exam is used to assess the oral skill level of students in a pre-planned communicative context, as well as testing listening comprehension through question/answer based tasks. It is a valid and reliable 10 minute face-to-face or telephone interview carried out by our global team of certified TYL assessors. The interview is interactive, free-flowing but guided. The speaker s performance is compared to the criteria outlined in the TYL guidelines which correspond to the Common European Framework Reference levels A1-C2.

2 Why have you been chosen to form part of the global testyourlevel examiner team? In order to become a certificated TYL Examiner you must successfully complete the training and certification process. Training will give you an overview of how testyourlevel works and will cover how to give the TYL Oral test. Training equips examiners with the information they need to assess and assign levels to students. We ask for the following criteria from all of our examiners: - Professionalism In many cases you will be the student s first contact with the Training Express Group so we are counting on you to make an excellent first impression. - Expertise The examiners should be familiar with the oral interaction descriptors published by the CEFR. - Experience All examiners should have a minimum experience working in the language training field. How do you get started? Your first step is to get certified so you are already on the right track by reading this manual. The second step is to take the TYL Examiner Certification test. You can do this at this address: The exam consists of 21 multiple choice questions. It should take you no longer than 30 minutes. You need to have a pass mark of 85% or over. Once you have passed you will be sent your login details and off you go! Who will you be giving level tests to? COMPANY STUDENTS These students have been asked to complete the testyourlevel test in order to: 1) Get them started on a company English training programme 2) Check their level is appropriate for a skills based course. 3) Act as a mid-course or end-of- course progress exam.

3 How does TYL work? 1. Extensive Level Test (+ Oral) - Recommended LEVEL TEST PARTS PART 1: GRAMMAR PART 2: WRITING PART 3: LISTENING PART 4: READING PART 5: SPEAKING TOTAL TIME APPROX 20 MINS 10 MINS 10 MINS 10 MINS 10 MINS 60 MINS 2. Quick Level Test (+ Oral) LEVEL TEST PARTS PART 1: GRAMMAR PART 2: SPEAKING TOTAL TIME APPROX 20 MINS 10 MINS 30 MINS Progresión de niveles y recorrido de formación Descripción de nivel Iniciación / Elemental Intermedio Bajo Intermedio Intermedio Alto Avanzado Maestría Marco Europeo A1 A2 B1 B2 C1 C2 Nivel testyourlevel

4 testyourlevel Online Results Students receive a Quick View results page immediately after completing the on-line test. This allows them to view their scores across the 4 language skills areas. The formal scores and descriptions are then processed within 48 hours upon full completion of the test selected. In the case of the complete extensive test this would be done upon completion of the oral interview. The final result would then be sent to the organization or individual requesting the test. This result would show the overall score, description and Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) followed by the detailed breakdown of both the on-line score and oral interview. Example: SCORE: 3,32 (CEFR: A2) The on-line results would show the results from the 4 components of the online test: Grammar Writing Listening Reading The oral interview results would show the breakdown in the 5 different categories of the telephone or face to face interview. 1. Fluency & confidence 2. Pronunciation & comprehensible 3. Accuracy & appropriateness of language 4. Range of language & vocabulary 5. Listening comprehension & understanding Grammar: There are 45 questions which cover from A1 to C2. The questions get progressively more difficult Writing: Multiple choice error analysis relating to correspondence expressions. We didn t consider free-style writing due to programming limitations. Listening: One scaled listening that the participants have the option of listening to twice. The questions are multiple choice. Reading: Match 9 headlines to the correct article. The 9 articles are distributed among levels from A1 to C2.

5 Giving the testyourlevel oral exam Step 1: Login to the system Click on the link This will take you to the homepage of the examiners centre where you will see a list of available candidates. You will see the following information: These are all candidates who have done the online test and are waiting to do the oral test. Once you have chosen a candidate they will appear in your agenda. Date and time refers to when the student took the test. Testversion refers to which test they have taken. Before clicking on the student, check that they have done the right test for you. For example, if you are a French examiner, the student should have done French Quick or French Extensive. UI refers to User Interface. It tells you the language they chose to have the interface in. Task refers to your pending actions with students. Under task you may see the following option: - Call back this means that the student has already set a time to be called back but the examiner who set it up is unable to do that call. Step 2: Choosing a student to give the oral test. Always start from the top of the list and click on their name. This will move their details into your agenda. This will bring up the student details and more importantly their telephone number so you can call them.

6 The test Introducing yourself. You belong to the testyourlevel Examiner department / team at Training Express. Introduce yourself as such in your native language. You are NOT an English / French / German / Russian teacher! For example, Good morning. This is Sylvia Johnson from testyourlevel, phoning for your oral level test. Are you available to take the level test now? OPTIONS When you have clicked on a student, a box will come up with the following options. If the student does not answer the phone, you should click on Flag unanswered call. This will send the student back into the list of available students. START TEST If your student answers the phone and is willing to take the oral test now, you should press this option and do the test. You will see the instruction to the teacher and below that the grid for structured questions

7 How long does the test last? It should last between 5-10 minutes. Do NOT suggest to your student that it is less than this. Although the lower the level, the shorter the interview. Sticking to the guided questions 1. This is increasingly more vital as the structured conversation forms part of the testyourlevel product that we sell. Even if you are an experienced teacher and know after 3 questions what score you would give the student, you must complete the questions. 2. The interview is a structured conversation with the student and should appear as such a normal free flowing conversation. So if your student starts getting side-tracked, rein them in gently rather than asking a questions which is irrelevant to what he/she was talking about. 3. DO NOT CORRECT the student nor ANSWER FOR THEM. Remember this is a test NOT a class and you are the examiner, NOT a teacher. 4. You use the questions in the following order to start the conversation until you find that the student does not answer one of them to your satisfaction. 1. What is your name? How do you spell that? 2. What do you do at your company? 3. What do you like most about your job? 4. How long have you been working in your company? 5. What were you doing 5 years ago? And so on 5. However don t forget that although you are following this order, it should be a free-flowing conversation, so you can add follow-up questions. 6. If a student doesn t answer a question satisfactorily, you should move horizontally across the grid. Eg. How long have you been working in your company? I am work here since 4 years ago When did you start in your company? I started working in my company 4 years ago. 7. You should finish with one of the END questions that are on the sheet.

8 As you ask the questions, place a tick in the box of the question that you asked. When you have asked your end question, thank the student for their time and say goodbye. Do NOT tell the student any score even if they ask you for an estimate score. SCORING Then fill in the scoring grid by clicking on the number. When you have filled in the 5 categories, press Save and Close. Well done, you have successfully given an oral level test!

9 What if the student s not present / not available? SCHEDULE TEST FOR LATER If your student is unable to take the test now but is able to give you a time and date when they will be available, you should press this option. ONLY SELECT THIS OPTION IF YOU CAN PERFORM THE TEST YOURSELF! POSTPONING AND PROBLEMS If the student gives you a time for the test but you cannot do it yourself, you should click here and set the tiem given by the student. This will prompt the student back to the list when appropriate. You have various options for the action that you have decided to take. Please select one and save. If you select the third option, please fill in the comment box as clearly as possible. This is the message that administration will see. REMOVE AS MY STUDENT this will put the student back in the original list so another examiner can deal with it. CANCEL - this will take you back to the home page.

10 Part 1 Standard Questions Follow up Questions 1º Level Question 2º Level Question 3º Level Question END Questions 1 What is your name? How do you spell that? Do you speak english? Where are you from? Tell me about your hobbies Comprehension: YES NO Comprehension: YES NO Comprehension: YES - NO 2 What do you do at your company? What is your job/position/post? Do you speak english in your job? Tell me about your typical day 3 What do you like most about your job? What is your typical day? Do you like your job? Tell me about your company 4 How long have you been working in your company? When did you start in your company? Have you always worked in this company? Tell me about where you live 5 What were you doing 5 years ago? Did you study at University? Where were you born? Tell me about your office 6 What do you expect to be doing this time next year? What are doing this weekend? Where are spending your next holiday? Tell me about your favourite food 7 Do you have a specific personal goal for this year? Have you got any trips planned? What does the future hold for you? Tell me about using english at work 8 If I gave you a million euros how would your life change? NO Have you ever won a prize? What languages would you like to speak? Tell me about your latest project 9 If you hadn t chosen your current job/course, what would you have done instead? What would you do if you were made redundant? Would you like to have more free time? Tell me about leading a balanced life 10 What major challenges do you predict for you or your area of business? How do you measure success? What do you find stressful? Tell me about where you go from here

11 Using Alternative questions On occasion you may find that in order to keep the conversation free-flowing, you may need to modify the questions slightly. This is acceptable although we would ask you to keep any changes to a minimum ALWAYS respecting the grammar of the question. Eg. Level 8 - If I gave you a million euros how would your life change? This could be changed to: If I gave you an extra hour in the day, how would you spend it? SCORING 1. Do not share the final score with your student. They will receive notification by Training Express of their final score. 2. Complete your evaluation of the 5 oral criteria in the scoring grid provided. Differentiating between levels Read though these descriptions as they will best tell you how to evaluate levels. Then read through the scoring sheet and decide whether your student s level is accurately described in each skills area. 1. Fluency & confidence 2. Pronunciation & comprehensibility 3. Accuracy & appropriateness of language 4. Range of language & vocabulary 5. Listening comprehension & understanding In general students have a higher mark on listening comprehension and understanding. Here are the some very general rules to help you orientate your student in terms of language capabilities. Although you should consult the CEFR indicators throughout the interview. Oral scoring should fall between 3 numbers at the most. Eg. 5-7 or 6-8. The table below is not accurate scoring. A student may have lower marks for category 3 and 4 with slightly higher marks for 2 and 5.

12 Level 0 Complete Beginner If you phone a student and they don t understand why you are phoning, you should give them 0 s in the oral score. If they aren t capable of understanding the phrase I am phoning from TestYourLevel for your English test, they should be given a zero. Do not speak in their native language. You could use other rapid fire questions alongside the standard level 1 questions. Standard questions: What is your name? How do you spell that? Do you speak English? Where are you from? Other possibilities: Where do you live? Do you like football/cinema/cycling? Do you have a car? Tell me about your family Some students may understand just one of these questions or only a few words and utter some form of reply and this will therefore have implications for the level that you give them. PLEASE TRY TO AVOID SPEAKING TO THE STUDENTS IN THEIR NATIVE TONGUES AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE. Tempting though this is, we have students from a whole variety of different countries and we must maintain our impartiality so as to maintain the credibility of the oral exam. And after all, we are testing them on their listening comprehension which is part of this test and their ability to express themselves in the test language in question! They may need guidance when it is clear that the level is low, but try not to translate the questions nor the answers so the test remains objective.

13 Differentiating between levels 1 and 2 Level 2 will attempt to construct phrases while level 1 will mainly be one word answers. Differentiating between 2 and 3 Level 3 will correctly use Present continuous and Present Simple and will try and give you information. Level 3 will also speak in the third person correctly. Level 2 will make mistakes and find it hard to respond to questions. Differentiating between 3 and 4 Level 4 will use the present perfect correctly and the past simple while level 3 will make more mistakes. Level 4 may still be unable to use the perfect tense correctly in conjunction with for/since. Differentiating between 4 and 5 Level 5 will understand conditionals and their uses but not be able to use them correctly while level 4 will be unable to respond. Level 5 will also start to add on additional information and not restrict themselves to simple answers although they will be fairly straightforward. Differentiating between 5 and 6 Level 6 will attempt to use more diverse language although will not do so with accuracy. They will use perfect tenses and attempt to use conditionals although these may not be used successfully. They will have immediate understanding of questions asked and will try and respond without hesitation. Differentiating between 6 and 7 The gap between intermediate and upper-intermediate is about confidence and accuracy when communicating. A level 7 student will be able to speak about unfamiliar topics without relying on translation. They will use a wide range of tenses and be fairly accurate. They may also introduce more phrasal verbs and some set phrases. Differentiating between 7 and 8 A level 8 student will be consistently accurate while using a wide range of tenses. They will voluntarily include conditionals and more complex structures into their speech. Response to the questions asked tend to be well thought out and well constructed and they are able to speak at length on most topic. They are confident and fluent although may make some mistakes when incorporating new structures or vocabulary into their answers. Differentiating between 8 and 9 Level 9 uses idiomatic expressions correctly / use inseparable phrasal verbs correctly while level 8 will not try to use them or will use them wrongly. A level 9 student should be only one small step away from being completely bilingual with only their accent or a rare mistake exposing them as non-native speakers.

14 Date: Student: Examiner: ORAL SCORES: For each of the 5 language categories select one description in each line 1. Fluency & Confidence 2. Pronunciation & Overall comprehensibility 3. Accuracy and Appropriate use of language 4. Range of language & Vocabulary 5. Listening Comprehension TOTAL Add up Nºs in each column Starter (0-1) Elementary (1-2) Cannot construct basic sentences for information exchange Very difficult to understand Constructs sentences for basic personal information exchange Pre-Intermediate (3-4) Can connect sentences to express brief opinion / description Intermediate (5-6) Can structure a complex description / opinion. Relies on literal translation Upper-Intermediate (7-8) Does not hesitate when constructing sentences. Can speak about unfamiliar topics Advanced (9) Can express without signs of translation and on both familiar and non-familiar topics Bilingual - Native (10) Speaks 'perfectly' and abides by the concept of turn taking Difficult to understand Inconsistent clarity Clarity consistent but not accurate Consistently accurate except for non-phonetic combinations Accurate even for non-phonetic combinations. Has native regional accent or completely neutral accent Limited to some vocabulary and basic verb forms Limited to present tense, and basic modal verbs Incorporates past tense, question forms & future Incorporates conditionals & perfect tenses. Can differentiate between a wide range of tenses and their variations Accurate on variations of tenses & inverted structures Makes no mistakes and is completely appropriate and varied in language use Limited to personal information and some basic vocabulary Limited to personal information and daily routine Includes descriptors (adjectives) on familiar topics Can comment on subjects clearly but without lexical diversity Demonstrates variety, flexibility and avoids false friends Incorporates idiomatic expression and colloquialisms Demonstrates a native level language usage with turns of phrase Cannot understand simple basic question froms Can understand standard exchange questions Can understand nonstandard exchange questions that don t present complex vocabulary Can understand the main idea of an opinion but comprehension is still intuitive Can understand detailed conversations on most concrete topics Can understand abstract and unfamiliar subject contexts. Understands everything completely

15 Why do clients recommend testyourlevel? Highly competitive and economical pricing per test No logistical headaches and easy to administer Customisation of testing options Results reported in 48 hours User-friendly online Platform Client Specific Interface available when requested No special software requirements or sound recording Flexible access from company intranet How can testyourlevel be used? Staff / Employee Profiles For Organizations who want to assess the language levels of their staff and employees for training purposes and to help in the identification of training partners and programmes. Carrying out Language Audits and Needs Analysis As part of the process of analyzing complete skills profiles companies want to assess language ability in order to help in the estimation, identification and allocation of training budgets. This is also used when the need arises to analyze individual or collective training needs and create suitable training profiles. Measuring Progress & Effectiveness Organizations need to evaluate training partners and programmes at periodic intervals to assess their viability and effectiveness. Interviewing candidates and Selection Processes Helping companies review and evaluate candidates and potential employees as part of their overall selection and screening process and providing vital information on their language abilities. You are now ready to take the testyourlevel Certification test! Good luck!