Computerized Testing of Nonparticipatory L2 Listening Comprehension Proficiency: An ESL Prototype Development Effort

Abstract

operational the construct of foreign/second language (L2) proficiency, researchers and practitioners continually debate theories concerning the nature of language proficiency (10; 21; 22), the functional relationship of proficiency to classroom instruction and materials development (4; 9; 26; 30; 42; 53; 60), and the measurement of its component skills (6; 11; 18; 24; 28; 31; 33; 35; 54). However, even as the debates rage about the definition of the construct and about the validity and utility of various kinds of proficiency measures, the perceived need grows for valid, reliable, and cost-efficient proficiency tests for use in education, industry, and government. In fact, although a decade has passed since the President's Commission on Foreign Language and International Studies recommended that a common, nationally recognized standard for measuring developed foreign language (FL) proficiency be adopted in this country (56: p. 23), the imperative for developing methods of assessing FL proficiency is almost as great today as it was in the early 1980s. The need to create tests of proficiency in the less commonly taught languages (LCTs), especially in the area of listening comprehension, is particularly acute. In their 1982 survey of materials development needs in the LCTs in the United States, Clark and Johnson asserted that no appropriate and readily available external-to-program measures of developed functional language proficiency existed for many of the LCTs at that time (p. 69). As the 1990s begin, oral proficiency measures and guidelines for some of the LCTs have been created, but the situation has not changed appreciably for the LCTs as far as the assessment of listening comprehension proficiency is concerned. The American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) and the Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL), for example, are engaged in developing oral proficiency guidelines and tests for certain LCTs: Swahili, Lingala, and Hausa (54: p. 108). However, tests of proficiency in listening comprehension have yet to be devised for these languages, for many of the other LCTs, and, for that matter, even for many of the commonly taught lan-