Assessing English Proficiency for University Study

English-medium institutions around the world face challenges in coping with the diverse language backgrounds of their students. This book focuses on strategies and procedures for assessing the academic language ability of incoming students so that those with significant needs can have opportunities to enhance their language skills. It draws upon a variety of contexts, with a particular focus on initiatives at universities in Australia and New Zealand to introduce post-entry language assessment (PELA) programmes. The book discusses the relative merits of the constructs of academic language proficiency and academic literacies as the basis for the assessment and also considers the diagnostic nature of such assessments. On a practical level, there is a wealth of advice on appropriate test formats, and a framework for evaluating the validity of assessments of this kind. It will be of great interest to academics and administrators concerned with the quality of teaching and learning in their institutions, as well as lecturers and tutors in EAP and academic learning programmes.

John Read is Associate Professor in Applied Language Studies at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. His research interests are in the testing of English for academic and professional purposes and second language vocabulary assessment. He is the author of Assessing Vocabulary and has been co-editor of Language Testing and President of the International Language Testing Association.

1. The Context: Students in English-medium Universities
2. Post-entry Language Assessments in Australia
3. The DELNA Programme at the University of Auckland
4. Post-entry Assessments in Other Countries
5. The Case for Introducing a Post-entry Assessment
6. Defining and Assessing Academic Language Proficiency
7. Defining and Assessing Academic Literacy
8. A Diagnostic Perspective on Post-entry Assessment
9. The Design of Academic English Assessments
10. The Validation of a Post-entry Assessment
Postscript