Page 20 - ELG2205 May Issue 480

TRENDING IN TESTING .

The new kids on the block

A look at the newest players in the test industry by Kat Bautista

ecently emerging as alternatives to
well-known tests such as the IELTS
are a new crop of fluency tests, ranging
Rfrom exams conducted at testing
centres to flexible tests you can do at home.
EFL teachers who tutor candidates should PHOTO BY MIMI THIAN ON UNSPLASH
add these new arrivals to their services. To
help them, we’ve taken snapshots of a few to
highlight what students will be encountering
and what resources teachers can make use of.
Exams similar to IELTS
Academic

Pearson Test of Academic English
Taken in a testing centre in one sitting,
Pearson’s exam comes in three parts: Speaking
and Writing, Reading, and Listening. In
the first sub-test, examinees introduce
themselves and move on to the actual test,
where they orally read and repeat texts,
describe a picture, relate the main points of a
lecture, respond to a question prompt, recap
a text and write a short essay on an assigned
topic. The reading test consists of two fill-
in-the-blank exercises, two multiple-choice
questions about the tone and substance of
given texts, and a paragraph organisation
task. In the listening portion, candidates
summarise an audio, complete transcripts
with missing words, are tested on gist and
tone, choose appropriate summaries of given
texts, pick out wrong words in a transcript
while listening to an audio and write down a
sentence after listening to a recording.
The good news: Pearson’s website offers
teachers comprehensive resources, from tips
and detailed guides to practice tests and an app
for students that features practice questions
and guides. Pearson also has a community about themselves and express their opinions details and key points, relate situations and
teachers can turn to for more resources. on a subject provided by the website. their opinions, record a sentence and talk
While not as extensive as Pearson, ETS, about given topics. Another portion, the ‘
TOEFL Essentials the company that designed the TOEFL, still writing and speaking sample’, offers employers
TOEFL Essentials covers general and provides an EdX course that guides teachers or universities samples of the test taker’s
academic English, which allows it to give and students on the exam, and its website writing and speech. Here, candidates are
examinees’ prospective universities or contains free practice tests. In addition, given two question prompts and are required
companies a picture of their classroom- and teachers can utilise several YouTube channels, to write a response for one and record a
workplace-relevant skills. It also tailors such as TOEFL Test with Teacher Luke, which spoken answer for the other.
its questions to candidates’ fluency “to offers tips and sample tests. Unfortunately, Duolingo’s website only
help [them] show [their] English-language contains a guide and a practice test. Teachers,
strengths”. The listening section contains Duolingo English Test however, can take advantage of The Language
comprehension questions for audios such Just one hour long, Duolingo’s exam mostly Gallery’s guide and YouTube, which abounds
as announcements, dialogues and lectures, comprises what they call the ‘adaptive test’, in channels offering guides and tips.
while students encounter scholarly and which consists of a battery of various question
general texts in the reading test. In the types. In the exam, candidates identify real Exams similar to IELTS General
writing exam, candidates assemble sentences words from invented ones, describe pictures
from a group of words and write prompt-based orally and in writing, transcribe a sentence Trinity London College ISE
texts and, in the speaking portion, read aloud from a recording, complete fill-in-the-blank Trinity’s test has five levels (Foundation to
and repeat audios and have an interview items, read sentences aloud, encounter texts Level IV), each slightly different from the rest,
with a pre-taped examiner. After the exam, with missing sentences and comprehension that correspond to CEFR levels starting from
candidates tape a “personal video statement” questions that test their understanding of A2, with the exception of Level IV (C2), which
20 May 2022