Development And Standardisation Of English Language Proficiency Test For 8th Grade Students

Abstract

In a rapidly globalizing world, the English language has established itself as a linguafranca internationally among the speakers of different languages as well as in a multilingual country like India. Thus, in this scenario, learners of English as a Second Language (ESL) need to possess not only the knowledge of the English language, but also the ability to use it for practical purposes. But it is usually seen that in Indian classrooms, barring a few exceptions as in the case of some well-equipped, resource-rich schools, ESL teaching-learning and assessment focuses more on the development and assessment of Reading and Writing skills with hardly any scope for the enhancement and assessment of the Listening and Speaking skills. This is also evident from the written-test (achievement test) format for the evaluation of language-subjects rather than proficiency-test format which is more suitable for a comprehensive assessment in language. But the importance and relevance of proficiency tests, is emphasized by the National Focus Group Position Paper on Teaching of English-NCERT (2006) too, wherein it is stated that “Language evaluation need not be tied to ‘achievement’ with respect to particular syllabi, but must be reoriented to the measurement of language proficiency. National benchmarks for language proficiency need to be evolved”. Against this backdrop, a need was felt by the researcher to develop and standardize a proficiency
test for English language skills for 8th grade students and this paper discusses the process of development and standardization of English Language Proficiency Test (ELPT).