This article details the challenges and best practices of evaluating second language learners for placement into postsecondary Spanish language courses. The literature on testing for placement purposes in second language acquisition and language testing provides a great deal of insight, but language programs must make many decisions as well that…

Cognitive diagnostic models (CDMs) have received much interest within the field of language testing over the last decade due to their great potential to provide diagnostic feedback to all stakeholders and ultimately improve language teaching and learning. A large number of studies have demonstrated the application of CDMs on advanced large-scale…

The Applied Language Centre at University College Dublin offers foreign language modules to students in ten languages at CEFR [Common European Framework of Reference for Languages] levels ranging from A1 to B2. Efforts have been underway in the Centre to standardise the assessment components across languages to ensure parity between module credits…

This study addresses the validation of an oral proficiency test by examining the language that is obtained from the items presented in the test. The study focused on the language elicited by a form of the Simulated Oral Proficiency Interview (SOPI), the Spanish version of the Texas Oral Proficiency Test (TOPT). The TOPT is used to measure the oral…