ESOL Placement Testing

[Taina260]

Dear Forum:

I have recently been hired to work with student speakers of other languages, who work as cafeteria employees of a major food preparing company. The company delivers foods to all the public schools in an urban city near me. I am not employed by the company, but by an educational institution as a ESOL teacher.

My question: Are there standard placement tests for these adult students? If so where do I get it? If not, can I make up my own? Please help, I need to start next week. I was just given the position yesterday. Thanks so much, inadvance.

Also, please tell me how long do you think it will take to test a student? 2 hours or more?

T

[harmony]

Hi there:

I can certainly sympathize with your position. There are certain tests out there such as The Best Test which are designed for immigrants and refugees, however these tests are used to place students into a curriculum that correlates with the results. In your case, I suspect that there probably is no curriculum and that a standard ESOL textbook will not be particularly useful as you are actually teaching Engilsh for a Special Purpose -the workplace.

In light of the unique context in which you find yourself, I recommend that you do some kind of needs analysis from the perspective of the management and the students. Talk to the people who have contracted with your company and find out the types of language issues and needs that they have. Additionally, talk to the employees -get a translater if needed- and find out what they would like to get out of a class. If you don't get feedback from the students as well, you are likely not to have good motivation. From this information, design your own test -to the best of your ability- that assesses these things and try to seperate their abilities according to however many levels you are allowed.

Having done workplace ESOL in the past in similar circumstances, I suggest that you base your curriculum on real life communication tasks on the job to satisy the management, and in life skills (going to the doctor, looking for an apartment, shopping, etc.- to satisfy your students. Good luck!

[Eric18]

Thank you for sharing this excellent discussion on a topic that has puzzled, even frustrated me.

The CASAS, TOEIC, and Accuplacer all have advantages and disadvantages - and none really meets the actual needs for many employers. Focusing on a needs assessment and communication skills makes sense - and logically leads to the creation of a unique workplace curriculum.

While I can't stand standardized exams, I also understand their time-saving value. If you had to choose a standardized exam for low-level English language learners in a diverse American workplace environment, which would you recommend? Why?

Consider me curious.