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An Assessment Plan for High school EFL students in New Delhi, India

Linguistics 517: Evaluation and Measurement in TESOL

Shreya Khosla

April 22nd, 2020

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Abstract
Assessment plays a pivotal role in English as a Foreign Language (EFL). The assessment
and the feedback the learners get influence their motivation towards using the target language in
real-world communication. Communication skills is one of the elements of generic/soft skills
that are essential among university students. EFL high school learners in India learn English so
that they can have a better life when and after studying abroad in North America and/or Canada.
The assessment approach that best fits this learner group is a communicative approach. The
author rates the qualities of usefulness of the developed assessment approach from most
important to least important. Also, the learner needs, and interests are kept in mind while
developing the assessment approach along with the course aims, objectives and intended learning
outcomes.
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Table of contents

Abstract …………………………………………………………………………………………...2

Part I: Background Information …………………………………………………………………..4

Introduction ……………………………………………………………………………….4

Educational Setting ……………………………………………………………………….4

Curricular Elements ……………………………………………………………………....6

Part II: The Assessment Approach …………………………………………………………….…9

Assessment Approach ……………………………………………………………………9

Part III: Assessment Analysis ………………………………………………………………..….12

Pedagogical Usefulness …………………………………………………………………12

Qualities of Usefulness ……………………………………………………………...…..13

Part IV: Conclusion ……………………………………………………………………………..16

Conclusion ………………………………………………………………………………16

References …………………………………………………………………………………….....17

Appendix ……………………………………………………………………………………...…19

Appendix A: Planning for Learning Chart …………………………………………..…..19

Appendix B: Assessment Plan for Unit ……………………………………………...….21

Appendix C: Assessment Tool 1 ………………………………………………………..22

Appendix D: Assessment Tool 2 …………………………………………………….….23

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Part I: Background Information

Introduction

Assessment has a vital role in education, and it has a critical role in the teaching process.

Through appropriate assessment, teachers can classify, grade their students and give feedback

accordingly. The educational context addressed in this paper is EFL classes in India for high

school students from 17 to 19 years who want to study abroad mainly in North America and/or

Canada. The chosen assessment approach is communicative approach which is meant to be used

for this learner group. The purpose of this approach is to help the learners to develop the

communicative skills for functioning in an academic context. It will help the learners in their

personal development while building their generic skills/soft skills, helping them being

collaborative, learning how to negotiate, give and receive information/feedback and their

listening and speaking skills.

The assessment is based on topics which the learners will come across in their daily

university life. The tasks for assessment are personal and reflect real-world English language

uses. There are three parts of this applied research report. Part I gives the background

information of the learners and information regarding the educational setting and the curricular

elements. Part II describes the assessment approach which is followed by the assessment

Analysis in Part III that also includes the pedagogical usefulness and the qualities of usefulness

ranked from most important to least important.

Educational Setting

The setting of the course for which the assessment approach is developed is an EFL

setting in New Delhi, India. It is a government funded language school for high school students
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who wants to go to North America and/or Canada for further studies. The language school

focuses to improve the learners language skills within the context of their needs and interests. It

helps them in being confident in speaking the target language along with empowering them as

individuals to actualize their potential. The type of syllabus used by this language school is

situational/ topical based as well as skill and communication based. All of these syllabus focuses

on situations and topics the learners will come across in a university setting and the skills, mainly

speaking and listening they will use in communicating with the English speakers.

The learners are approximately between 17 to 19 age group and are born in India. They

are at B1 level according to Common European Framework of Reference for languages (CEFR).

CEFR is “an international standard for describing language ability” and it “describes the

language ability on a six-point scale from A1 for beginners, up to C2 for those who have

mastered a language” (Cambridge English, n.d.). At this level, the learners can “understand the

main points of clear standard input on familiar matters regularly encountered in work, school,

leisure, etc.” (Council of Europe, 2001, p. 24) and can “produce simple connected text on topics

which are familiar or of personal interest” (p. 24). The learners want to develop their

communicative skills focusing mainly on enhancing their listening and speaking skills for

functioning in an academic context.

The assessment approach outlined below is designed for a listening and speaking course

in the language school for high school students. The learners meet for their class thrice a week

for three hours. The purpose of this course is to prepare the learners for the real-life conversation

topics they will come across in their universities. For example, asking their classmates for notes,

getting/ asking for information about a course or a club from fellow students, arriving late to

class and asking what the professor has given. The learners function at a CEFR B1 proficiency
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level and want to develop communicative competence in listening and speaking skills to better

communicate with English speakers around them in the university.

According to Richards (2017), a skill-based syllabus approach focuses on “different

underlying abilities that are involved in using a language for purposes” such as listening,

speaking (p.201). It can include skills like using communication strategies, recognizing key

information, using discourse markers such as “oh”, “well”. Based on the principle that “people

learn a language more successfully when they use the language as means of acquiring

information, rather than as an end in itself” (Richards, 2017, p. 66). This can help the learners is

better learning the target language and using it outside the classroom.

Curricular Elements

It is important to consider all of the needs of the learners and their reasons for learning

English. Within this course, the learners have the same needs and reasons for learning English.

All the learners enrolled in the course need to develop their communication skills in the

university context and for functioning in an academic context. The students are prepared for the

basic skills they would need in order to get them ready for situations they would commonly

encounter in daily life (Richards, 2017, p. 169).

In this assessment approach, there are several needs of the learners which the assessment

tasks focus on. The needs of the learners depend on what type of skills they are focusing on such

as listening and speaking. For functioning well in an academic context, the learners will need

pragmatic knowledge which according to (Koran & Koran, 2017) is the “knowledge of linguistic

resources and the ability to use and interpret them appropriately in various contexts” (p. 88). In a

nutshell, the different ways in which language is used in different setting and for different
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purposes in pragmatic knowledge. It is important for a learner to have pragmatic knowledge

while learning a language and also when being assessed on. The learners will need it when

talking to English speakers in a real-life context.

The learners will need strategic competence which is important to develop their

communicative competence in order to enable them to communicate successfully in the real

world. According to Bachman (1990), strategic competence embraces the aspect of assessment

where the learners set their communicative goals and assess the language needed to perform the

task. The learners will also need listening and speaking skills in order to communicate

effectively in the university context.

Setting aims for the course is an important thing to do as it brings out a change in the

learners (Richards, 2017, p. 141). There are several aims for the course overall for giving a

student an effective learning experience which are as follows:

1. Able to perform a range of spoken communicative tasks appropriate to their proficiency

level and related to their personal needs.
2. Able to comprehend spoken discourse appropriate to their proficiency level and related to
their personal needs.
3. Able to produce comprehensible spoken language appropriate to their proficiency level
and related to their personal needs, showing evidence of pragmatic knowledge, and
strategic competence.
4. Able to make use of a range of soft skills appropriate to their proficiency level and related
to their personal needs.

According to Council of Europe (2001), a B1 proficiency level can do the following

things regarding their listening and speaking skills:

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1. Can communicate with some confidence on familiar routine and non-routine matters

related to his/her interests.

2. Can exchange, check and confirm information, deal with less routine situations and

explain why something is a problem.

3. Can enter unprepared into conversation on familiar topics, express personal opinions and

exchange information on topics that are familiar, of personal interest or pertinent to

everyday life (e.g. family, hobbies, work, travel and current events).

4. Can follow clearly articulated speech directed at him/her in everyday conversation,

though will sometimes have to ask for repetition of particular words and phrases.

5. Can maintain a conversation or discussion but may sometimes be difficult to follow when

trying to say exactly what he/she would like to.

6. Can compare and contrast alternatives, discussing what to do, where to go, who or which

to choose, etc.

7. Can generally follow the main points in an informal discussion with friends provided

speech is clearly articulated in standard dialect.

8. Can make his/her opinions and reactions understood as regards solutions to problems or

practical questions of where to go, what to do, how to organize an event (e.g. an outing).

9. Can exchange, check and confirm accumulated factual information on familiar routine

and non-routine matters within his/her field with some confidence.

The general objectives regarding the assessment approach are that the learners will be

able to ask and answer questions regarding the class from their peers (See Appendix C). Also,

the learners will be able to listen for keywords for getting information from peers (See Appendix

D). The learners will fulfill the mentioned aims and objectives as they go through the course and
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will know after the assessment whether they have fulfilled the aims and objectives. The

instructional approach to be used in the course is a combination of communicative,

situational/topical and skill-based language teaching approach. The skills to be focused on are

listening and speaking skills which will be used in a communicative context.

Part II: The Assessment Approach

Assessment Approach

On the basis of context, aims and outcomes mentioned above, the assessment approach

used for the high school EFL Indian students is communicative approach which will help them

enhance their communication skills with emphasis on listening and speaking skills (See

Appendix B). The learners are assessed on their ability to ask for information regarding a topic in

a particular context through the speaking assessment task (See Appendix C). On the other hand,

the learners are assessed on their ability to comprehend information from a dialogue

conversation (See Appendix D).

There are two types of ideologies for assessment, Assessment of learning (AoL) and

Assessment for learning (AfL). According to Bennett (2017), AoL is administered at the end of

the unit. Whereas, AfL which is also known as Assessment as learning is administered during the

learning process. The mentioned assessment approach focuses on both the ideologies (See

Appendix B). The AfL in the assessment approach can be seen as the need to identify the

learners needs, planning the next unit on the basis of the assessment results and feedback given

to the students. The AoL on the other hand, can be seen as the mentioned assessment approach

which helps the learners know whether they have reached their desired goals through assessment

of the listening and speaking skills.

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The means by which the mentioned assessment task will be carried out includes

worksheets, pedagogic tasks and authentic tasks. According to Halliday, SFL aims to explain

how individuals use language and how language is structured for its different usages. (as cited in

Figueiredo, 2010, p. 121). The assessment tasks help the learners in fulfilling the aims and

objectives they have for learning the target language. For example, the speaking assessment task

helps the learners in practicing in using the target language for communicating with their peers in

a particular context. The learners are provided with authentic dialogue conversation in the task

for real-life experience (See Appendix C). Simultaneously, the listening task is structured for the

learners to be familiar with the target language and comprehend the desired information. The

learners need to do a worksheet as they go through the listening task. Both the tasks will help the

learners in developing their communication skills which they will need to function properly in an

academic context.

The intended learning outcomes of the assessment approach based on the goals of the

course are enhanced communicative skills with English speakers, enhanced interpersonal,

listening and speaking skills which is developed through real-life conversation dialogues. It is an

essential part that how second language learners acquire language when they collaborate and

interact with other learners (Lightbown & Spada, 2013, p. 119).

It is crucial for the learners to be exposed to real life dialogues. According to Bao (2013),

the learners need to learn to “take control of their own performance from their own perspective

rather…it will succeed in reflecting much real-life communication where verbal utterances come

voluntarily from the speaker’s personal decisions” (p. 417). The assessment approach provides

the learners with opportunities to be able to make decisions on what to say in a particular
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situation. For example, the speaking assessment task asks the learners to have a dialogue

conversation with their peers about arriving late to class and asking related questions.

The assessment approach provides the learners with two assessment activities which

assesses their listening and speaking skills. Both the assessment tasks have one common topic of

‘arriving late to class’. The assessment tool 1 asks the learners to have a pair/group conversation

with their peers on this topic. The learners are given two scenarios which they can talk about in

their assessment task. The learners are provided with a rubric, so they know what the teacher is

looking for when assessing their speaking skills. The learners are scored out of 25. (See

Appendix C). The intended learning outcomes for this task are as follows:

1. Students will be able to ask questions regarding a topic in a particular context from their

peers.

2. Students will be able to answer specific questions regarding a particular context.

The assessment tool 2 assesses the learners’ listening skills. Hill and Tomlinson (2013)

states that the learners need to be taught a particular listening subskill such as listening for

specific information, gist through which they can use this subskill in real life while having a

conversation in English. The learners will be assessed on these subskills which were taught in the

course before the assessment. The learners are provided with a worksheet and a dialogue

conversation between two students in a university context. They are asked to answer the

questions with the exact words they hear in the conversation and get one point for each correct

answer (See Appendix D). The intended learning outcomes for this task are as follows:

1. Students will be able to listen for keywords for getting information from peers.

2. Students will be able to comprehend information from a conversation.

3. Students will demonstrate accurate listening comprehension from a conversation.

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The learners will be able to fulfill these intended learning objectives which will help them

enhance their conversation, listening, speaking and interpersonal skills which they will need to

function appropriately in an academic context in the university. According to Zuengler & Miller

(2006) “Participation in [social] activities is both the product and the process of learning” (p. 38).

This assessment approach will help the learners in getting familiar with the social topics they

may need to talk about while they study abroad.

Part III: Assessment Analysis

Pedagogical Usefulness

After the assessment is done for the learners’ listening and speaking skills, the teacher

has to make certain decisions such as curriculum adjustments, supplementary work based on the

results of the assessments. After the assessment, the teacher will know whether the learners

fulfilled the intended learning outcomes of the assessment task. Test-takers’ results are

independent. That means the score results indicate test-takers’ language performance based on

the criteria instead of indicating the rank-ordering of the candidates who take the test on the same

day (Renaissance, 2019). This will help the teacher to plan their next lessons better according to

what the learners need for their improvement in the certain skills specified above.

The classrooms can be more interactive where the time is invested by the learners in

communicating and interacting with each other, doing activities rather than teacher telling or

instructing the learners and at the end learning doing the assessment tasks (Garcia & Sylvan,

2011, p.390). Also, motivation plays a pivotal role in the learning process such as the amount of

effort that individuals put into learning, the duration that they persevere at learning, and how
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successful they will eventually be at using the language (Ushioda, 2009, p. 218). This according

to Lightbown & Spada (2013) can build a desire for more contact with the speakers of the

language.

The learners will benefit from the assessment approach mentioned above. The learners

will have more confidence in talking with the English speakers and will be able to understand

people with different accents. The assessment will also help them in improving their

pronunciation skills. The weaker students will get additional homework which will focus on the

areas where the learners need to improve.

Qualities of Usefulness

The qualities of usefulness are divided into six categories according to Brown &

Abeywickrama (2010). It can be ranked in order of most important to least important. The

importance placed on each of the qualities is directly dependent on the context, curriculum, and

assessment approach as described above. For the mentioned learner group and the suggested

assessment plan, the qualities of usefulness are divided as follows:

1. Authenticity

2. Impact

3. Practicality

4. Interactiveness

5. Validity

a. Content Validity

b. Construct Validity
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6. Reliability
a. Rater Reliability

For this assessment approach, the most important quality of usefulness is Authenticity.

As Brown & Abeywickrama (2010) states that an authentic task “contains language that is as

natural as possible” (p. 37) and “offers tasks that replicate real-world tasks” (p.37). The Speaking

assessment task includes the scenario of ‘arriving late to the class’ which the learners will come

across some or the other time when studying in the university (See Appendix C). Also, the

Listening assessment task has the real-life conversation between two students (See Appendix D).

Both the assessment tools provide the learners in fulfilling their goals of learning the language.

According to Gronlund & Waugh (2008), the assessment can affect a test taker in many

ways such as their “study habits, motivation, attitude toward school-work” (as cited in Brown &

Abeywickrama, 2010, p. 35). This assessment approach impacts the learner in a positive way as

the learners get feedback according to the rubric provided (See Appendix C). The feedback

learners receive on the tests can have a positive impact on them as it can be encouraging to

students, boosting their confidence and getting them excited about continuing to learn English.

A practical test’s scoring and evaluation seems feasible and can be finished by a test taker

within a time limit as argued by Brown & Abeywickrama (2010). This assessment approach

meets these requirements of being a practical approach for the learners which makes it an

important quality. This approach requires minimal resources mainly in order to complete the

listening test. The learners need to have a writing tool such as a pen or a pencil to answer the

questions given to them (See Appendix D). Also, the learners have a time limit for their speaking

and listening assessments.

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The assessment approach has high interactiveness as the “Test tasks involve a test taker’s

individual characteristics in carrying out the task” (Moulden, personal communication, 2020).

The learners have to construct their own speech in while having a conversation with their

classmates about the class (See Appendix C) which involves their topical knowledge about the

topic of ‘arriving late to class’ and their language ability which is important for a language

learner. The learner can relate the topic to their own knowledge and experience which makes it a

high interactive assessment approach.

Another important quality of usefulness of this assessment approach is content validity.

The learners are required to perform the tasks which were already taught to them in the

classroom and are being assessed on (Brown & Abeywickrama (2010, p. 42). For example, the

learners are required to have a dialogue conversation with their peers as their speaking

assessment task about ‘arriving late to class’ and asking related questions about what has been

done and what the professor has given till now (See Appendix C). The learners are taught this

type of scenario in the classroom and probably will enact it in their real-life when studying in the

university in North America or Canada.

In the assessment approach, the other type of validity to be measured is Construct

validity. Construct validity is whether the assessment measures the ability it claims to measure

(Moulden, personal communication, 2020) and the test accounts for theoretical constructs

(Brown & Abeywickrama, 2010, p. 33). The assessment approach measures the ability to

comprehend spoken discourse and produce comprehensible spoken language which is important

for a language learner to achieve their desired goals. For example, the Speaking task asks the

learners to construct a dialogue conversation with their peers (See Appendix C) and in the
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Listening task, the learners are asked to comprehend the conversation between two students and

listen for particular information in order to answer the questions correctly (See Appendix D).

The least important quality of usefulness for this assessment approach is Rater Reliability

because “Human error, subjectivity and bias may enter into the scoring process” (Brown &

Abeywickrama, 2010, p.28). The raters can be bias in their scoring especially in the Speaking

assessment task. A reliable test is “consistent and dependable” and have “uniform rubrics for

scoring/evaluation” (Brown & Abeywickrama, 2010, p. 27). The assessment tasks fulfill those

requirements of having a rubric for assessing the learners (See Appendix C), yet, there can be a

bias scoring from the raters’ part which can affect the score of the learner.

Part IV: Conclusion

Conclusion

The combination of communicative, situational/ topical and skill- based language

teaching approach used for EFL high school students in New Delhi India focuses on enhancing

their listening, speaking and communicative skills through this assessment approach. This

approach provides the learners with real-world topic which will help them to better function in

an academic context. With the main focus on listening and speaking assessment, the learners will

improve their communication skills along with strategic competence and pragmatic knowledge

which will help them in communicating with English speakers in the real-world.

The most important qualities of usefulness of this assessment approach are authenticity,

interactiveness and practicality which helps the assessment tasks to be beneficial for the learners

in the particular context. This will benefit the teaching and learning during the course in a way

that the learners will be able to be collaborative with their peers and practice the skills they will

need outside the classroom in real-world. Afterwards, the learners will be able to compose their
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thoughts while speaking and listen for particular information while listening to and having

conversations which will help them better facilitate in their university.

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References

Bachman, Lyle F. (1990). Fundamental consideration in language testing. Oxford: Oxford

University Press.

Bao, Dat (2013). Developing materials for speaking skills. In B. Tomlinson (Ed.), Developing

materials for language teaching (pp. 407-428). UK: Bloomsbury.

Bennett, Jana (2017). Assessment FOR Learning vs. Assessment OF Learning. Retrieved from

https://www.pearsonassessments.com/professional-assessments/blog-

webinars/blog/2017/12/assessment-for-learning-vs--assessment-of-learning.html

Brown, Douglas H., & Abeywickrama, Priyanvada (2010). Language assessment: Principles

and classroom practices. White Plains, NY: Pearson Education. Cambridge English.

(n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.cambridgeenglish.org/exams-and-tests/cefr/.

Cambridge English. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.cambridgeenglish.org/exams-and-

tests/cefr/.

Council of Europe. (2001). Common European framework of reference for languages: Learning,

teaching, assessment. Cambridge University Press. Retrieved from

https://rm.coe.int/1680459f97

Figueiredo, Debora. (2010). Context, register and genre: Implications for language education.

Revista Signos, 43, (119-141).

García, Ofelia., & Sylvan, Claire. E. (2011). Pedagogies and practices in multilingual

classrooms: Singularities in pluralities. The Modern Language Journal, 95(3), 385-400.

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Hill, David A., & Tomlinson, Brian. (2013). Coursebook listening activities. In Tomlinson,

Brian (Ed.). (2014). Developing materials for language teaching, 2nd ed. (pp. 429-441).

New York: Bloomsbury Academic.

Koran, Elvira., & Koran, Selcuk. (2017). Pragmatic Competence as an Integral Part of EFL

Teaching. International Journal of Social Sciences & Educational Studies, 4(3).

Lightbown, Patsy. M. & Spada, Nina. (2013). How languages are learned (4th ed.) New York:

Oxford University Press.

Richards, Jack C. (2017). Curriculum development in language teaching, 2nd ed. Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press.

Ushioda, Ema (2009). A person-in-context relational view of emergent motivation, self and

identity. In Zoltán Dörnyei & Ema Ushioda (Eds.), Motivation, language identity and the

L2 self (215-228). Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters.

What's the difference? Criterion-referenced tests vs. norm-referenced tests. (2019). Retrieved

from https://www.renaissance.com/2018/07/11/blog-criterion-referenced-tests-norm-

referenced-tests/

Zuengler, Jane & Miller, Elizabeth R. (2006). Cognitive and sociocultural perspectives: Two

parallel SLA worlds? TESOL Quarterly, 40(1), 35-58.

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Appendix

Appendix A:

Planning for Learning Chart

  

Educational
EFL Program/ Language school Key points
Context

High school students in India who are

going to study in North American
Who are your universities and need to learn English for
CEFR B1
learners? everyday use in a university context. 

(This is not an EAP program)

 High school students in

 Pragmatic knowledge India preparing for going
 Strategic Competence to North America for
What are
further studies but need
their  Communication skills in the
basic skills to
 Needs? university context/
communicate with English
(5-6) communicative skills for
speakers.
functioning in academic context
 Communicative macro
 Speaking and Listening skills
skills

Course   Able to perform a range of  Develop learners’ skills for

Aims spoken communicative tasks
(3-4) appropriate to their proficiency
level and related to their personal
needs
 Able to comprehend spoken
discourse appropriate to their
proficiency level and related to
their personal needs
 Able to produce comprehensible
effective spoken university
communication
 Strengthen learners’
pragmatic knowledge
and strategic competence
for functioning in an
academic context
 21

spoken language appropriate to

their proficiency level and
related to their personal needs,
showing evidence of word
recognition skills, pragmatic
knowledge, and strategic
competence.
 Able to make use of a range of
soft skills appropriate to their
proficiency level and related to
their personal needs.

 Communicative approach
 Real-world tasks
Instructional  Situation / topical based
resembling those in the
Approach approach
university.
 Skill based approach

Assess:
 Learners’ strategic
 Communicative approach
competence
Assessment  Situation / topical based
 Learners’ pragmatic
Approach approach
knowledge
 Skill based approach
 Learners’ communication
skills

 Progress (Assessment of/for

 Frequent assessment of
Assessment learning)
communicative skills in a
Purposes  Achievement (Assessment of
university situation.
learning)

 Worksheets (Assessment of/for  Progress tests focusing on

learning)
Assessment  Pedagogic LSRW tasks
Means (Assessment of/for learning)
 Authentic LSRW tasks
(Assessment of/for learning)
skills developed in
authentic tasks
 Authentic Listening and
Speaking tasks to develop
communication skills.

⬇
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 Enhanced communicative skills

with English speakers.  Develop communication
Intended
Outcomes  Enhanced interpersonal skills. skills through real-life
conversation dialogues.

Appendix B:

Assessment Plan for Unit

 
Textbook title:  Unit title: 
Arriving late to class

Unit Assessment Assessment Intended Outcomes

Objectives Tools for/of
learning?

Speaking: Role-play Assessment for Teacher will assess students’

Students will be able to learning ability to ask for information
ask questions regarding regarding a topic in a particular
the class from their context.
peers.
Students will be able to ask
Assessment of specific questions in context.
learning

Listening: Students’ Assessment for Teacher will assess students’

Students will be able to worksheets learning listening skills and the ability to
listen for keywords for comprehend information from a
getting information from conversation.
peers.
Assessment of Students will demonstrate
learning accurate listening comprehension
from a conversation.

Appendix C:

Assessment Tool 1
Title: Speaking
Scenario 1:
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Students will be put in groups of two to three. One student will arrive to the classroom late and
ask for the information on what the professor has given. The other student will give information
about the class. The students will do a role-play. The students can make a list of questions with
their groups before starting the role-play. The students will get 3-4 minutes for this task.

Scenario 2:
Students will be put in groups of two to three. Two students will be arriving at the end of the
class. The class is already over. They will ask their classmates the information on what happened
in the class. The students will do a role-play. The students can make a list of questions with their
groups before starting the role-play. The students will get 3-4 minutes for this task.

The students will be assessed on 

Fluency: Can keep going comprehensively, even though pausing for grammatical and
lexical planning and repair is very evident, especially in longer stretches of
free production

Interaction:  Can initiate, maintain and close simple face-to-face conversation on topics that
are familiar or of personal interest. Can repeat back what someone has said to
confirm mutual understanding

Range:  Has enough language to get by, with sufficient vocabulary to express
him/herself with some hesitation and circumlocutions.

Accuracy Uses reasonably accurately a repertoire of frequently used ‘routines’ and

patterns associated with more predictable situations

Pronunciation is clearly intelligible even if occasional mispronunciations

Phonological occur.
control: 

Source:
https://qualifications.pearson.com/content/dam/pdf/pearson-test-of-english/pte-general-
guides/guide-level-2.pdf
Appendix D:

Assessment Tool 2
Title: Listening

Listening audio:
https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/skills/listening/intermediate-b1/arriving-late-to-class

Listen to the conversation between two students and answer the following questions:
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1. How long ago did the class start?

_____________________________________________________________________

2. When will they get their midterms back?

_____________________________________________________________________

3. What page are they on?

a. 32
b. 56
c. 34
d. 43

4. What is the full form of SEO?

__________________________________________________________________

5. Which class does the man think he is in?

__________________________________________________________________

Transcript:

Student 1: Sorry. Sorry, excuse me. I'm just … just coming to sit over here. Phew. Hey. How's it
going? So, what have I missed?
Student 2: Nothing. He just started around five minutes ago.
Student 1: Did he say anything about the mid-term?
Student 2: What?
Student 1: About the mid-term tests. Did he say anything about when he was going to hand them
back?
Student 2: He's almost finished marking them, he said. We get them next Tuesday.
Student 1: I'm sorry, I didn't catch that. When do we get them?
 25

Student 2: Tuesday. Next Tuesday.

Student 1: OK. Got it. Sorry. What page are we meant to be on?
Student 2: Page 34.
Student 1: Page … 34. Oh, wait. I don't have my textbook. Can I … share with you? Wow. This
is hard stuff.
Student 2: Mmm.
Student 1: What does SEO mean?
Student 2: What?
Student 1: SEO. This is all about SEO, but he hasn't said what it means.
Student 2: Search engine optimisation. How to appear on internet searches.
Student 1: Internet searches. Right. Right. OK.
Student 2: He said what it meant.
Student 1: What?
Student 2: He explained it before you got here.
Student 1: Oh. Right. OK.
Student 2: Can you be quiet? I'm trying to listen to the lecture.
Student 1: So am I. Sorry. Sorry, one more question. What does this have to do with the
American Revolution?
Student 2: What?
Student 1: I don't get it. Why is he talking about search engines in a course on the American
Revolution?
Student 2: What are you talking about? This is a class on software engineering.
Student 1: You mean, it's not Early American History?
Student 2: You're in the wrong class.
Student 1: Oh, wow. Now it all makes sense. I'm so sorry.
Student 2: It's fine. 
Student 1: Here, I'll just … excuse me. I'm in the wrong class. Excuse me. Thanks. Sorry.  

Answers:
1. 5 minutes ago
2. Next Tuesday
3. C. 34
4. Search Engine Optimisation
5. Early American History