The BEST Plus - A New Way to Assess Oral English Skills

Carol Van Duzer
National Center for ESL Literacy Education

In this era of accountability, programs serving adult English language learners have been searching for an assessment tool that meets accountability requirements, can be administered in a reasonable amount of time, and provides feedback on learner progress and information that will assist in improving program quality. The BEST Plus responds to these needs.

Developed by the Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL), the BEST Plus is an individually administered face-to-face scripted oral interview designed to assess the English language proficiency of adult English language learners. The assessment is an adaptation of the Basic English Skills Test (BEST) Oral Interview that was developed during the early 1980s. Like the BEST, the BEST Plus assesses interpersonal conversational communication using every day language. It is able to assess a wider range of English language proficiency levels than the original BEST -- from Student Performance Level (SPL) 0 (no ability whatsoever) to SPL X (native-like proficiency). The BEST Plus integrates current knowledge in the assessment of speaking and listening skills with the latest knowledge and practice in educational measurement to present a precise and flexible oral assessment. The adaptive nature of the BEST Plus means that examinees will receive different tasks each time they take the test, particularly as their skills improve and they are administered more challenging items.

The BEST Plus comes in two versions -- a computer adaptive assessment
on CD or a semi-adaptive print-based version. The BEST Plus begins with "warm-up" items to make the examinee feel comfortable conversing with the test administrator. These include personal information questions that are commonly asked of English language learners (e.g., What languages do you speak?). The examinees are then administered several sets of thematically related questions on topics such as health, recreation, and education.

In the computer-adaptive version, the test items are delivered via a computer. The test administrator asks the examinee a question presented on the computer screen, listens to the examinee's response, determines the score for that item, and enters the score into the computer. The computer then selects the next test item, choosing items most appropriate for the examinee according to the scores entered for each response. The only time the examinee sees the computer screen is if the test item involves a picture. At the end of each interview, the computer automatically generates a score report. This report includes the examinee's scaled score, SPL Level, National Reporting System (NRS) level, and sub-scores for listening comprehension, language complexity, and communication. The time it takes to administer this version of the test ranges from 5-15 minutes, depending upon the ability level of the examinee. Generally, examinees with higher language proficiency have more to say, increasing the testing time.

In the print-based version, a quick locator test determines the level of test items (1, 2, or 3) that will most efficiently determine the functioning level of the examinee. These items are arranged in fixed-form level tests. The test
administrator asks the examinee each item on the level test, scores the items, and marks the score on a score sheet. When the test is completed, the test administrator can total up the score to receive an estimate of the examinee's proficiency. A more precise level can be determined by entering the score data into a simple computer program that generates the same score report as the computer adaptive version. The print-based version of the test takes approximately 10-12 minutes to administer. There are three forms of the print-based version so that pre- and post- tests can be administered without compromising the validity of the test.

For both the computer-adaptive and print-based versions, the test administrator uses the same rubric to guide scoring decisions. Each examinee response is scored for three aspects of language:

Listening comprehension refers to how well the examinee understood the question.

Language complexity refers to how well the examinee organized and elaborated the response.

Communication refers to how clearly the examinee communicated meaning.

As the first computer-adaptive oral language assessment for adult English language learners, the BEST Plus is breaking new ground. At the same time, the BEST Plus is responsive to the needs of the field for an assessment tool that can link learner progress to accountability purposes, produce diagnostic information, be administered quickly, remain easy to score, and generate a new version of test questions each time it is administered.

The BEST Plus will be available from the Center for Applied Linguistics
in late March 2003. For additional information, visit the BEST Plus web page at http://www.cal.org/BEST/compbest.htm.

Carol Van Duzer is the Training and Technical Assistance Coordinator
at the National Center for ESL Literacy Education (NCLE) in Washington, DC.

Originally published in Adventures in Assessment, Volume 15 (Spring 2003),
SABES/World Education, Boston, MA, Copyright 2003.

Funding support for the publication of this document on the Web provided in part by the Ohio State Literacy Resource Center as part of the LINCS Assessment Special Collection.