Research Projects

ISU English Placement Test
(EPT)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ISU EPT revision project started in Fall 2006 and has four primary goals:

  1. Switching from paper-based to web-based innovative test
  2. Revision and creation of task items
  3. Incorporation of a speaking component into the test
  4. More fast and effective test result reports

The feasibility of web-based test delivery and availability of technical resources have been explored so far. In the course of doing it, WebCT (Gold) has been investigated as one of possible web-hosting programs. However, we found that the associated test-writing program, Respondus, does not support advanced-level language codings and thus that our ideal test formats may not be created with that program. Also, WebCT (Gold) is more or less inadequatet in retrieving test results for statistical analysis. Encountering many technical limitations, the project is now gearing toward revising test contents--that is, test items--while continuing to explore available web-based resources. (For this project, I am working with Prof. Volker Hegelheimer and Prof. Dan Douglas.)

 
Establishing ESL learner proficiency-level indicators Under Prof. Carol Chapelle's supervision, this project was intended to establish grammar indicators of ESL learners' proficiency levels. This project was carried out in conjunction with the EPT project, making use of EPT test takers' short writing samples as data. The project began in Spring, 2007 and was continued until Spring 2008.

See the handout of our presentation at CALICO 2008.