Test Development

Staff in the Centre for Applied Linguistics have been involved in a number of test development projects. They have experience both in item writing as well as in item reviewing. They have also been involved in supervising teams of test developers.

For further information on test development, please contact us at C.Harsch@warwick.ac.uk.


WELT - The Warwick English Language Test

The University of Warwick has decided to withdraw the Warwick English Language Test (WELT) with effect from 16 March 2010. More
 
 Current Test Development Projects
CET-4 Item Review Project: We are currently cooperating with the National College English Testing Committee, based at Shanghai Jiaotong University, People's Republic of China. A team of trained item reviewers is revising items for the computer-delivered version of the College English Test Band 4 (CET-4) . The CET is taken by non-English majors at universities all over China, and has about 18 million candidates each year. There are currently two levels: CET-4 and CET-6. The test is developed and administered by the National CET Committee on behalf of the Higher Education Department of the Chinese Ministry of Education.


Completed Test Development
 

Gerard Sharpling was involved in developing and administering the Warwick English Language Test (WELT) from 1996 until 2010.

Claudia Harsch was involved in developing standards-based tests for English as a foreign language in Germany. The Institute for Educational Progress (IQB, Humboldt-University Berlin) is commissioned with the evaluation of the German Educational Standards: www.iqb.hu-berlin.de. Claudia was involved in supervising the test development process from 2005 onwards, and from 2007 to 2009 she was scientific project director of the English Test Project.

Claudia Harsch worked in the DESI study (German-English Pupils’ Proficiency study) from 2002 to 2005, a large-scale study comparing 9th graders’ proficiency in German as first language and English as foreign language. For more information, click here.