Assessing Web-based English Proficiency Tests

Roberta Grandi

Università della Valle d’Aosta

The materials here enclosed are the preliminary result of an ongoing research project.

The present study aims not at providing a list of the best and worse online tests since few months after the publication it would be irremediably outdated. The first purpose is to study the current offer and verify some preliminary assumptions of the author. The second is to provide stimuli and suggestions for developers of online tests for the future. The third is to provide EFL teachers and learners with an assessment model of web-based proficiency tests which has been drafted according to ideas and guidelines suggested by literature and direct experience.

The material is organized as follows:

• First, a bibliography of the most relevant and useful literature published on this subject.
• Second, the analysis of several web-based proficiency tests and the criteria according to which they have been evaluated.
• Finally, the assessment grid presenting the scores received by the assessed tests.