CETT-ELTE BUDAPEST B.Ed. Programme
TESTS OF LANGUAGE COMPETENCE (TOLC)
AFN-107 (ex AT-107) Test of Language Competence 1 (TOLC 1) (1 credit)
Time: At the end of Year 1, during the Examination Period. Candidates failing the main examination can re-take it during the subsequent Christmas Exam Period. Unlike most ELTE exams, it can only be taken once during a single exam period.
For information about signing up for TOLC, click here.
Purpose
To evaluate trainees' competences in English, confirming that they have achieved an adequate level of language proficiency for continuing into the second year.
Description
The Test of Language Competence is a fully validated proficiency exam, originally developed within CETT in consultation with the Testing Research Group of Lancaster University. It aims to establish a profile of each candidate, assessing his/her competence in the following areas:
- Grammar/Vocabulary (accuracy)
- Writing
- Speaking
The first element is assessed (mainly) objectively through discrete-point type items, while candidates' performance in Writing and Speaking is evaluated using criteria. By means of such practices as pre-testing, item-analysis, standard-setting, pass mark judgements, marker-training, bench-marking, etc. we aim to establish reliable feedback about each trainee's level of proficiency.
TOLC 1 involves separate tests of Conversation, Use of English and Composition.
The individual components of the exams are given equal weighting in a final, composite score. The profiled result is reduced to the relatively meaningless grade required by the standard 1 - 5 system.
TOLC, as any proficiency exam, is a sort of sampling procedure used to estimate student capabilities and it is quite a complicated and time-consuming procedure. Every year the exam (and the re-take) items are produced by a team of CETT tutors, who work in two-member sub-teams on separate parts of TOLC. The sub-teams start by writing or modifying specifications for their components. The specifications, which give guidance on the content and the nature of the exam, task-types and evaluation, are discussed in the testing team, and when they have been finalised, the actual item-writing can begin. Having done their job, all members of the team come together and go through all the items of all components of the test in preparation, criticising and refining them. This is followed by separate sessions where the items are revised by all the teachers teaching the corresponding subjects.
Once there is an 'approved' version of a number of test items, they get into an item-bank, which we are in the process of building up now, and which does not only mean a systematic storage of items, but also a (quite complex) way of identifying difficulty levels of the individual tasks by which we'll be able to guarantee a stable difficulty level for the whole test year by year. The next task in the testing process is organising the administration of TOLC, which involves not only allocating rooms, invigilators, examiners and examinees, but also organising parts of the standard setting process.
The standard setting process is different for the objectively scored (Use of English) and criterion-related (Writing, Oral) components. Writing markers have a training session where they internalise the criteria and analyse full papers to make sure that marking is reliable. For the same reason, oral examiners attend 'benchmarking' sessions at the beginning of every examining day.
As for the objectively-scored components, the item-banking method allows us to keep last year's standards, i.e. putting all the data on computer and analysing it by a special software we can 'preserve' previous passmarks. The actual correction of these papers is also checked by an item-analysing statistical programme.
This, you might think is the end of the process, but it still is not, because TOLC testing works as a cycle. We again analyse results and assess the process itself. When we begin to write next year's specifications, we have last year's exam in mind to consider changes we would like to introduce.
Calculating scores
There is an overall passmark for TOLC. No students are passed or failed on the basis of a single paper. This means that good results can compensate for one or two weaker results.
Students are not passed or failed on the basis of their raw scores simply added up. Their scores are standardised in order to compensate for the differences in the character of the individual test papers. This is the only way to put a multiple-choice test paper and an oral interactive (or a written composition) task on the same scale. Just two distinguishing features that could be pointed out are the length of these types of papers and the likelihood of getting the maximum score: A multiple-choice type test typically contains many items whereas the type of oral interactive we have offers only 5 opportunities for the students to score a point. On a multiple-choice test even the best student is unlikely to reach the maximum score while on the oral interactive there were many examinees who got the maximum number of points. Only by finding the ‘common denominator’ for the scores can we put the results together in a way that numbers do not trick us in the end.
The final result is a composite score, calculated from individual component scores, which actually gives you a chance to even out weaker performance in particular areas to a certain extent.
Finally, the composite scores are converted into the five-mark scale, following university regulations). This means you either pass or fail the exam as a whole, consequently those who fail the exam will have to retake the whole TOLC the following term.
Students are notified about the dates of the exam through the notice board. For more details of scoring, see the section “How are final grades calculated?” with added examples in the TOLC Booklet.
Further information and downloads:
Detailed descriptions of the various tasks, and of the means and criteria of assessment, are to be found in the TOLC Specifications and Criteria booklet issued by the Exam Committee. To start reading this booklet now, click HERE. To download the booklet (as a Winword .doc file) right-click HERE.
AFN-291 (ex AT-291) Test of Language Competence 2 (TOLC 2) (3 credits)
Time: At the end of Year 2, during the Examination Period. Candidates failing the main examination can re-take it during the subsequent Christmas Exam Period. Unlike most ELTE exams, it can only be taken once during a single exam period.
For information about signing up for TOLC, click here.
Purpose
To evaluate trainees' competences in English, confirming that they have achieved an adequate level of language proficiency for beginning the Teaching Experience element of the programme. Success in TOLC 2 is an essential prerequisite for starting Teaching Experience.
Description
The Test of Language Competence is a fully validated proficiency exam, originally developed within CETT in consultation with the Testing Research Group of Lancaster University. It aims to establish a profile of each candidate, assessing his/her competence in the following areas:
- Listening
- Writing
- Speaking
The first element is assessed (mainly) objectively through discrete-point type items, while candidates' performance in Writing and Speaking is evaluated using criteria. By means of such practices as pre-testing, item-analysis, standard-setting, pass mark judgements, marker-training, bench-marking, etc. we aim to establish reliable feedback about each trainee's level of proficiency.
TOLC 2 tests Professional Conversation, Reading Aloud, Listening Comprehension and Composition.
The individual components of the exams are given equal weighting in a final, composite score. The profiled result is reduced to the relatively meaningless grade required by the standard 1 - 5 system.
TOLC, as any proficiency exam, is a sort of sampling procedure used to estimate student capabilities and it is quite a complicated and time-consuming procedure. Every year the exam (and the re-take) items are produced by a team of CETT tutors, who work in two-member sub-teams on separate parts of TOLC. The sub-teams start by writing or modifying specifications for their components. The specifications, which give guidance on the content and the nature of the exam, task-types and evaluation, are discussed in the testing team, and when they have been finalised, the actual item-writing can begin. Having done their job, all members of the team come together and go through all the items of all components of the test in preparation, criticising and refining them. This is followed by separate sessions where the items are revised by all the teachers teaching the corresponding subjects.
Once there is an 'approved' version of a number of test items, they get into an item-bank, which we are in the process of building up now, and which does not only mean a systematic storage of items, but also a (quite complex) way of identifying difficulty levels of the individual tasks by which we'll be able to guarantee a stable difficulty level for the whole test year by year. The next task in the testing process is organising the administration of TOLC, which involves not only allocating rooms, invigilators, examiners and examinees, but also organising parts of the standard setting process.
The standard setting process is different for the objectively scored (Listening) and criterion-related (Writing, Oral) components. Writing markers have a training session where they internalise the criteria and analyse full papers to make sure that marking is reliable. For the same reason, oral examiners attend 'benchmarking' sessions at the beginning of every examining day.
As for the objectively-scored components, the item-banking method allows us to keep last year's standards, i.e. putting all the data on computer and analysing it by a special software we can 'preserve' previous passmarks. The actual correction of these papers is also checked by an item-analysing statistical programme.
This, you might think is the end of the process, but it still is not, because TOLC testing works as a cycle. We again analyse results and assess the process itself. When we begin to write next year's specifications, we have last year's exam in mind to consider changes we would like to introduce.
Calculating scores
There is an overall passmark for TOLC. No students are passed or failed on the basis of a single paper. This means that good results can compensate for one or two weaker results.
Students are not passed or failed on the basis of their raw scores simply added up. Their scores are standardised in order to compensate for the differences in the character of the individual test papers. This is the only way to put a multiple-choice test paper and an oral interactive (or a written composition) task on the same scale. Just two distinguishing features that could be pointed out are the length of these types of papers and the likelihood of getting the maximum score: A multiple-choice type test typically contains many items whereas the type of oral interactive we have offers only 5 opportunities for the students to score a point. On a multiple-choice test even the best student is unlikely to reach the maximum score while on the oral interactive there were many examinees who got the maximum number of points. Only by finding the ‘common denominator’ for the scores can we put the results together in a way that numbers do not trick us in the end.
The final result is a composite score, calculated from individual component scores, which actually gives you a chance to even out weaker performance in particular areas to a certain extent.
Finally, the composite scores are converted into the five-mark scale, following university regulations). This means you either pass or fail the exam as a whole, consequently those who fail the exam will have to retake the whole TOLC the following term.
Students are notified about the dates of the exam through the notice board. For more details of scoring, see the section “How are final grades calculated?” with added examples in the TOLC Booklet.
Further information and downloads:
Detailed descriptions of the various tasks, and of the means and criteria of assessment, are to be found in the TOLC Specifications and Criteria booklet issued by the Exam Committee. To start reading this booklet now, click HERE. To download the booklet (as a Winword .doc file) right-click HERE.