Language level test

November 27, 2006 · Filed Under Language, Work · 1 Comment

Quite a while back I cooked up a 90 question multiple choice test to help me divide groups of between 30 and 50 people into two or four sub-groups. My test has proved to be very effective and certainly speeds up the process of dividing classes into groups.

The test attempts to assess both grammar knowledge and an individual’s ability to use commonly used English expressions and structures - use of English. It is specifically aimed at Italian learners and has a focus on so-called business English. The test takes around an hour to complete - much less if someone knows English well and more time if someone is at a lower level. While I won’t explain exactly how it works, because I would quite like to market it someday, I would like to say that it bucks the trend as far as multiple guess tests go, possibly because multiple-choice tests are not really in widespread use here in Italy.

The test also allows me to identify those who are border-line so I can carry out a short interview and is quite good at identifying people who have picked up the language through using it, rather than having studied all the rules and then gone abroad somewhere to perfect their conversational skills. I used to incorporate an extra comprehension test, but abandoned it after a while because I found that there was a high correlation between those who scored highly on the multiple choice parts and their ability to understand the spoken word. I have had some circumstances in which the results have proved to be highly inaccurate, but I can count them on the fingers of one hand. I have tested over 1200 people over the last four years, which means the accuracy is more than acceptable to me. Sometimes people do ask to be moved between groups but this is usually a reflection of their confidence and the fact that some ambitious students think that they can learn more from being in a class of higher level learners. If they have the right motivation and are not too far behind, I agree to movement between groups, but only within the first two or three lessons.

I believe that the test could become more accurate and could even be used to establish levels and progress, so if anyone out there is interested I’d be happy to discuss how it works and how it could be improved. It could easily be adapted to learners other than Italians, I reckon and it could also be modified to test either more general or more technical varieties of English. I’m sure it is not perfect, but it works very well for me - but then I did design it, so I understand how it works.

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Tags: Italian, Italy

When banal is good.

November 27, 2006 · Filed Under Italy, Language, Work · 2 Comments

I spoke to someone who complemented me on my work website - englishisin.com. She said that although the advice on it was ‘banale’ it actually made sense. The part she was referring to was my technique for training your mind to think in English. The method I propose is to start by looking around and naming objects in your head directly in English, then start trying to form simple sentences describing your environment, again in your mind and directly in English. Once you are adept at this you can start thinking about your plans for the day and so on.

The theory behind this banality is that it becomes easier to find the words you are looking for when you are speaking because you do not need to translate them. I do this automatically in Italian, mainly because developing this skill happens quite easily when you are using the language regularly, but when you cannot speak very often in English, it is hard to develop the ability to think directly in the language. Hence this invisible mental training. I cannot prove whether this technique obtains results, although some of my students who have followed my advice have appeared to be speaking more fluently and their comprehension appears to be better too.

It would make for an interesting lesson. Have all in class just sit there in silence, thinking, although anyone observing would think the lesson was nuts - this is perhaps why I encourage trying the method out when you are waiting for the bus or stuck in a traffic jam. If nothing else, it should help students regurgitate vocabulary, which cannot be a bad thing.

There is method in madness.

I thought I would continue this subject a little because it fascinates me. I’m sure I’ve written about thinking in another language before, but I want to talk about it again. So, first of all a question: Why attempt to think in another language? The answer to this is simple: because it reduces the need to translate. Non translating helps in other ways too. It means your ability to speak speeds up and you start to become truly fluent. Not having to translate means you can find words more quickly in your target language - after a bit of practice. You should also note that your ability to understand others will increase - because you can understand without having recourse to translation. The benefits of thinking in another language are really enormous. I’d quite like to have a brain scan done while I flicked from Italian to English and back. It would be interesting to know just what part of my brain is being used. Whether it would be possible to ’see’ which section is clearly responsible for which language I don’t really know. My brain is much less able than someone who is bilingual, I’m sure.

As to what is going on in the brain of someone who is capable of speaking three of more languages, well, I don’t know what a brain scan would reveal.

Brain analysis could be tomorrow’s way of assessing language competence. A fascinating thought if ever there was one.

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Tags: Italian

Antique terms

November 27, 2006 · Filed Under Italy · 5 Comments

My other half, who works in the antiques trade, often sends me texts to translate, check and correct. The only trouble is that I am not all that hot on expressions such as bombature, rocailles, modanate and baccelliere (this last one is ‘bachelor’ sometimes…). But I got ‘ebanistici’ to be ‘cabinet maker’, which seemed to fit quite well. Our usual way round this is to leave them as they are, in Italian, and hope that those working in this field know what the blazes these terms mean. Maybe I am wrong, but attempting to translate some furniture terminology is quite possibly like trying to translate words used on musical scores such as ‘allegro’, ‘forte’ or ‘pianissimo’, ie not really necessary. At least I hope so.

If anyone out there on the www wishes to point out the error of my ways, I’m all ears or even modanate??!!

PS ‘modanate’ could be related to ‘moda’ - which is fashion or way or method. The ‘ate’ indicates that the word could be the second person plural of an Italian verb such as ‘andate’. Don’t know. Enlighten me.

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