Abstract:
The following thesis represents a scientific assessment and the development process description of an online tool for language knowledge testing. This thesis culminated with the development of a usable online tool for assessing an individuals language skills, that can be used in a university environment. The main usage of the module will be in situations where a large group of students needs to be evaluated for their knowledge of a certain language, quickly and as accurately as possible. The motivation for this thesis has come from situations in university lectures, where it needs to be decided what language to use for a given lecture, given the ever-growing foreign student presence at all major universities, including our own.
There are many factors to take into consideration, such as grammar, vocabulary and general comprehension of a certain language. All of this needs to fit into a reasonable time frame of expected completion of a single test-run. The module will be developed with the possibility to expand it with any given language. The main language that is to be implemented for assessment is English. After a group is done with the test, the lecturers should be able to know, from the results, if they are able, and to what extent, to follow up in a university-level lecture in the given language.
An extensive exploration of existing thesis needs to be done, in the context of language knowledge assessment and existing online language tests. After that, a language test will be designed, for the English language. The design of the assessment test, will also be tested for consistency in results and accuracy. Finally, the test will be incorporated into a usable online tool, with the development process explained in detail.
