Revision of the Basic and Intermediate English Language Tests

摘要

The purpose o this effort was to update the Basic and Intermediate English Language Tests (ELTs). These tests are used in hiring foreign nationals at overseas bases. Currently, the basic ELT consists of reading, listening, writing, and speaking tests; the Intermediate ELT is composed of three parts: two sentence completion and one sentence matching. The format for the revised Basic ELT remained unchanged, whereas the Intermediate ELT was revised to include multiple-choice tests for reading, writing, and listening, as well as a speaking test interview. The revised Basic and Intermediate ELTs were administered, along with the current tests, to basic trainees to determine whether knowledge of English alone was sufficient to answer these items. Then all ELTs were pretested on a sample of foreign students at the Defense Language Institute. The item pools were reduced for field testing of the Intermediate ELT and final item selection made for the Basic ELT. Field testing of the Basic ELT occurred at Howard AFB, Panama. Field testing for the Intermediate ELT occurred at 16 bases overseas. The results showed that the revised ELTs correlate highly with the current ELTs and other measures of validity. It is recommended that the revised ELTs replace the ELTs currently in use.