11 Proficiency and Placement Tests at EnglishUSA

On September 26 at the EnglishUSA conference in Alexandria, VA, I had the opportunity to hear from a panel of test developers presenting 11 proficiency and placement tests currently competing in the U.S. and beyond 🌎. In alphabetical order, and represented by colleagues from left to right in the picture, are:

📌 Duolingo English Test

📌 IELTS

📌 Integrated Skills in English (ISE) by Trinity College

📌 iTEP Academic

📌 iTEP Placement

📌 Michigan English Placement Test (Michigan-EPT)

📌 Michigan English Test (MET)

📌 Oxford English Language Level Test (ELLT)

📌 Oxford Spotlight

📌 Pearson Test of English (PTE) Academic

📌 TOEFL iBT

In the U.S., the TOEFL iBT has undoubtedly been the most widely accepted test by universities 🏫, with ETS reporting a 100% acceptance rate 💯.

IELTS claims to have 4 million tests taken globally in 2023 🌍, making it the most taken proficiency test for higher education and migration ✈️, according to the British Council's website. However, in the U.S., IELTS still has room to grow 📈 in terms of acceptance among universities.

The Duolingo English Test (DET) has been gaining popularity due to its low cost 💸 ($65) and convenience. Duolingo reports that the test is accepted by over 5,000 institutions worldwide 🌐.

Pearson PTE, a product of Pearson—a company with over 30,000 employees globally 👩‍💼👨‍💼—has also been gaining traction 🚀. I recently learned that the Pearson English International Certificate (PEIC) has been approved by Vietnam's Ministry of Education and Training for university admissions in the country. Here's an article reporting the news.

The Michigan English Test and Michigan-EPT have long been popular in the U.S. 🇺🇸. During my 12 years as Director of the English Language Program at Chatham University 🎓, I used the Michigan-EPT as a placement test. Its paper format was a convenient option for students arriving during orientation or for those needing make-up tests 📄.

iTEP has also been added to the list of accepted tests at many universities 🏛️. I found it interesting to learn about the Oxford Spotlight, which allows programs to customize tests for placement purposes 🎯.

Seeing so many tests side by side and hearing from the panelists as they highlighted their distinguishing features was insightful 💡. I plan to take both the iTEP and Pearson PTE to experience them as a test-taker 🎓.

Some additional observations:

• IELTS emphasizes its in-person interview 🗣️, offering students comfort in speaking with a human and its variety of test tasks.

• TOEFL, with its long-standing reputation in U.S. higher education 🎓, recently reduced its testing time to under two hours ⏱️ but maintains a solid standing.

• The Duolingo English Test, designed as digital-first and adaptive 💻, offers efficiency, but some tasks feel less authentic compared to traditional tests 🧐. Duolingo is actively working to demonstrate the test's reliability, validity, and innovation 🔬.

  
  

In addition to test information, I want to highlight a few thoughts on the learning process 📚:

• A colleague at the conference pointed out EF's suggestion that it takes about 1,200 hours of instruction to reach C2 📊. To me, this seems like an underestimate, unless it assumes much more additional time spent outside the classroom 🏫.

• An article from Pearson suggests that achieving C1 as a beginner could take between 1,520 and 4,491 hours ⏳, depending on various factors such as the target language's difficulty, motivation 🔥, aptitude 🧠, and learning context 🏠.

• In Korea, according to research funded by IELTS, students preparing for IELTS over 12 weeks with 284 hours of study and 272 hours of language use improved their IELTS band score by an average of 0.3 📈, totaling over 550 hours combined. I've written a summary here.

• These findings underscore the significant number of hours required to reach a high level of English proficiency 🏆. As I mentioned to a colleague from IELTS USA, this aligns with the principle of needing 10,000 hours of practice to master a skill 🎯.

• Another observation, supported by research 🧪, is that entertainment technologies like YouTube and games 🎮 have had a greater impact on language learning than many language learning apps. Apps like mine (Eduling Speak and Pangea Chat) serve specific purposes but don’t cover the full spectrum of language acquisition 🌐.

About the author: Dr. Linh Phung is a dedicated international educator, innovator, and leader with a proven track record of directing successful educational programs, fostering academic excellence, and driving innovation in language learning. With Eduling, she leads the development of Eduling Speak, an app offering English courses based on input-based, AI-human, and human-human communicative tasks and games. She's also a published author and expert in language education with publications in high impact journals. The list of her books is listed at HL BOOKS. She served as an English Language Specialist with the U.S. Department of State in 2023, has experience working at Shorelight as a senior research analyst, and currently works as Chief Learning Officer of Pangea Chat.