Evaluating Spoken Language Skills the leading test of

Evaluating Spoken Language Skills the leading test of spoken language A Harcourt Assessment Company

About Ordinate § The leading provider of technology and services for testing that uses speech. § Founded in 1996 by two Stanford professors § Created the patented Ordinate® Testing System § Wholly-owned subsidiary of Harcourt Assessment § Harcourt Assessment part of Harcourt, Inc. , which is part of Reed Elsevier A Harcourt Assessment Company © 2007 Ordinate Corporation 11/22/2020 2

Markets and Customers Corporate Needs: • Recruiting selection • Leadership programs • Training placement Schools Sample customers: • Dell • P&G • Accenture • IBM • Bell South • UK Railway • Malaysian Airlines Government Needs: • Employment screening • Language certification • Placement into training Needs: • Teacher/TA certification • ELL placement • Oral reading fluency Sample customers: • Dallas Ind. School District • Univ of Connecticut • Tsinghua University • Kobe University Other Sample customers: • Dutch Immigration • US Dept Homeland Security – Border Patrol • FAA • DOD – Defense Language Institute A Harcourt Assessment Company Needs: • Speech recognition • Language processing • Speaking tests © 2007 Ordinate Corporation Sample customers: • ETS (former) • Pearson • ACT 11/22/2020 3

Versant Product Overview A Harcourt Assessment Company © 2007 Ordinate Corporation 11/22/2020 4

Versant spoken language tests § Recognized leader for testing spoken language § Taken over the phone or on a computer § Automatically scored § Proven to be valid and reliable A Harcourt Assessment Company © 2007 Ordinate Corporation 11/22/2020 5

A better option with Versant ü Relevant: focuses on SPOKEN language skills – critical to understand communication abilities ü Reliable: standardized testing from one location or cycle to the next ü Efficient: quick and easy to administer at anytime, from anywhere in the world, scores are available in minutes A Harcourt Assessment Company © 2007 Ordinate Corporation 11/22/2020 6

Versant Advantage Administration Security Cost Turn-Around Reliability Cultural Bias A Harcourt Assessment Company Conventional Methods Ordinate Solution Long Rapid External Built in High Cost Effective Days-Weeks Immediate-Minutes Moderate to High Uncontrolled Measurable © 2007 Ordinate Corporation 11/22/2020 7

Reliability • Consistency of measurement • Split-half Reliability Score Types Overall Sentence Mastery Vocabulary Fluency Pronunciation A Harcourt Assessment Company Versant for English 0. 97 0. 93 0. 88 0. 95 0. 97 © 2007 Ordinate Corporation Versant for Spanish 0. 96 0. 77 0. 94 0. 95 11/22/2020 8

Versant Products Product Line Tests Languages General edition Certification, Practice Placer, Screener English, Spanish Aviation edition Certification, Practice Placer English Call Center edition Screener English Elementary ESL/EFL Placement, Progress English Middle School ESL/EFL Placement, Progress English High School ESL/EFL Placement, Progress English Oral Reading Fluency Benchmark, Progress English Placement, Progress English Versant for Business Versant for Schools Versant for Colleges College ESL/EFL A Harcourt Assessment Company © 2007 Ordinate Corporation 11/22/2020 9

Versant for Business Tests Certification Practice Placer Screener certification and high stakes selection where language facility is a requirement low stakes test to place individuals for training or to practice for the certification test low stakes way to quickly get a very general idea of language level ~15 minutes 61 questions ~5 -7 minutes 36 questions ~3 minutes 25 questions Content Repeats, Short Answer Questions, Sentence Builds, Reading, Story Retelling, Open Questions Repeats, Short Answer Questions, Sentence Builds Repeats, Short Answer Questions Scoring Overall score and 4 subscores, detailed report Overall score level only One of 3 general levels only Security Anonymous test IDs, secure test response capture, encrypted storage, secure reporting, randomized test generation Anonymous test IDs, secure test response capture, encrypted storage, secure reporting Purpose Length A Harcourt Assessment Company © 2007 Ordinate Corporation 11/22/2020 10

What do our tests measure? Facility in spoken English The ability to understand spoken English on everyday topics and to respond appropriately at a native-like conversational pace in intelligible English A Harcourt Assessment Company © 2007 Ordinate Corporation 11/22/2020 11

How does a candidate take a test? 1. Candidate calls the Ordinate Testing System 2. Candidate responds to the test questions or prompts 3. Responses are sent to the Ordinate scoring system 4. Ordinate scores the test and makes it available in the web reporting tool A Harcourt Assessment Company © 2007 Ordinate Corporation 11/22/2020 12

Test Format Part A: Read sentences Part B: Repeat sentences Part C: Short questions Part D: Sentence builds Part E: Open Questions Note: Test items are computer randomized, so each test is different. A Harcourt Assessment Company © 2007 Ordinate Corporation 11/22/2020 13

Sample Score Report SCORE REPORT A Harcourt Assessment Company © 2007 Ordinate Corporation 11/22/2020 14

How do we do it? SPEECH SIGNAL ANALYSIS ASR SEARCH ALIGNER SCORER RESPONSE MODEL SCORING MODEL REPORT STATISTICAL OPTIMIZATION 8, 000+ speech files 800, 000 transcriptions 280, 000 human grades CANDIDATE NORMING SPEECH REFERENCE NORMING SPEECH > 100 languages A Harcourt Assessment Company © 2007 Ordinate Corporation 11/22/2020 15

Score. Keeper: records, reports A Harcourt Assessment Company © 2007 Ordinate Corporation 11/22/2020 16

A Harcourt Assessment Company © 2007 Ordinate Corporation 11/22/2020 17

A Harcourt Assessment Company © 2007 Ordinate Corporation 11/22/2020 18

Can Versant help Your Group? • If it is important that your employees communicate in English on the job, we can help… Employee Selection Training and Development • • Screen applicants for jobs that require English to ensure candidates have the business communication skills they need Ensure employees with management potential have the language proficiency to participate in leadership development and move up. Screen more employees in less time, streamlining your recruiting or training processes and reducing assessment costs. A Harcourt Assessment Company • • • Assess current language levels and place students into the right level for study. Identify those who need targeted speaking practice or remedial instruction before participating in other programs or classes. Provide a performance-based speaking practice activity within an English training program. Assess students with a progress monitoring or post-training test to measure how much speaking and listening improvement a student has achieved from a language program. © 2007 Ordinate Corporation 11/22/2020 19

Versant™ spoken language tests of English or Spanish To try a test or get more information… A Harcourt Assessment Company © 2007 Ordinate Corporation 11/22/2020 20

Get a Free Sample Test • REGISTER for a free sample test – visit us online to register at www. versanttest. com • Contact i. Group for more information at christine. yeung@igroupnet. com A Harcourt Assessment Company © 2007 Ordinate Corporation 11/22/2020 21