GENERAL INFORMATION
Since the very beginning of the restoration of Lithuania’s independence, the Department of Lithuanian Studies has been actively involved in the field of testing Lithuanian as a foreign language, developing the testing system, preparing tests, and instructing testers. Since 1999, the Department of Lithuanian Studies is an ALTE member (Association of Language Testers in Europe), the only one from Lithuania. Activities in testing Lithuanian as a foreign language are still carried out by organising examinations of Lithuanian proficiency levels A1, A2, B1, B2, C1 and, under the obligation of LAMA BPO*, the entrance test for individuals who acquired education abroad and want to pursue studying at Lithuanian institutions of higher education.
*Organising general admission by the Lithuanian Association of the Institutions of Higher Education
ALTE MEMBERSHIP
Founded in 1990, ALTE (Association of Language Testers in Europe) unites organisations of foreign language testing. The Department of Lithuanian Studies was accepted into ALTE in 1999.
ALTE members meet twice a year to discuss current topics, address joint projects, and present experiences in testing from various countries (e.g., new examinations, proficiency level descriptions, validity studies of assessment criteria). One of the key areas of activity is ensuring the quality of tests. Currently, an international exam auditing system has been developed to ensure that examinations prepared by the ALTE members meet the 'Minimum Requirements,' consisting of 17 points and covering all four stages: test construction, administration & logistics, marking and grading, and test analysis.
Following the ALTE guidelines, the staff of the Department of Lithuanian Studies created models for the State Language Proficiency Tests in 2004–2005 and were continuously involved in the task construction work. The examinations themselves were conducted by the Pedagogical Professional Development Center and later by the National Examination Center. Additionally, the staff of the Department of Lithuanian Studies apply the ALTE guidelines when constructing language proficiency level examinations, entrance tests for individuals who have graduated from educational institutions outside the Lithuanian education system and wish to study at Lithuanian higher education institutions.
MINIMUM STANDARDS FOR QUALITY PROFILES IN ALTE EXAMINATIONS
ALTE (Association of Language Testers in Europe) has prepared 18 general requirements to ensure the quality of language examinations. These requirements cover all stages of language testing:
- test construction;
- administration & logistics;
- grading;
- test analysis;
- communication with all stakeholders involved in the tests.
Thus examination users – individuals, employers, educational institutions, or government agencies – can be assured that a language test developed by an ALTE member meets strict professional standards and accurately reflects the candidates' abilities.
TEST CONSTRUCTION
- You can describe the purpose and context of use of the examination, and the population for which the examination is appropriate.
- The examination is based on a theoretical construct, e.g. on a model of communicative competence.
- You provide criteria for selection and training of constructors, expert judges and consultants in test development and construction.
- Parallel examinations are comparable across different administrations in terms of content, stability, consistency and grade boundaries.
- If you make a claim that the examination is linked to an external reference system (e.g. Common European Framework), then you can provide evidence of alignment to this system.
ADMINISTRATION & LOGISTICS
- All centres are selected to administer your examination according to clear, transparent, established procedures, and have access to regulations about how to do so.
- Examination papers are delivered in excellent condition and by secure means of transport to the authorized examination centres, your examination administration system provides for secure and traceable handling of all examination documents, and confidentiality of all system procedures can be guaranteed.
- The examination administration system has appropriate support systems (e.g. phone hotline, web services etc).
- You adequately protect the security and confidentiality of results and certificates, and data relating to them, in line with current data protection legislation, and candidates are informed of their rights to access this data.
- The examination system provides support for candidates with special needs.
MARKING & GRADING
- Marking is sufficiently accurate and reliable for purpose and type of examination.
- You can document and explain how reliability is estimated for rating, and how data regarding achievement of raters of writing and speaking performances is collected and analysed.
TEST ANALYSIS
- You collect and analyse data on an adequate and representative sample of candidates and can be confident that their achievement is a result of the skills measured in the examination and not influenced by factors like L1, country of origin, gender, age and ethnic origin.
- Item-level and task-level data (e.g. for computing the difficulty, discrimination, reliability and standard errors of measurement of the examination) is collected from an adequate sample of candidates and analysed.
COMMUNICATION WITH STAKEHOLDERS
- The examination administration system communicates the results of the examinations to candidates and to examination centres (e.g. schools) promptly and clearly.
- You provide information to stakeholders on the appropriate context, purpose and use of the examination, on its content, and on the overall reliability of the results of the examination.
- You provide suitable information to stakeholders to help them interpret results and use them appropriately.
- You take action when test scores are interpreted and used for a purpose that violates the best interest of test-takers.
