Exploring the Utility of a Web-Based English Language Screening Tool

Abstract

This article describes the process of developing and implementing a quick Web‐based screening test designed for the purpose of identifying, within a large, culturally diverse population of undergraduates enrolled at an English-medium university, those students unlikely to require English language support during their 1st year of academic study. Linguistically competent students (including native speakers) scoring above a certain threshold on the screening test are exempt from sitting a more time-consuming diagnostic English language needs assessment. Before implementing the procedure, which had been pretested on a population of 100 students, 353 test-takers took both the screening and accomp..