Using dictation to measure language proficiency: A Rasch analysis

Groups are used widely in the language classroom and, particularly in classes where there is a wide range of English proficiency among students, teachers may want to construct balanced groups based on the language proficiency of individual students. In order to construct such groups, teachers need a reliable measure that effectively differentiates between different levels of proficiency, and yet there are contexts where information regarding student proficiency may not be available. This paper reports on the use of an in-house dictation test to measure the English proficiency of students in a Japanese university. Rasch analysis was used to determine the degree to which the dictation differentiated between the range of proficiencies in the classes, and to assess the reliability of the test. Correlation with scores from TOEIC and SLEP tests was used to confirm that the dictation tests English proficiency. Results show that dictation is a simple, cheap, and effective means of assessing the relative proficiency of students in this context, and can be used for constructing balanced groups.