by Wen-shuenn Wu

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Development of an Online Adaptive Vocabulary Test
System

• by Wen-shuenn Wu
• Chung Hua University (CHU)
• wswu_at_chu.edu.tw
• http//www.chu.edu.tw/wswu

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The status quo of General English at CHU

• Online English linear placement test was first
  used in September, 2001.
• Advantages
• fast
• technical support
• Disadvantages
• expensive
• no control on questions

CAN 7 one person one time 1,500 students x CAN
7 x 3 CAN 31,500
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Original ideas (1)

• CAT (computer adaptive test)
• Each examinees first item is usually of a
  projective medium-difficulty level for the test
  population. (Patricia A. Dunkel, 1999)
• Get a correct answer ? more difficult one
• Miss a correct answer ? easier one

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Original ideas (2)
15 minutes
3 items in a row
Level 5
15 minutes
3 items in a row
Level 4
15 minutes
Level 3
Level 2
-3 items in a row
Level 1
-3 items in a row
15 minutes
15 minutes
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Online Adaptive Vocabulary Test System (OAVTS)

• the first stage of a web-based adaptive English
  placement test system
• vocabulary ? grammar / sentence structure ?
  listening ? reading comprehension

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Classification of word list

• Collins COBUILD English Dictionary for Advanced
  Learners (2001) frequency bands (????? ? ?)
• Macmillan English Dictionary for Advanced
  Learners of American English (2002) the most
  frequent words in English (??? ??)
• Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English (red
  entry)

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Levels of Word List (1)

• Level 0
• basic and the most frequently used words (e.g.
  and, I, my, the, etc.)
• Level 1
• Collin COBUILD English Dictionary frequency band
  5 ????? and frequency band 4 ????

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Levels of Word List (2)

• Level 2
• Longman Dictionary W1, S1, W2, S2, W3, S3
• Level 3
• (A) Collin COBUILD English Dictionary frequency
  band 3 ???
• (B) Macmillan English Dictionary ??

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Levels of Word List (3)

• Level 4
• (A) Macmillan English Dictionary ?
• (B) Collin COBUILD English Dictionary frequency
  band 2 ??
• Level 5
• Collin COBUILD English Dictionary frequency band
  1 ?

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Numbers of Word List
level 0 1 2 3 4 5
stem 141 words 1,567 words 1,548 words 1,179 words 2,670 words 6,198 words
derivatives (word family) derivatives (word family) 3,864 words 3,435 words 2,583 words 6,038 words 13,066 words
Altogether 28,986 words
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Definition of item code
Code 8 part of speech 1 verb 2 noun 3
adjective 4 adverb 5 phrase 6 idiom
Code 5 Specification 1 recognition 2
collocation 3 context clue 4 synonymous clue 5
spelling 6 unclassified
Code 67 Category 1 general 2 business 3
science 4 medicine 5 law
Code 9 N Code 1015 serial number 000001999999

• V1262022N000001

• Code 1 Type
• V vocabulary
• G grammar
• L listening
• R reading

Code 24 Level -3 lt b lt 3 b difficulty
parameter code 2 1() 0(-)
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Test-stopping rules

• An adaptive test terminates when one or more of
  the following stopping rules is met (Wainer,
  1990)
• (A) when a target measurement precision level has
  been attained
• (B) when a pre-selected number of items has been
  given
• (C) when a predetermined amount of time has
  elapsed

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• Interdisciplinary study of IRT-based Online
  Adaptive English Test

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Demo
http//140.126.126.40/englishExamAdmin/
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(No Transcript)