questions around the remote language testing of immigrants

Earlier in the year, the UK government introduced a new system to test the English of people applying for visas to enter the country - and at the time, a Minister claimed the Home Office’s remote language-testing plans offered ‘significant benefits’:

Mike Tapp says new system for assessing visa applicants’ language skills could deliver ‘strengthened identity management and security and much greater visibility and control over the service for the department’ The Home Office has insisted that its proposals to introduce remote language assessments for visa applicants seeking the right to live and work in the UK have the potential to offer “significant benefits” to the department.

Currently, the Home Office’s UK Visas and Immigration section allows a range of providers to offer Secure English Language Tests in the UK and international locations. But under a procurement exercise that closed to bidders earlier this week, the department is seeking a supplier for “fully remote” English-language testing

But the language-testing industry is not happy about this, with providers waring the government that "Online English tests for migrants risk criminal abuse":

At the moment, migrants who want to study or work in the UK need to show they can speak English to internationally recognised standards by taking tests at one of more than 1,300 test centres around the world. But in November last year, the Home Office launched a tender, external for "fully remote" English tests to run for five years from December 2026 at the earliest.

It said the new system would see "customers" - meaning migrants applying for visas - choose where to take their test, providing secure conditions were met. From January, those tests were made tougher, with migrants told they needed to demonstrate the equivalent of A-level English to be considered for a skilled work visa and other categories.

Two-thirds of the current, in-person English tests are overseen by a consortium called International English Language Testing System (IELTS). It is comprised of the British Council, the UK's national cultural and educational organisation; Cambridge University Press and Assessments; and IDP, a large Australian education company.

The letter said applicants could cheat in a variety of ways, including using impersonators, working with an accomplice via screen–sharing or earpieces, or getting help from AI chatbots. The letter added that the current system would not allow test providers to act without "sufficient security and consistency". "This is particularly important, given the politically charged nature of the debate around migration and the need for more, not less, control and certainty over who is allowed to come to the UK."

Last August, the Australian government banned remote or at-home tests to assess the language competency of migrants.

In the latest issue of the E L Gazette, Mark Rendell, CEO of International House Trust, says that IELTS was right to walk away – the Home Office is making a huge mistake:

The Home Office’s decision to continue its pursuit towards the introduction of a single Home Office English Language Test (HOELT) to be delivered remotely and unsupervised for high stakes immigration purposes is surprising and deeply unsettling.

Fraudsters and bad actors will already be hatching ways to defraud the country. Options for deception are varied including impersonation, screen sharing, hidden devices, earpieces, chatbots, AI assistance, camera blind spots, HDMI splitters, browser extensions and ‘disrupted’ internet connections to circumvent security defences. Would-be migrants will be allowed to sit these life-changing tests in unsupervised locations of their choosing, rather than under direct invigilation having passed robust digital and human security checks...

The largest current Secure English Language Test is IELTS, and it has just been announced that IELTS is withdrawing from the tender to deliver the HOELT test because its creators do not believe that such a test of national significance can be delivered in a secure and fair way using a fully remote format.

There have been several cases recently where high stakes remote tests have been withdrawn from the market following concerns about widespread cheating including ACCA, the accountancy exam, and LSAT, the equivalent exam for the legal profession. Australian immigration authorities also recently announced that they had considered and rejected the adoption of remote language assessment...

Testing systems only have value if they are trusted and deliver accurate and fair results. It would be a great shame if the UK’s hard-earned reputation for world class standards was tarnished by the crash in public confidence and unwelcome press headlines that are likely to follow the introduction of fully remote assessment for high stakes purposes.

And indeed, there has already been a lot of negative press reaction, including: Migrants can cheat Labour’s online language tests (Telegraph); English lessons shouldn’t be an immigration test – why the UK’s new policy risks deepening exclusion - University of South Wales; Fury as migrants will no longer have to take English test in person in £816m deal | UK | News | Express.co.uk

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the 'life in the uk' test: a critique

The British government has had in place for some years now its Life in the UK Test which, if passed, will enable people to become UK citizens.

There are lots of websites that ask if you “think you know Britain?” - and give you an example text to try out online. And when people who already have a British passport try it themselves, well, it's actually quite difficult, as with this journalist on the Daily Express realised last year: I took the Life in the UK citizenship test - it's not so simple.

Other commentators would say that the test is actually not relevant to life in the UK, with the Guardian recently suggesting: Forget Hadrian’s Wall. The UK citizenship test should ask about Corrie, bus queues and Greggs.

In fact, there is considerable criticism of the test.

In June 2022, the UK parliament's Lords Committee requested an urgent review of the Life in the UK Test:

The Committee found several problems with the Test:an official handbook full of obscure facts and subjective assertions (including offensive historical content),

• inaccessible test centres,
• poorly-phrased questions that trivialise the process, and
• costs that can be prohibitive for some, among others.

The Committee also stressed the need to reintroduce taught courses, known to promote social cohesion and gender equality, as an alternative for those who may find a test particularly challenging.

The Committee is astonished that the Government has not yet conducted its long-overdue review of the Test and of its associated handbook. The Committee calls on the Government to appoint an Advisory Group to conduct a review to be published by a set deadline.

Others feel very much the same, with this study from the Durham Law School asking The Life in the UK citizenship test:Is it unfit for purpose?:

The Life in the UK citizenship test was launched in 2005 and revised in 2007. The test must be passed by anyone applying for Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) or naturalisation. Past editions were criticised for factual inaccuracies and their failure to include much information about British history and culture. The third edition was published in March 2013. It is a comprehensive departure in form and content from past tests that raises several serious concerns about the construction of the test. Its inability to meet its central goal as a test of knowledge about life in the United Kingdom renders it unfit for purpose and it is in need of urgent reforms. 

The UK Immigration Lawyers also ask:  Is the Life in the UK Test Fair? New Survey Raise Big Questions:

Our survey has exposed surprising gaps in historical and cultural knowledge among Brits. The findings raise questions about the fairness of Life in the UK Test for British citizenship or settlement applications.

This is not just the opinion of journalists, academics and lawyers, as Wikipedia notes in its piece on the Life in the United Kingdom test:

The test has been frequently criticised for containing factual errors,[1] expecting candidates to know information that would not be expected of native-born citizens[2] as well as being just a "bad pub quiz" and "unfit for purpose".[3][4]

In other words, if most British citizens were asked to complete this test, they would fail - which might question whether they should 'qualify' as being British citizens!

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teaching sport in the esl/esol/tefl class

There are many different approaches teachers can take when 'doing sport' in the English classroom.

Here are some ideas and lesson plans.

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controlling ai - part four: "integrating it into teaching, learning, and assessment will require careful consideration"

We need to be aware of the 'dangers' of AI, whether its comes to its impact on democracy:

Jay Doubleyou: controlling ai - part one: the dangers of chatgpt

Or its impact specifically on American democracy:

Jay Doubleyou: controlling ai - part two: the dangers of deep fake imagery

Or its impact from China:

Jay Doubleyou: controlling ai - part three: china controlling ai

Beyond politics and into the classroom, chatgpt and 'fake texts' are having a deep impact - as reported by the BBC this week:

"Generative AI has great potential to transform the Higher Education sector and provides exciting opportunities for growth. However, integrating it into teaching, learning, and assessment will require careful consideration. Universities must determine how to harness the benefits and mitigate the risks to prepare students for the jobs of the future."

'I used AI to cheat at uni and regret it' - BBC News

There are lots of resources to support teachers:

AI in teaching and assessment | Academic Support

Three categories of GenAI use in assessment | Teaching & Learning - UCL – University College London

Here's a webinar from 2021 looking at how AI can provide 24/7 support to teachers and multiple learners at the same time:

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the fastest-growing technology in various fields. The adoption of AI spans the global learning landscape and has been used in experiential learning, tutoring, language learning, and knowledge testing. In higher education, some educators have identified the affordances of AI and utilized this technology in making teaching and learning more effective.

Artificial Intelligence for Teaching, Learning and Assessment - YouTube

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the foreign language assessment joins the controversial pisa test

There is the 'Programme for International Student Assessment':

PISA is the OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment. PISA measures 15-year-olds’ ability to use their reading, mathematics and science knowledge and skills to meet real-life challenges.

PISA - PISA

Some countries are doing very badly:

‘It Just Isn’t Working’: PISA Test Scores Cast Doubt on U.S. Education Efforts - The New York Times

U.S. Falling Behind: Ranking the Most and Least Educated States | WANE 15

U.S. students lag around average on international science, math and reading test - The Washington Post

But the PISA test is controversial:

In this letter to Dr Andreas Schleicher, director of the OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment, academics from around the world express deep concern about the impact of Pisa tests and call for a halt to the next round of testing

OECD and Pisa tests are damaging education worldwide - academics | School tables | The Guardian

As related on these pages over the years:

Jay Doubleyou: panic in the west over educational achievements in the far east

Jay Doubleyou: the purpose of education: from china to prussia to the united states

Jay Doubleyou: teaching as a subversive activity

Despite these serious reservations, a new part to the PISA suite is being added:

Foreign Language Assessment - PISA

There have been several surveys on the comparison of foreign language skills, but there is no current, reliable international data on how English is learnt and taught in school systems around the world. That’s why the PISA Foreign Language Assessment 2025 is a ground-breaking survey that will change everything

What the PISA Foreign Language Assessment means for English language education | Cambridge University Press & Assessment

Leaning into PISA’s language test | E L Gazette

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the spread of clil

What is 'CLIL'?

Jay Doubleyou: clil: content and language integrated learning

It's similar to bilingual teaching:

Jay Doubleyou: bilingual teaching today

CLIL stands for Content and Language Integrated Learning and refers to teaching subjects such as science, history and geography to students through a foreign language.

What is CLIL? | Article | Onestopenglish

The idea and practice is spreading:

Including in Italy:

La metodologia CLIL per una didattica innovativa e multilinguistica - Orizzonte Scuola Notizie

In a decree issued at the beginning of August, Italy’s Ministry of Education announced the introduction of Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) from nursery school upward.

CLIL to spread across Italian school system | E L Gazette

And Croatia:

Marinela Ivić i Marica Jurec u Reykjaviku pohađale tečaj CLIL | Novosti.hr

And the Philippines:

“English is not a subject, it is a tool for communicating as is any language, and that CLIL is teaching a language via a subject and teaching the subject using a target language. This tells us that both the language and the content mutually support each other,”

PH teachers to optimize learning approaches for K-3 | Philippine News Agency

And Japan:

《雙語教育檢討書4-3》雙語教材短缺 母雞帶小雞較務實 - 台灣醒報 Awakening News Networks

And Belgium:

KA Zottegem start schooljaar met nieuwe directeur en 1.065 leerlingen – NUUS

And Korea:

인천시미래교육위원회 “언어장벽 높은 이주민 '이중언어교육법' 필수” - 인천일보

And almost in Czechia:

Should second foreign language be voluntary for Czech primary school students? | Radio Prague International

Meanwhile, there's quite a debate going on in Spain:

... the debate on whether the bilingual Spanish-English education model used in some public schools in Spain is really up to par, considering that some regions – which have devolved powers over education – ask teachers for a B2 level, indicating fluency but not proficiency as defined by the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFRL).

In recent years, nearly 90 centers have dropped out of the bilingual education system, viewing it as ineffective. But Pérez, just like other experts, warns that many people simply have the wrong idea of what a bilingual model really does. “It’s a mistake to think that children will end up speaking English just like they speak Spanish; the goal is for them to achieve a functional level that will let them communicate and work in the future,” she explains...

Marsh and his team detected that the major problem was the methodology used at centers, based on memorizing and repeating concepts, with critical thinking relegated to a secondary role. Their solution was a system called CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning), which was included in the action plan to promote linguistic diversity launched by the European Commission between 2004 and 2006, and which lies at the heart of today’s bilingual model.

This system defended learning a new language through the study of other subject matter such as maths, geography and history. But there was a limit: the student would never actually speak the second language as well as their native one. “The word bilingual is dangerous and it creates false expectations,” says Marsh. “Families think that if they take their children to a bilingual school, they will learn another language in a short space of time, but the real goal is for Europeans to be able to communicate at a basic level.”

Administrators at the Isaac Albéniz secondary school in Leganés (Madrid) defend the bilingual model and report being pleased with the results. “Getting students to speak perfect English is impossible, we the teachers are not native-like, but we know enough to teach secondary school kids,” says Inmaculada Alonso, head of studies at the school and herself an English teacher.

Learning English: Defenders of bilingual education in Spain: ‘It’s a mistake to think that students will speak English like they do Spanish’ | Society | EL PAÍS English Edition

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the duolingo english test

Some six years ago, this blog looked at the popular language learning app:

Jay Doubleyou: duolingo: free language-learning app

And again last year:

Jay Doubleyou: the limitations of language apps

Jay Doubleyou: gamification in learning

Duolingo is now offering an English language test - which is being accepted by more and more universities - especially during the pandemic, when online testing has become the norm:

More unis choosing Duolingo | E L Gazette

International students pivot to Duolingo English Test during pandemic | University Times | University of Pittsburgh

Here's their website:

Duolingo English Test

The company now wants to sell shares:

Duolingo filed to go public | TechCrunch

Duolingo files to go public, reveals pandemic earnings surge

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how many English words do you know? ..." with this test you get a valid estimate of your English vocabulary size"

The Centre of Reading Research at Ghent University in Belgium is very interested in seeing how much and what type of vocabulary we use.

It regularly carries out research - which catches the public eye.

And it also offers the same test it's used in its research for the rest of us to try.

This is from 2014:

Center for Reading Research study finds different vocabulary words are known to only to men or women.

Mach and mascarpone: testing how vocabulary is gendered | Written language | The Guardian

Gender and Vocabulary Analysis

This is from 2016:

Most adults know more than 42,000 words -- ScienceDaily

How Big Is Your Vocabulary? This Online Test Can Find Out | Digital Trends

And this is from 2017:

No more queueing at the ladies' room: How transgender-friendliness may help in battling female-unfriendly toilet culture -- ScienceDaily

And this is from this year, as reported by the E L Gazette:

A new vocabulary list reflects how learners acquire additional words

The order of words acquired by non-native learners is usually assumed to reflect word frequency in the English language generally, but when Belgian researchers tested word recognition directly and compiled lists of word families reflecting what students actually know, their lists suggested other strong influences on which words are learned and in what order...

The Belgian study took a very different, bottom-up approach, testing language learners directly to find out which words they actually know.

An internet test was made freely available (see below), with each testing round comprising 70 random, real English words and 30 random, made-up but plausible words. The participants answered yes/no, indicating recognition of the word, while the inclusion of the nonsense words weeded out those who claimed to recognise words falsely.

Measuring language learning success | E L Gazette

And here's their test:

How many English words do you know? With this test you get a valid estimate of your English vocabulary size within 4 minutes and you help scientific research.

Vocabulary test

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