Abstract:
The main purpose of this study was to construct and develop the criteria for general English proficiency ability of ability bands for Thai students and the general public for listening comprehension, reading comprehension and writing. The population was indefinite numbers of Thai students and interested persons who were eligible to take the CU-TEP (Chulalongkorn University Test of English Proficiency) Forms 7, 8 or 9. The subjects were 495, 1823 and 1037 testees who took the CU-TEP Forms 7, 8 and 9 respectively during the years 1994-1995. The data were then analyzed by means of CTIA/Grading and Rasch programs to find their item difficulty indices and maps of variables. The findings can be summarized as follows: 1. The general English proficiency ability bands of Thai students and the general public could be categorized into 5 levels, viz 1) Extremely Limited, 2) Marginal, 3) Moderate, 4) Competent and 5) Very good. 2. Composite ability scores for the ability bands could also be categorized into 5 levelsas mentioned above and could be equated with TOEFL scores. 3. Composite ability bands for the listening comprehension and reading comprehension skills could also be categorized into 5 levels as mentioned above, but such bands could not be constructed for the writing skill