ปรินันท์ เทพรัตน์. Designing the Placement Test for Use in SEARs. Master's Degree(Applied Linguistics for English Language Teaching). King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi. : King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi, 2005.
Abstract:
For students to be able to engage in self-access learning, students need guidance on where to start using self-access materials. To serve this need, a placement test is one of the materials that should be provided for students in the secondary-level self-access centres in Thailand called Student English Access Rooms (SEARs). This study attempts to investigate if a computer-based placement test is an appropriate test and if the levels of the materials suggested are also appropriate for students' language levels. In regards to the placement test design, the test is a computer-based test designed to match King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi (KMUTT) self-access materials (package 5), which were designed specifically based on the Basic Education Curriculum RE. 2544. This placement test consists of 60 items, covering listening, vocabulary, grammar, reading and writing skills. The test results identify the students' language and also give suggestions for the levels of the materials that are appropriate to their levels.
The subjects of the study were 6 students from Pichai Rattanakhan School, where the SEAR Ranong is located. The instruments used for data collection were the record of test response sheet, two questionnaires, and two interviews.
The findings of this research study revealed that, overall, the placement test is an
appropriate test in identifying students' language levels and the levels of the materials suggested are appropriate for students. Students are satisfied and have good attitudes towards this placement test. Depending on the various aims of the test, however, the placement test could be changed by improving sound quality for some parts of the test instructions in the listening part, increasing the time provided in the reading part, and allowing students to revise answers.