Arabic Proficiency Test: An Analytical and Evaluation Study
Hussain Obaidat, Department of English Language and Literature, Yarmouk University, Irbid, Jordan.
Abstract
The need for a standardized Arabic proficiency language test for speakers of other languages and/or even native speakers of Arabic still poses a challenge for specialists in Arabic applied linguistics and teachers of Arabic to speakers of other languages alike. Despite many attempts to produce such a standardized test over the past decades, yet they fall short of being satisfactory to be accepted as international tests like other international recognized and widely implemented language proficiency tests due to their many short comings. This study is twofold: first, it is an attempt to shed light on some of the Arabic language proficiency tests produced and implemented thus far such as the test produced by the American Association of Teachers of Arabic (AATA), the test produced by the Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL) and the test, with limited implementation, produced by the Arabic Linguistics Institute at King Saud University (ALI). The study presents a thorough analysis pertaining to content and theoretical framework in light of standards for language proficiency tests. Second, the paper presents an empirical study on the results of 70 students from three language levels in the department of Language and Culture who were studying Arabic as a second Language and sat for the ALI test when experimenting on it. The variables examined were the number of languages they speak, the number of years they spent learning Arabic before joining the program and the level they were placed in according to the department own language test. The goal was to see the impact of these variables on the four language skills; writing, reading, listening and speaking and whether their results in the proficiency test matches their placement by the department in the different language levels. Statistical results and discussions are based on SSPS. The study concludes with some pedagogical implications and recommendations.
Keywords: Proficiency, Test, Standards, Standardized tests, Arabic for speakers of other languages.