The discussion emerged during a recent HE Summit in Athens, bringing together university admissions professionals and assessment specialists, where participants offered contrasting views on whether admissions teams should be able to see samples of candidates’ performance alongside their official scores.
Among those welcoming the development was Maggie Brackenridge, director of international admissions at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, who highlighted the value of being able to access part of a candidate’s speaking transcript through the Duolingo English Test’s integration with Slate CRM.
Brackenridge described one application in which an applicant had been asked who their favourite celebrity was but instead answered about how they celebrated their birthday. While the applicant’s overall score met expectations, she said being able to view the transcript helped admissions staff recognise that the candidate’s comprehension was less sophisticated than the score alone might have suggested.
The example was cited as evidence that additional context can help admissions teams make more informed decisions beyond simply confirming whether an applicant has achieved the required English language score.
Historically, English language testing organisations have typically supplied universities with an electronic score report showing an applicant’s overall and component scores, allowing admissions teams to verify that minimum language requirements have been met with little or no interpretation.
Marios Molfetas, chief languages officer at LanguageCert, said he was keen to listen and potentially adapt more interactive elements based on market feedback in a way that supports the overall admissions process. “Such features should help to provide additional applicant insights whilst being careful around actual use to qualify language proficiency,” he said.
Edgar Wingfield, senior software architect at PeopleCert, also cautioned a process of “double checking” and a sentiment that admissions staff might not trust results they receive.
I know from my own experience, being an examiner, it’s not an easy thing to do
Will Pearson, University of Exeter
Also attending the summit was Will Pearson, lecturer in language education at the University of Exeter in the UK. He likewise questioned whether admissions staff should be interpreting language performance that has already been evaluated by trained examiners.
“It’s an interesting point because it’s a recent development,” he told The PIE News. “For me anyway, it’s interesting that there’s quite a lot of positivity about this from admissions staff.”
Drawing on his own experience as a language examiner, Pearson questioned whether admissions officers should be making high-stakes judgements based on a small sample of a candidate’s performance.
“I know from my own experience, being an examiner, it’s not an easy thing to do,” he said.
He also argued that any excerpt shown to admissions staff represents only a fraction of a candidate’s performance.
“Any language test, as a test in itself, is a sample of a candidate’s ability. You can’t test everything… So, effectively, what this is suggesting is that there’s another sample… within this sample.”
Pearson also questioned whether the move reflects increasing competition between English language testing providers.
“I have concerns that such a practice would not be considered consistent with good practice in language testing or assessments.”
