Assessment of Languages Competence (ALC)

The Assessment of Languages Competence (ALC) is a suite of tests, at different levels, designed to assess language competence in learners of additional languages.

This article covers the following topics:

• The assessment
• Choosing the right test
• Administering the test
• Reports and certificates

The assessment

ALC testing helps teachers assess their students' proficiency levels and track their progress across their school years. ALC testing also contributes to the promotion and celebration of languages education and gives students the opportunity to experience success by completing a languages challenge and receive an acknowledgement in the form of a certificate.

ALC offers tests of the following languages:

• Chinese
• French
• German
• Indonesian
• Italian
• Japanese
• Modern Greek
• Spanish

Choosing the right test

ALC is offered in three levels for each language. These levels are based approximately on hours of language learning, although the hours of language learning should be considered only as a guide.

The questions in the tests are not based on which year level students are in, but rather their familiarity with the language, based on how long they've been learning it, the nature of the classroom program and their opportunities to experience the language in use.

• Level 1 is for students who have studied the language for approximately 100 hours by the time of testing.
• Level 2 is for students who have studied the language for approximately 200 hours by the time of testing.
• Level 3 is for students who have studied the language for approximately 300 hours by the time of testing.

There are Listening and Reading tasks available at each level. By participating in both the listening and reading components of the ALC program within the same school term, each student will receive a printed certificate which awards the achievement level.

Administering the test

Schools will need to set aside some classroom hours for the assessment.

For all tests, ACER recommends allowing 5-10 minutes for orientation and setup and 40 mins for students to complete their tests.

Please note that the method of analysis used for the ALC is based on the assumption that students have enough time to
complete all the questions that they are able to do. That is why, at the end of each test session, teachers
are advised to allow an extra few minutes to any students who are still working profitably.

The ALC assessments may include some field trial items. These items will not contribute to the
student’s results but are critical to maintaining the validity of the ALC assessments.

Notes on assessment materials

Teachers and students need the following items for each test session:

• A computer/device with internet access.
• Students require individual earphones/headphones for the listening component.
• Your school’s unique test web address showing on their screen (https://oars.acer.edu.au/your-school-name).
• Their own individual username and password.
• No dictionaries or other reference materials are permitted

Reports and certificates

Certificates

All students who complete both a Listening and Reading test of the same level within the same school term will receive a printed certificate. Printed certificates for eligible students will be posted to schools early in the following term.

Online group report

The Group Report provides information at a test form level, reporting on question-specific information.

Follow the steps below to generate reports from the Students page:

1. Go to the Students page.
2. Filter and select the students you wish to generate a report for. You can select a student by marking/ticking the checkbox to the left of the student's name, or by clicking Select all students if a filter has been applied.
3. Click on Generate Report.
4. Select the assessment to report on from the menu.
5. Choose the report type you wish to generate and any required fields (i.e. Test form).
6. Select the time period to report on from the graph.
   1. You may need to Reset zoom if no results are displayed.
   2. You can click and drag across the chart to highlight and select a date range for the report.
   3. You can manually input a date range using ' From' and 'To'.
   4. You can choose a specific date by clicking on that date’s bar graph.
7. Click Generate report, and then View report.

Information within the Group Report

Students’ chosen answers are displayed under each question number. Correct answers to multiple-choice questions are coloured green with ticks and incorrect answers are coloured pink along with the incorrect answer (A, B, C or D) selected by the student. NA, on a white background, indicates the student did not select an answer.

Interacting with the Group Report

The report can be sorted by all the options listed above, by clicking on the words. For example, click on Raw score to sort the report by the students’ raw score results.

Specific test question content is accessible in a pop-up box by clicking on a question number. It displays the number of students (also displayed as a percentage) in your report that chose each response option. The answer outlined in green indicates the correct answer.

Download

Click on Download – Table (Excel File).

1. Click Table to export an Excel spreadsheet of the Group Report. A pop-up box will appear containing a list of extra information you can tick to include the export file – Unique ID, Username, DOB, Gender and Tags.
2. Tick the boxes next to any extra information you want to include in the export file. If you do not require any extra information to be included, leave all the options unticked.
3. Click Export report. An Excel spreadsheet version of the group report will generate, which you can save to your computer. The file type will save in *.xls format.
4. Click Close to return back to the main Group Report screen.