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Issues in testing business

English

The revision of the Cambridge Business

English CertiÞcates

Also in this series:

An investigation into the comparability of two tests of English as a For eign Language: The

Cambridge-TOEFL comparability study

Lyle F. Bachman, F. Davidson, K. Ryan, I.-C. Choi

Test taker characteristics and performance: A structural modeling approa ch

Antony John Kunnan

Performance testing, cognition and assessment: Selected papers from the

15th Language Testing

Research Colloquium, Cambridge and Arnhem

Michael Milanovic, Nick Saville

The development of IELTS: A study of the effect of background knowledge on reading comprehension

Caroline Margaret Clapham

Verbal protocol analysis in language testing research: A handbook

Alison Green

A multilingual glossary of language testing terms

Prepared by ALTE members

Dictionary of language testing

Alan Davies, Annie Brown, Cathie Elder, Kathryn Hill, Tom Lumley, Tim Mc

Namara

Learner strategy use and performance on language tests: A structural equ ation modelling approach

James Enos Purpura

Fairness and validation in language assessment: Selected papers from the

19th Language Testing

Research Colloquium, Orlando, Florida

Antony John Kunnan

Issues in computer-adaptive testing of reading pro fi ciency

Micheline Chalhoub-Deville

Experimenting with uncertainty: Essays in honour of Alan Davies A. Brown, C. Elder, N. Iwashita, E. Grove, K. Hill, T. Lumley, K. O'L oughlin, T. McNamara An empirical investigation of the componentiality of L2 reading in Engli sh for academic purposes

Cyril Weir

The equivalence of direct and semi-direct speaking tests

Kieran O'Loughlin

A qualitative approach to the validation of oral language tests

Anne Lazaraton

Continuity and innovation: Revising the Cambridge Proficiency in English Examination

1913-2002

Edited by Cyril Weir and Michael Milanovic

European language testing in a global context

Edited by Cyril Weir and Michael Milanovic

A modular approach to testing English language skills:

The development of the Certi

fi cates in English Language Skills (CELS) examinations

Roger Hawkey

Changing language teaching through language testing: A washback study

Liying Cheng

Unpublished

The impact of high-stakes examinations on classroom teaching: A case study using insights from testing and innovation theory

Dianne Wall

Impact theory and practice: Studies of the IELTS test and

Progetto Lingue 2000

Roger Hawkey

Issues in testing business

English

The revision of the Cambridge Business

English CertiÞcates

Barry O'Sullivan

iv

CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS

Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, S'o Paulo

Cambridge University Press

The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 2RU, UK

www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521013307

© UCLES 2006

This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press.

First published 2006

Printed in the United Kingdom at the University Press, Cambridge A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library

ISBN-13 978-0-521-01330-7 paperback

ISBN-10 0-521-01330-5 paperback

The author is grateful to the copyright holders for permission to use the copyright material reproduced in this book. Every effort has been made to trace the copyright holders. Cambridge University Press apologises for any unintentional omissions and would be pleased, in such cases, to add an acknowledgement in further editions.Reprinted 2006

To Maura

v vii

Contents

Acknowledgementsix

Series Editors' notex

Abbreviationsxii

Chapter 1

Introduction to the testing of language for business purposes 1

Chapter 2

The revision of BEC 82

Chapter 3

Major changes to the suite 119

Chapter 4

Changes in the BEC papers 130

Chapter 5

Conclusions and the way forward 174

Appendices

Appendix 1.1: JOCT Evaluation Criteria 196

Appendix 1.2: CEFLS Pilot Test 197

Appendix 1.3: CEIBT - Test of Reading and Writing -

June and November 1992 205

Appendix 1.4: BULATS - Standard Test English 225

Appendix 1.5: BULATS - Speaking Test 241

Appendix 1.6: BULATS - Standard Test German 244

Appendix 2.1: ALTE Work Typical Abilities 260

Appendix 3.1: BEC 1 Sample Paper 261

Appendix 3.2: BEC 2 Sample Paper 277

Appendix 3.3: BEC 3 Sample Paper 291

Appendix 4.1: BEC Preliminary Sample Paper 302

Appendix 4.2: BEC Vantage Sample Paper 328

Appendix 4.3: BEC Higher Sample Paper 353

viii

Contents

Additional information on tests of language for business purposes 378

References381

Index393

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank the many people at Cambridge ESOL who contributed to this volume. I was lucky enough to be able to interview many of the indi viduals who were involved in the development and administration of their tests o f English for business purposes, particularly the BULATS and BEC groups. I n particular, I am indebted to Hugh Bateman, without whom the book could n ot have been completed. Others I would like to single out include Mike Mila novic and Nick Saville, who provided historical information and access to inte rnal reports, and Neil Jones, who provided documentation on the grading proce dures for BEC. I would also like to thank David Thighe who clariÞed a number of grading-related issues, and who made valuable comments on the later draf ts of this book. Finally, I would like to thank Rowena Akinyemi for all her wo rk in ensuring that this book made it to press. I would also like to thank the following individuals and institutions fo r providing information on their tests and for giving their permission for items from the tests to be included in the book: CertiÞcazione della conoscenza dell'italiano commerciale (CertiÞcate in Italian for Commerce - CIC): Professor Giuliana Grego Bolli and Francesca Pa rizzi of the Università per Stranieri di Perugia. JETRO tests: Professor Kiyokata Katoh of Tokyo Gakugei University and Reiko Kimura of the Japan External Trade Organization. Pitman tests: Glyn Jones of City and Guilds, London. Cambridge ESOL tests: Dr Mike Milanovic of Cambridge ESOL. Table on page 101: reproduced by permission of Oxford University Press f rom Oxford Applied Linguistics: Fundamental Considerations in Language Testi ng by Lyle F Bachman ©Lyle F Bachman 1990. Finally, I would like to thank Professor Cyril Weir who read various par ts of the book and offered invaluable critical comments and advice. ix x

Series EditorsÕnote

The language testing world has flirted with the testing of English for s pecific purposes for many years. In small scale testing contexts there have been and continue to be numerous specific assessments tailored to particular need s but in the context of large scale international language testing, specific purp ose assess- ments have been far less common. Cambridge ESOL started testing English in 1913. In some ways you might consider the original Certificate of Proficiency in English (CPE) a sp ecific purpose examination designed to meet the needs of those teaching English although over the years it has become far more general in its emphasis. Cambridge ESOL also collaborated with the British Council on the devel- opment of the English Language Testing Service (ELTS) in the 1970s whi ch had six subject specific modules. IELTS, which evolved from ELTS in 1990, sa w a reduction in the academic modules to 3 and the 1995 revision of IELTS le d to the single academic module alongside a general training variant. There are many reasons for this retreat by IELTS, both practical and theoretical. Developing numerous multiple modules in the quantities requ ired was a far from easy task. Ensuring that candidates took the right module was difficult. Equating modules proved technically very demanding. Ensuring content appropriateness required access to experts in a number of fields and so on. However, the need to extend the remit of General English assessment remains. The context of Cambridge ESOL English language assessment currently falls into four broad categories. Academic English (IELTS),

Business

English (BEC and BULATS), Young Learners' English (YLE) and Gener al English (KET, PET, FCE, CAE, CPE and CELS) and in 2006 Cambridge ESOL will launch the International Legal English Certificate. This test seeks to address more specifically English in the legal domain of use. In Issues in testing business English, Barry O'Sullivan provides a framework for classifying and understanding specific purpose language assessment. The first part of the volume provides the reader with a comprehensive review of numerous business English tests as well as business language tests in ot her languages. Some of the tests described no longer exist so the volume als o serves as a useful historical record. This is followed by a detailed look at th e revision of the Cambridge Business English Certificates (BEC). Chapter 1 considers the relationship between general English and English for specific purposes and the definition of a business English construct. O'

Sullivan

presents a continuum ranging from an unspecified purpose to one that is highly xi specified. To this he adds construct, test method, skills coverage measu rement qualities, degree of specificity/authenticity, non language factors and the reporting of test performance. This provides him with a framework for comparison and he proceeds to evaluate a series of business language tes ts on this basis. Particular attention is paid to some very widely used tests such as TOEIC, BULATS and BEC although the coverage of less widely known assess- ments is comprehensive. The text is illustrated with numerous examples o f testquotesdbs_dbs23.pdfusesText_29

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