ASTM releases language proficiency testing standards

We are pleased to announce that ASTM has approved industry standards for assessing language proficiency! The standards are available from the ASTM web site for a fee.

The Chief Linguist of the NLSC organized and chaired the sub-committee that developed these standards because, while we accept volunteers who speak any language, we focus on the less-common ones. Many, maybe most, of these languages do not yet have proficiency tests. Our concern was how to develop reliable tests for these languages when there were no standards for creating them.

There was enough interest to launch a sub-committee to take on this challenge as I have noted earlier. And the members of this sub-committee came together and produced the standards in an amazingly brief (for standards development) 15 months!

The new standards cover the entire lifecycle of a test, from creating it to administering it, maintaining and updating it.

I approached two individuals in the field for their reactions: from the business side, Dr. Charles Stansfield, President and Founder of Second Language Testing, Inc., and from government, Glenn H. Nordin, Foreign Language and Area Advisor in the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Command, Control, Communications and Intelligence.

Dr. Stansfield noted that the ASTM standards will benefit both industry and the government. “For years, government agencies have tried to create their own tests. This has not worked out for a variety of reasons. Often the tests simply were not completed. Other times, they were not developed and reviewed carefully enough. Within and across agencies, there was inconsistent rigor, because there was no set model that people were following.

The ASTM standards change all of that. The government and the language industry have collaborated to produce standards that can be used by either to develop language tests based on the government's scale of language proficiency. This will allow the government to issue contracts for test development and to evaluate the products for adherence to the relevant ASTM standards. This will mean much more work for those companies involved in language testing and most likely new companies will feel that they can enter the picture.”

When asked how he thought the standards will benefit a company like Second Language Testing, Dr. Stansfield said that “SLTI already understood and was practicing the processes and procedures elaborated in the ASTM standards. It won't change our processes much. On the other hand, it will facilitate reaching agreement in discussions with the Government on funded language testing projects. It will also facilitate consistent evaluation of the work products we submit.”

Mr. Nordin agreed that the standards “will meet a long-felt need for detailed guidance on development and employment of language proficiency test vehicles, test content, and use of test results. “In itself, the standard is useful as a textbook with checklists for persons without education or previous experience in proficiency assessment. As a reference within a contract for test development, it will serve to focus buyer and supplier concentration on essential components of test development and use.

“The document is a consensus standard practice that has been produced by a consortium of the best and brightest from government and academe language education community together with the language service industry.

“When … widely employed in test development, it will make a significant contribution to the national framework essential to building the US professional cadre of language workers. This Standard Practice joins the ASTM guidance on language teaching, translation and interpretation in the base documentation essential to improving the US capabilities in world languages to meet the global communicative needs of the future.” Speaking of the other language-related ASTM standards, these and the new language proficiency testing standards will move out from under the Consumer Products committee (which covers products ranging from baby carriages to wall coverings), in which they have resided, to their own committee on Language Services and Products.

The National Language Service Corps is part of the National Security Education Program.

ASTM’s new Language Services and Products committee holds first meeting

Recently, the ASTM’s new Language Services and Products committee met for the first time. The scope of the committee is to develop standards for language services and products. This includes developing specifications, guides, test methods, classifications, practices and terminology.

The services and products that the committee will deal with initially include language interpreting, foreign language instruction, language translation and language proficiency.

The past fifteen years have seen a rapid expansion of the language industry in the US and globally. International trade, globalization, localization and government services have put significant demands on all sectors of the language industry. Groups active in the development and provision of services and products such as translating, interpreting, language training, machine translation and human language technology, and language testing recognize the need for standards.

While the ASTM, under other committees, has developed some standards, many sectors and activities have none. The new committee will own the standards already developed and will work on defining standards to fill the existing gaps.

The NLSC was instrumental in the formation of this committee (see more on that here) and is involved in a significant way, as the committee’s chairman is our Chief Linguist, Dr. Bill Rivers, and two other NLSC staff on the committee. In addition, committee members include federal government agencies, private sector companies in the language industry, and universities.

New ASTM Committee to Develop Standards for Language Services

I've written in the past on our involvement in creating standards for language proficiency testing under the umbrella of the ASTM. The final vote on the standards should happen very soon.

In the meantime, and an outgrowth of this effort, the ASTM has set up a committee dedicated to the language industry. Today, the ASTM formally announced the formation of Committee F43 on Foreign Language Services and Products.

Draft standards for language testing forwarded to full ASTM committee for vote

As I wrote in May, the ASTM foreign language proficiency sub-committee, organized by the NLSC to develop standards for language proficiency testing, was set to vote on the final draft of the proposed standards this month. Last week, that sub-committee approved the draft and has forwarded it for approval to the full committee (currently the committee that covers all consumer products, but as noted last month, after the vote it will shift to the new Technical Committee on Language Services and Products.

We don't yet have a timetable for the full committee vote, but we will continue to post updates.

We'd like to acknowledge the contributions of the following organizations, whose staff volunteered their time to help develop these standards as part of the sub-committee. Listed in alphabetical order: Defense Language Institute (DLI), American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Language (ACTFL), Avant Assessment, Center for Applied Linguistics, CyraCom, Interagency Language Roundtable, International Center for Language Studies (ICLS), Northrup Grumman, Schreiber Translation, Inc. (STI), Second Language Testing, SWA Translation, U.S. Department of Defense, and University of Maryland Center for Advanced Study of Language (MD CASL).

UPDATE: Driving the definition of standards for language proficiency tests

I didn't plan it this way, but a year ago today I blogged about our efforts to work within ASTM International to set standards for language proficiency tests. Yesterday, the foreign language proficiency sub-committee we organized met to make what we think are the final revisions to the draft standards document. It will meet next month to review that final version and with luck, voting members of the ASTM will act on the final ballot soon after.

We are proud of the progress the sub-committee has made in less than two years. By comparison, ASTM standards for interpreting took around five years and those for translation took about four.

And we have another reason to be pleased. As a result of our work, the ASTM is establishing a new permanent committee, the Technical Committee on Language Services and Products to oversee all things related to language. This is no trivial accomplishment.

Language industry standards will no longer fall under consumer products such as bathtub and shower structures, baby strollers and bean bag chairs. The Technical Committee will assume responsibility for the existing sub-committees that deal with language proficiency testing, translations services and language interpreting, and will be the umbrella committee for any future language-related sub-committees.

When the standards are final and have been published, we will post a link to the document(s) here.

NLSC: Driving the definition of standards for language proficiency tests

We expect that, when we conclude our pilot phase and become a live organization, NLSC membership will grow rapidly, to anywhere between 16,000 and 30,000 volunteers. And we will need to certify every one, to make sure they have sufficient language skills to meet the needs of the agencies we will be serving.

This presents two challenges: language testing capacity and language tests of consistent quality.

If we re-certify a person’s language skills every three years, that would mean we would be conducting at least 5,000 tests per year (assuming only 16,000 members), and that doesn’t include certifying new members who come on board. Challenge #1: Current government and private sector resources cannot handle that additional load, so what are our options?

In addition, the Department of Defense currently has tests for reading, listening and speaking for about 15 languages. According to the U.S. Census, there are over 500 languages spoken in this country. That leaves "only" 460 languages without tests. Challenge #2: Who develops these tests and how can we ensure that they are consistently good tests?

Enter ASTM International. ASTM International is one of the largest voluntary standards development organizations in the world, similar to Underwriters Laboratories. Originally known as the American Society for Testing and Materials, the ASTM was formed over a century ago, when a group of engineers and scientists got together to address the need for standards in the rail industry. It has long since expanded to cover hundreds of product and service standards.

ASTM’s role is to facilitate standards, not enforce them and not to certify anything. Those tasks are left up to the industries that embrace the standards.

We began realizing the need for standards in November 2007, during the organizational phase of the NLSC when we were trying to define our language certification plan. The NLSC worked with the ASTM to launch a subcommittee to specifically address Foreign Language Proficiency. Dr. Bill Rivers, our Chief Linguist, chairs the committee. Our goal is to define standards for language proficiency tests … measurable standards that can be incorporated into contracts awarded to companies to create tests.

The subcommittee got rolling in December 2008. Those involved include 25 to 30 individuals from government agencies that need individuals with language skill, and companies that are involved in language testing. In other words, the people involved have a vested interest in the outcome. Dr. Rivers expects draft standards to be ready by the end of this summer. He noted that the process has been remarkably smooth, compared with another ASTM committee he was involved with that took six years.

Standards will make sure that the NLSC does not create bottlenecks in the existing government agencies that test language skills. Why? Because we will be able to test skills ourselves (or outsource that task) and we will be able to contract out the creation of tests for additional languages to any company willing to commit to those standards.

And standards will not only benefit the NLSC. They will be a great help to the entire language industry. If a test meets the benchmarks, any agency adopting those standards can reliably use that test.