Harcourt Offers Automated Language Test

SAN ANTONIO - Ordinate Corp., a subsidiary of test publisher Harcourt Assessment, Inc., now offers technology-enabled spoken-language proficiency tests to customers in the education, government and corporate sectors.

The technology advances Harcourt's ability to provide its education customers with tools to determine ESL student placement and teacher qualification.  It also provides enhanced ability for government and corporate clients to ensure quality service to their constituents and customers through communication standards.

Ordinate developed an automated method for evaluating spoken language proficiency based on advanced speech recognition technology.  Used by educational, commercial and government organizations worldwide, its tests can be administered anytime and anywhere, and score reports are available in a matter of minutes.

The company's flagship assessment is the Spoken English Test (SET), which is used to assess the listening and speaking skills of non-native English speakers.  The 10-minute SET-10 measures language proficiency using five tasks - reading sentences aloud; repeating sentences; answering short questions; building sentences; and answering open-ended questions.  SET-10 scores reflect spoken English skill levels in sentence mastery, fluency, vocabulary and pronunciation.

Ordinate also offers a shorter, five-minute version of the SET-10, with fewer items and tasks.  In addition, the company provides two Junior SET tests for younger learners, as well as spoken Spanish and Dutch tests.  The company is currently developing a language proficiency test in Japanese and it plans to offer additional languages, including French and German.