Local English Test
[For all inquiries regarding the ACE-In and PLaCE program evaluation, please contact Dr. Lixia Cheng (clixia@purdue.edu), PLaCE Associate Director of Evaluation.]
The ACE-In: An In-House Academic English Proficiency Test
The Assessment of College English–International (ACE-In) is a locally developed and rated, internet-based, semi-direct test used in the PLaCE program to determine test-takers’ academic English proficiency levels. The results inform administrative decisions on course placement or exemption. PLaCE also administers the ACE-In in a pre–post design within its two-semester sequenced courses (SCLA 110 and SCLA 111) to document proficiency gains by Purdue international ESL undergraduates enrolled in the courses.
The ACE-In was initially developed in Academic Year 2013–14, as part of the PLaCE initiative, by Prof. Emerita April Ginther (the inaugural director of PLaCE and long-term director of OEPP) and her graduate testing assistants in the Oral English Proficiency Program (OEPP), Purdue’s International Teaching Assistants (ITA) program. Since PLaCE's establishment in Summer 2014, the ACE-In has undergone several major revisions and upgrades by PLaCE testing staff in collaboration with DELMAR Software Development.
“ACE-In 2022” and "ACE-In Virtual" are the two current versions of the test, used respectively for in-person testing at Purdue University, West Lafayette and for remote proctoring via ProctorU® for students located elsewhere in the world. The 2022 version has four comparable forms (Forms 1–4), while the Virtual version has two (Forms A–B). Both versions share the same sections, item types, and rating scales. No prompt appears in more than one form within the same version or across versions.
Due to logistical constraints related to outsourcing proctoring to ProctorU®, the Virtual test differs structurally from the 2022 version in only one way. In the Listen & Repeat section, the 2022 version includes longer and more syntactically complex sentences. Each sentence is played twice: first as part of a cohesive paragraph, and then individually. Note-taking is prohibited for this section during the West Lafayette in-person ACE-In test. PLaCE staff distribute notepaper to test-takers only afterward, for use in completing the later sections of the ACE-In.
Tables 1–2 show the structure of “ACE-In 2022” and "ACE-In Virtual," including which language subskills are assessed in each section and what rating and scoring work is required. Measurement properties of the Listen & Repeat section of the "ACE-In Virtual" test—including interrater reliability, test form comparability, internal consistency, standard error of measurement, item difficulty, item discrimination, and instructional senstivitiy—are highlighted in a chapter (Cheng & Li, 2023) published in the edited volume Local Language Testing: Practice across Contexts.
| Section | Specs of Rated Items | Languaged Skills Assessed | Rating/Scoring |
| Word Deletion (a.k.a. Cloze Elide in research literature) | 2 passages; total 60 items | Silent reading, vocabulary, grammar | Machine scored |
| Listen & Repeat (a.k.a. Elicitied Imitation in research literature) | 12 sentences forming a coherent paragraph, with 12, 24, or 36 syllables in each sentence; audios played twice | Grammatical accuracy and meaning retention in spoken language production, listening comprehension | Blind rated by 2–3 trained instructor-raters in PLaCE, using a five-point rating scale (0–1–2–3–4) |
| Oral Reading | 2 passages with 155–165 words in each passage | Oral Reading: Expression, Accuracy, and Rate (EAR) | Expression: blind rated by 2–3 trained instructor-raters, using a four-point rating scale (1–2–3–4); Pronunciation Accuracy: computer calculated based on human annotations by an instructor; Rate (words per minute): computer calculated based on annotations by an instructor |
| Speaking & Listening | 4 items: Express Your Opinion; Pros and Cons; Summarize a Conversation; Line Graph | Free-response speaking, listening comprehension | Blind rated by 2–3 trained instructor-raters in PLaCE, using a five-point rating scale (1–2–3–4–5) adapted from the Oral English Proficiency Test (OEPT) |
| Section | Specs of Rated Items | Languaged Skills Assessed | Rating/Scoring |
| Word Deletion | 2 passages; total 60 items | Silent reading, vocabulary, grammar | Machine scored |
| Listen & Repeat | 12 shorter sentences, with 15–16 or 20–21 syllables in each sentence; audios played just once | Grammatical accuracy and meaning retention in spoken language production, listening comprehension | Blind rated by 2–3 trained instructor-raters in PLaCE, using a five-point rating scale (0–1–2–3–4) |
| Oral Reading | 2 passages with 155–165 words in each passage | Oral Reading: Expression, Accuracy, and Rate (EAR) | Expression: blind rated by 2–3 trained instructor-raters, using a four-point rating scale (1–2–3–4); Pronunciation Accuracy: computer calculated based on human annotations by an instructor; Rate (words per minute): computer calculated based on annotations by an instructor |
| Speaking & Listening | 4 items: Express Your Opinion; Pros and Cons; Summarize a Conversation; Line Graph | Free-response speaking, listening comprehension | Blind rated by 2–3 trained instructor-raters in PLaCE, using a five-point rating scale (1–2–3–4–5) adapted from the Oral English Proficiency Test (OEPT) |
The ACE-In is designed to “bias for best” test performances. No special outside content, cultural knowledge or field-specific information is required to respond to ACE-In items. Each item is constructed so that test-takers can formulate an adequate response using only general knowledge that any freshman can reasonably be expected to possess. Test-takers are given sufficient time to prepare for and respond to all ACE-In items.
For test security considerations, the ACE-In has been administered in an IT lab at Purdue University, West Lafayette or via remote proctoring through ProctorU®. From Fall 2017 to Spring 2019, and again from Fall 2022 to the present, the standard testing arrangement for a regular academic year has been for PLaCE to administer the ACE-In twice annually—as both a baseline measure and a program-exit exam—to all international undergraduate students placed into the SCLA 110–111 (formerly, ENGL 110 and 111) course sequence based on their TOEFL iBT, IELTS, or DET scores.
The ACE-In: An Intrinsic Component of PLaCE
The ACE-In has been embedded in the PLaCE program in several ways. PLaCE lecturers and testing office staff members also serve as raters of ACE-In test responses. Lecturers report that their dual roles as teachers and raters enhance their work in both areas, providing a deeper and broader perspective on the English proficiency of Purdue undergraduate students than they would gain from performing only one role. Rater norming sessions and ACE-In rating scale development have also fostered a community of practice, offering venues for lecturers to share their values as English language instructors and articulate their expectations for SCLA 110 and SCLA 111 students’ language development.
The ACE-In also functions as a metric for ESL academic proficiency, serving both as a snapshot of current ability and as a measure of growth over time. For example, toward the end of each regular fall or spring semester, a small percentage of outstanding SCLA 110 students earn an exemption from SCLA 111, allowing them to proceed directly to a Written Communication course such as SCLA 101 or ENGL 108. The primary criterion for determining exemption eligibility is the ACE-In test score, considered alongside SCLA 110 course performance. In this way, ACE-In results inform high-stakes decisions about which SCLA 110 students demonstrate well-developed, balanced language proficiency sufficient for exemption from SCLA 111. Additionally, PLaCE administrators use ACE-In scores as pre–post measures to track students’ longitudinal language development and as a key source of evidence in evaluating the effectiveness of the SCLA 110–111 course sequence. Quantitative statistical analyses and graph visualizations of the Fall 2017–Spring 2018 cohort's proficiency gains in the ACE-In Listen & Repeat section are presented in the same publication (Cheng & Li, 2023).
References
Cheng, L., & Li, X. (2023). Pre-Post elicited imitation: Documenting student gains in the Purdue Language and Cultural Exchange. In Yan, X., Dimova, S., & Ginther, A., (Eds.), Local Language Testing: Practice across Contexts (pp. 103–125). New York, NY: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-33541-9_6