AN ONLINE DIAGNOSTIC SYSTEM TO ASSESS ENGLISH GRAMMAR SKILLS

Given the latest advances of Information and Communication Technologies and the growing number of language learners all over the world, many education institutions are increasingly resorting to Internet-based technologies for the delivery of their courses. This exponential growth of online educational materials has prompted many educators, testing experts as well as test developers to explore innovative ways of applying Information Technology in the assessment of language learners’ skills. In this vein, our objective in this article is to put forward an online diagnostic tool for the assessment of English grammar skills.

The proposed Web-based assessment tool, so far used by more than 5000 English learners worldwide, is based on multiple choice questions. Once logged in, every user is given a random list of questions covering different aspects of English grammar. When the test is over, the language learner is provided with information about the specific grammatical areas that he masters and those in which he needs to work on more in depth. The user can, for instance, know that he is good at prepositions and relative pronouns, but he is bad at reported speech and phrasal verbs. In this sense, this diagnostic system allows language learners to have an idea about their strengths, weaknesses as well as gaps in knowledge. Therefore, this online tool does not only provide language learners with the feedback that they need to enhance their language learning proficiency, but it also gives teachers the requisite information that would enable them to identify students or language learners who need help, and spot which grammar issues that they should focus more on.