EAP Placement Testing : An integrated approach

This paper describes the development of an English for Academic Purposes placement test which aims to reflect an integrated approach to language use. The test aims to approximate natural language behaviour by providing series of tasks, each of which contribute to the overall context of language use. The test is also integrated in terms of theme and the rhetorical organisation of language samples provided. This provides a context in which the language samples both model and generate the context for language tasks which follow. Descriptors on which the assessment is based provide a framework for the ongoing observation and evaluation of learners' communicative performance skills. © 1992 The American University.