What does the Business Processing Outsourcing industry want from English language assessment?

This article reports on a consultancy project carried out in a large third-party call centre in Manila in 2004. The project aimed to improve English language communications assessment and training for the call centre representatives on the telephones to the United States, the United Kingdom and Australian customers. This article looks particularly at the use of English language assessment tools and processes used at this call centre. First, there is a description of what the business requirements were for language assessment at recruitment, at training and at quality assurance. The article evaluates current assessment tools and practices used in this call centre against current language assessment research and best practice. Finally there is a discussion on how the Business Processing Outsourcing industry and the language assessment fraternity, including the large-scale testing companies, may provide improved solutions for this industry.