An online placement test of Portuguese as a Foreign Language: Development and implementation

Abstract

This paper focuses on proficiency assessment in Portuguese as a Foreign Language (PFL) by reporting on the development of an online placement test within a multi- campus project of online Portuguese courses conducted in a Brazilian state university. The test classifies the candidates at levels A1, A2, B1 or above B1, based on the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR), and the students are placed in online courses accordingly. The test items are based on language tasks related to university contexts, such as understanding spoken Portuguese, basic and intermediate grammar, and reading skills. A holistic proficiency scale based on the CEFR was created to correct the test and place the candidates at either basic or pre- intermediate levels. The experience of deciding on the most suitable online platform for the test, between Google Forms and the Moodle platform (Modular Object- Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment), is also presented in this article, according to the advantages and disadvantages of each of these alternatives. Test results were successful in classifying candidates according to the aforementioned proficiency levels of the online course.