Performance Management - National HRD Network

English Language Tests
In today's corporate environment the need
for effective communication has been
recognized and accepted. It is understood
that communication becomes effective
when the people who interact are able to
comprehend the requirements of each other
in a short span of time. Most often the first
link between people is established through
verbal communication, to be followed by
online or other ways of dealing. Moreover
as it is believed that the first impressions
are often the last impressions, the goodwill
of a company depends on the initial
communication links that are established
and later maintained by its employees. So
the face of the company, that is its
employees, needs to be skilled not only
technically but also in effective
communication methodology.
With growing international avenues both in
the industry and services sectors the
companies are required to deal with foreign
clients. One of the main problems they face
in such dealings is the language barriers
due to use of different languages in
prevalence.
In most overseas dealings it has been
observed that English has been widely
accepted as the functional corporate
language. The ease and its widespread use
in most nations has led to the need to
recognize the fact that to get benefits in
overseas dealings a command over the
English language is a must. Employees
must be well versed in the grammatical and
proper usage of English. Knowledge of both
spoken and written English then would
become a prerequisite for getting
employment in companies especially those
engaged in the BPO industry, IT industry or
dealing with overseas clients.
As a recruiter, companies often face the
problem of assessing a candidates
command over English as a language.
Candidates show technical competence in
their areas of competence but most often
fare badly when there is a need to use
proper English in their work environment.
The need for assessment of employees
arises in a company when the employer fear
that he may lose on good client accounts
due to incompetence of its work force. Most
often the demands of clients are very
precise and specific. A company builds its
goodwill on the competence and
performance of its employees. Assessment
becomes all the more crucial in case of new
recruitments as the company may desire
that the new crop of employees actually fit
in the with the existing profile of employees.
An individual's academic qualification may
not be an ideal indicator that he is suitable
to the requirements of the company. Even
though he may be technically suitable for a
particular assignment but his adaptability to
meet communication requirements may not
be sufficient. In such a situation the
employer needs to check how best he can
know about the skills of his employees.
Given the fact that recruiters need to check
for English communication skills, an
assessment tool to measure a candidate's
language capability becomes an imperative
requirement. To assist companies in this task
META- i Technologies has taken the initiative
about designing two comprehensive tests,
BEAT and ECSA that assess employees or
new candidates' proficiency and command
over the English language. META-i
understands that people in the workplace
need to use English to communicate &
share information in various ways.
META-i Technologies Private Limited
(www.metaitechnologies.com) is an
incubate company of the Indian Institute of
Management- Bangalore ( IIM-B) founded
in 2001 initially with the intent of providing
value added back-end support services to
educational institutions. META-i
Technologies Private Ltd. specializes in
Competence Assessment services which
include Skill, Knowledge and Personality
Assessments. Over the years, META-i has
expanded it's gamut of assessment services
to the Corporate segment too, primarily IT
and ITES Companies.
META-i offers BEAT [Business English
Assessment Test] that seeks to measure a
candidate's communication skills in the
English language. The BEAT suite of tests
is specifically designed to measure a
candidate's ability with regard to factors that
Shelly Verma
impact business communication. BEAT
seeks to measure a candidate's knowledge
of vocabulary & grammatical concepts & the
ability to comprehend. META-i's Language
and Communication Skills expert Ms.Aditi
Sengupta who also created this assessment
tool says "BEAT has a unique approach, in
that it seeks to measure the ability to use
language effectively rather than simply
measure knowledge of the language per se".
META-i's highly qualified and experienced
panel of Language and Communication
Skills experts is responsible for creating
BEAT Suite test questions that measure a
candidate's language skills with special
emphasis on comprehension, vocabulary
and grammatical concepts.
BEAT papers typically consist of 25 multiple
choice items distributed over three sections
on a variety of topics. Candidates are
typically allowed 30 minutes to attempt a
test.
BEAT can be administered online or as a
paper and pencil test, in conformance with
client requirements. This test is highly
recommended for ELT positions in the BPO
industry.
After the test completion, the company is
communicated the BEAT Test results which
consist of scores for each of the three
sections and an overall percentage. The
number of answer options chosen correctly
by candidates in each section determines
their scores and requisite percentage. BEAT
data in the form of scores for each section
and an overall percentage enables clients
to decide on the required selection criteria.
META-i also offers the ECSA Rubric
[English Communication Skills Assessment]
that seeks to measure a candidate's ability
to speak and communicate in English.
According to META-i, a recruiter may
need to assess a candidate's language
capability from a dual perspective:
a) Knowledge of English
b) Ability to communicate in English
The ECSA suite of tests is specifically
designed to measure a candidate's ability
with regard to such factors that specifically
Shelly Verma is on the faculty of the Department of Economics at the University of Delhi. E-Mail: ravishelly2004@rediffmail.com
| HRD News Letter | March 2007, Vol.22, Issue:12 24|