Determining the Level of a Language Test with English Profile: A Forensic Linguistics Case Study

Abstract

This article deals with a forensic linguistics case study of the determination of the level of a B1 English multiple-choice test that was challenged in court by numerous candidates on the grounds that it was not of the appropriate level. A control corpus comprising 240 analogous multiple-choice questions from B1 exams aligned with the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) was compiled in order to establish a threshold for the percentage of questions of a level higher than that being tested which can be expected in such exams. The analysis was carried out following a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods, with the help of the tool English Profile, which provides Reference Level Descriptions (RLDs) for the English language within the CEFR. The results of the analysis of the control corpus established a baseline of 5 to 7% of questions that include key items classified as higher than Bl, while the percentage was 68% in the case of the disputed exam. Thus, the present study proposes a further application of the tool English Profile within the field of forensic linguistics and puts forward the concept of Level Appropriateness Threshold (LAT), analogous to other thresholds established in forensic linguistics, which can serve as a baseline for determining the appropriateness of B1 English multiple-choice exams and a model for other levels and skill areas.