CRATION OF KAZTEST SYSTEM

The KAZTEST system is the general domestic system evaluating the level of the state language knowledge of citizens of the Republic of Kazakhstan and foreign nationals who are engaged into activities on the territory of Kazakhstan.

On 11 September 2008, the Conception of introduction and development of the KAZTEST system was approved by the resolution of the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan No. 835. The Conception defined directions of introduction and ways of development of the KAZTEST system. In order to realize the Conception objectives, the State Language Development Administration was established as a separate department of the Republican state fiscal entity “National Testing Center” of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

STRUCTURE OF THE KAZTEST SYSTEM

The KAZTEST system consists of four parts:

• “Listening”
• “Lexical-grammatical bloc”
• “Reading”
• “Writing”

Listening. The bloc r tasks for assessment of listening comprehension of short and long dialogues and short monologues. Listening part of a variant consists of 30 items.

Lexical-grammatical bloc. Tasks of the part aim to evaluate knowledge of lexis and grammar of the Kazakh language. One variant comprises 70 items.

Reading. Text of different contents and styles and tasks for assessment of comprehension of the texts being read and offered in the section. Reading part of a variant comprises 50 items.

Writing. Depending on the level of language proficiency, this section offers to write a creative dictation, an exposition or an essay on the definite topic.

The KAZTEST system examination consists of items on the parts: ‘Listening’,  ‘Reading’ and ‘Lexical-grammatical block’; it is necessary to mace written tasks in the ‘Writing’ section.

The examination in Listening, Lexical-grammatical bloc and Reading sections is made on the basic of testing by coloring right answers on the special answer sheet. The test results are processed using information technologies possibilities with the help of special equipment for scanning.

LEVELS OF THE KAZAKH LANGUAGE KNOWLEDGE

Assessment of language knowledge by levels forms the basis of the KAZTEST system. Elementary, Pre-intermediate, Intermediate, Upper-intermediate and Advanced levels of knowledge of the Kazakh language may be defined with the use of the KAZTEST system. These levels correspond to the levels of the European Language Framework, namely:

A1 Level (Breakthrough) - Elementary level,

A2 Level (Waystage) - Pre-intermediate level,

B1 Level (Threshold) - Intermediate level,

B2 Level (Vantage) - Upper-Intermediate level,

C1 Level (Effective Operational proficiency) - Advanced level,

C2 Level (Mastery) - at this level a language learner knows the language as good as a native speaker, that is why there is no need to make assessment of this level.

TIME OF MAKING THE KAZTEST SYSTEM TEST

According to the KAZTEST system it is necessary to answer 150 items in listening, reading and lexical-grammatical block. The test consists of closed tasks, i.e. candidates need to choose the right answer among 4 offered options.

Overall time of making testing tasks is 150 minutes or 2 hours 30 minutes. To effectively use the time given for testing tasks, we suggest the following time for the sections:

• Listening – 25 minutes for 30 items;
• Lexical-grammatical bloc – 60 minutes for 70 items;
• Reading – 55 minutes for 50 tasks.

It is necessary to spend 10 minutes to fill in your personal data and correct answers on the answer sheet.

Requirements for the Writing section tasks are specified depending on proficiency in the Kazakh language. Dictation with elements of composition is offered at Elementary and Pre-intermediate levels. A text of dictation is pronounced as a special audio material for the first time to familiarize with the text, for the second time to write the dictation in accordance with orthographic and grammatical norms of the Kazakh language, and for the third time to check the written dictation. It is necessary to make 2-3 tasks according to the dictation content.

At Intermediate and Upper-intermediate levels candidates are offered to listen to an audio material and after that expound the listened material. Depending on the level, text size and vocabulary become more complicated.

At Advanced level candidates are asked to write an essay using offered prop words and sentences. In addition, all necessary information, all necessary information is offered for writing an essay. These tasks help to assess formation and sufficiency of a language learner’s vocabulary and his/her ability to combine words into phrases.

Candidates are suggested choosing a correct answer among several possible options in listening, lexical-grammatical block and reading/ Distinctive feature of this direction is that it is possible to simultaneously examine a large group of test takers and get results in the short period of time.

Significant fund of the system sections has been created.