This paper explains the development, including design, implementation, and administration, of a semi-automated web application named System for Competency Assessment in Language Education (SCALE) for assessing proficiency in Listening, Speaking, Reading, and Writing (LSRW) skills in Indian languages. The database utilised for the task comprised 3,09,252 question items stored in text, image, and audio formats and marked for A1 to C2 levels to test specific language skills such as pronunciation, spelling, grammar, meaning, and comprehension at various difficulty levels of the concerned languages. The test items have been created by experts in 22 languages using materials such as prescribed textbooks (453), various national and state-level newspapers and magazines, while ensuring that the culture-specific nuances remain intact. This application is robust, scalable, and secure. It can be accessed by multiple users simultaneously without any physical or temporal limitations. The user evaluation of the application stands to the mean assessment score of the LSRW skills of 74.7%. In comparison, 80.4% of the participants express that the given questions are duly inclusive of the respective culture associated with the language. The importance of the application lies in the fact that this is the first web application designed to assess all four linguistic skills of proficiency (LSRW) in all 22 scheduled languages of India. The web application can be expanded to any number of languages.
Dwivedi et al. (Thu,) studied this question.