Toward the Measurement of Functional Proficiency: Contextualization of the Noise Test

In its original form, the test is a dictation of fifty discrete English sentences, varying in syntactic complexity, recorded on tape with accompanying background white noise. In terms of both its theoretical rationale and its statistical reliability, the noise test has generally been accepted as a useful instrument for evaluating overall English proficiency. A recent study, however, suggested that while the noise test clearly indicates the nonnative proficiency of a subject, it exaggerates to some degree the difference between a subject's ability to function in a normal, real-life situation of reduced redundancy and that of a native speaker. The study also asserted that further judgments about the usefulness of the noise test could be made only after revision of the instrument, with a special emphasis on contextualization. The present study describes the revision process, which attempted to increase the face validity of the test, primarily used to evaluate the proficiency of EFL/ESL students planning to pursue university degree work. Technical aspects of adding background noise, attempts to control for syntactic comparability among the test items, and preliminary data on the performance of the revised instrument are discussed.