Key English Test (KET) Reading
Key English Test (KET) Listening
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RELATING LANGUAGE EXAMINATIONS TO THE COMMON EUROPEAN FRAMEWORK OF REFERENCE FOR LANGUAGES: LEARNING, TEACHING, ASSESSMENT • Reading and Listening Items and Tasks: Pilot SamplesENGLISHKET – Reading
Key English Test (KET) Reading
General information
Background to the Examination
Key English Test (KET) is a general English qualification which is part of the Cambridge ESOL Main-suite examinations. Set at level A2 of the CEF, KET recognises the ability to cope with eve-ryday written and spoken communications at a basic level. KET is designed for learners who have basic English skills, of the kind needed when travelling in a foreign country.
Candidature
KET is taken by more than 56,000 people each year in over 60 countries. Around 75% of KET candidates are aged 18 or under and a further 20% are in the 19-30 age group. Around 85% of candidates attend preparation classes.
Structure of the Test
KET tests the skills of Reading, Writing, Listening and Speaking – with each skill equally weighted at 25%. KET is administered in three separate papers. Paper 1 Reading and Writ-ing, Paper 2 Listening and Paper 3 Speaking. There are four possible grades in KET: Two pass grades (pass with merit and pass) and two fail grades (narrow fail and fail). Results are based on candidates’ aggregate scores across the four skills.
KET Reading and Writing Paper
The paper has a fixed format, with Parts 1-5 testing reading skills through a variety of texts ranging from very short notices to longer continuous texts. Candidates are assessed on their ability to understand written English at word, phrase, sentence, paragraph and whole text level. KET candidates should be able to understand the main message, and some detail, of a variety of short factual reading texts: for example, signs, notices, instructions, brochures, guides, personal correspondence and informative articles from newspapers and maga-zines. Other tasks on the paper include: reading for gist; understanding of real-world notices (matching task) ; reading and identifying appropriate vocabulary (multiple-choice sen-tences); reading and identifying appropriate functional responses (multiple-choice task) and reading for understanding of lexico-structural patterns in a text (multiple-choice cloze).
7RELATING LANGUAGE EXAMINATIONS TO THE COMMON EUROPEAN FRAMEWORK OF REFERENCE FOR LANGUAGES: LEARNING, TEACHING, ASSESSMENT • Reading and Listening Items and Tasks: Pilot SamplesENGLISHKET – Reading
Part Four
This task focuses on reading for detailed understanding and main ideas. The text is always a short article, but one of two three-option objective task types may be used: either a Right/Wrong/Doesn’t say task as in this example, or a three-option multiple-choice task. The texts come from authentic sources, but are adapted to make them accessible to candidates at the level. They may include vocabulary which is unfamiliar to candidates, but this should not interfere with their ability to complete the task.
Reading (CEFR A2)
Test to be analysedTarget languageTaskRubricsItems
Time to do total testTarget levelsAge-group sectorDomain
Key English Test (KET) English
Reading component (Part 4)Target languageTarget language 1 hr 10 m CEFR A2 ALTE 1
Teenagers and adultsPublic domain
Communicative activities:
Overall reading comprehension
Can understand short, simple texts contain-ing the highest frequency vocabulary.Can identify specific information in simple written materials, such as letters, brochures and short newspaper articles describing events.
Reading for information and argument
Mark Distribution
Each of the seven items carries one mark, representing 20% of the marks available across the five reading tasks.
Effective Level
All KET Reading tasks are pre-tested using volunteer candidates. Typically, pre-test candi-dates are students preparing to take the exam in the near future. A range of age and nation-ality groups is represented in the pre-test population, which roughly corresponds to that of the live candidature.
Pre-tested materials are then subject to statistical analysis at task and item level using both classical item analysis to establish that items are discriminating, and Rasch analysis to deter-
8RELATING LANGUAGE EXAMINATIONS TO THE COMMON EUROPEAN FRAMEWORK OF REFERENCE FOR LANGUAGES: LEARNING, TEACHING, ASSESSMENT • Reading and Listening Items and Tasks: Pilot SamplesENGLISHKET – Reading
mine the level of difficulty. Each task, therefore, consists of items of measured difficulty, which are selected from within a specified range to determine the mean difficulty of the task.
Tests are constructed from the tasks in the item bank. Each task, therefore, consists of items of measured (Rasch) difficulty, which are selected from within a specified range to determine the mean difficulty of the task.
Calibration
Tests are constructed from the calibrated tasks in the item bank. The one-parameter Rasch model is used for calibrating the items. For most routine analysis, Cambridge ESOL uses the BIGSTEPS analysis program supplemented by in-house programmes for formatting data and handling the output. The logit scale produced by BIGSTEPS is re-scaled to produce a conven-tional ESOL scale, which is used for test construction purposes. This is known as the common scale for item-based tests. The complete scale for Cambridge ESOL examinations, from KET (A2) to CPE (C2) covers a range from about 20 to 110. The expected ranges of values for KET on this scale is approximately 30-50, with a target mean of 41.
Performance of this task
This was one of the most challenging tasks on the paper and candidates found some ques-tions, particularly 28 and 32, quite difficult. The answer to Question 28 is B because the text states that the purpose of Peter Bloxham’s trip to China was business. Question 32 was the most difficult item. In order to get the correct answer, candidates have to process the last two sentences of the text. Yang says, ‘I don’t suppose there are many people in this place who have seen or heard a pipa before’. From this candidates need to realise that not everyone in the village knows her music.
9RELATING LANGUAGE EXAMINATIONS TO THE COMMON EUROPEAN FRAMEWORK OF REFERENCE FOR LANGUAGES: LEARNING, TEACHING, ASSESSMENT • Reading and Listening Items and Tasks: Pilot SamplesENGLISHKET – Reading
Reading Items
Instructions to candidate:
Read this article about a famous Chinese woman who plays music.Are sentences 26-32 ‘Right’ (A) or ‘Wrong’ (B)?
If there is not enough information to answer ‘Right’ (A) or ‘Wrong’ (B), choose ‘Doesn’t say’ (C).For questions 26-32, mark A, B or C on the answer sheet
Chinese Music in an English Village
Yang Jing usually plays her music in big halls in places like New York and Paris. Yang plays an old Chinese musical instrument called a pipa. She has been famous in China since 1986. Now she is 34 years old and the best pipa player in the world. She usually gets $3000 each time she plays.
A businessman called Peter Bloxham saw Yang playing in China when he was on a business trip. Peter comes from Cheswardine, a village in England. After the show, he talked to Yang. He told her that his village needed to repair their old village hall, so Yang agreed to play there. “You can use all the ticket money for your hall,” she said. “You needn’t pay me anything.”
Last week, Yang arrived in Cheswardine for her
show. She said: “I usually stay in big hotels where everything is fast and busy, so it is lovely to stay in a small place where everyone has time to talk to me and be so nice. I don’t suppose there are many people in this place who have seen or heard a pipa before. I hope they will like my music.”
Item 0. example item Yang Jing has played in New York A Right B Wrong C Doesn’t sayItem 26 Yang became famous when she was 34. A Right B Wrong C Doesn’t sayItem 27. Yang often plays with other people. A Right B Wrong C Doesn’t sayItem 28. Peter Bloxham went to China to see Yang play. A Right B Wrong C Doesn’t sayItem 29. Yang will not earn any money in Cheswardine. A Right B Wrong C Doesn’t sayItem 30 Yang is staying in Cheswardine with Peter and his family. A Right B Wrong C Doesn’t sayItem 31. Yang thinks Peter’s village is a friendly place. A Right B Wrong C Doesn’t sayItem 32. Everyone in Cheswardine knows Yang’s music. A Right B Wrong C Doesn’t say
10RELATING LANGUAGE EXAMINATIONS TO THE COMMON EUROPEAN FRAMEWORK OF REFERENCE FOR LANGUAGES: LEARNING, TEACHING, ASSESSMENT • Reading and Listening Items and Tasks: Pilot SamplesENGLISHKET – Reading
Content analysis
Reading component
The tasks, instructions, rubrics and items are all in English, the target language.
The time allocated to the complete test paper (paper 1) is 70 minutes. (Paper one consists of reading and writing tasks.) No time allocation is specified for individual tasks/components within the sub-test.
Text Characteristics
(Analysis of example tasks and items has been carried out in conjunction with the Dutch CEF Grid, the CEFR, the ALTE can-do statements and the DIALANG performance descriptors.)
Test to be analysedTaskSkill
Rubric in L1/Target languageTarget language
Item in L1/Target languageTime to do total task1. Text source2. Authenticity3. Discourse type4. Discourse subtype5. Domain6. Topic
7. Nature of content8. Text length9. Vocabulary 10. Grammar
Comprehensible by learner at CEF level
KET (Paper 1)Part 4ReadingTLEnglishTL
Not specified (total test 70m)Genuine, magazineAdapted /simplifiedNarrative
Personal
Free time and entertainmentMostly concrete200 words
Only frequently occurringSimple structures onlyA2
11RELATING LANGUAGE EXAMINATIONS TO THE COMMON EUROPEAN FRAMEWORK OF REFERENCE FOR LANGUAGES: LEARNING, TEACHING, ASSESSMENT • Reading and Listening Items and Tasks: Pilot SamplesENGLISHKET – Reading
Item Characteristics
All seven items relating to the text are in multiple choice format. The language of the text itself and of the items is adapted for A2 level comprehension, though some of the questions demand a higher level of linguistic inferencing skills. Rasch difficulties, facilities and discrim-ination indices are provided. All statistical information is based on a sample candidature of at least 4000.
Item 0 – example item
A Right
Item type
Yang Jing has played in New York. B Wrong
C Doesn’t say
MCQ - three options
Recognise and retrieve information relating to a specific detail in the text.
Intensive reading and detailed comprehen-sion.A2
Operations involved in answering
Item level estimated
Item 26 Yang became famous when she was 34.
A Right
Item type
B Wrong
C Doesn’t say
MCQ - three options
Inferring from information implicit in the text.
Intensive reading and detailed comprehen-sion.A2
Operations involved in answering
Item level estimated
Item 27
Yang often plays with other people.A Right
B Wrong
C Doesn’t say
MCQ - three options
Inferring from information implicit in the text.
Intensive reading and detailed comprehen-sion.A2
Item type
Operations involved in answering
Item level estimated
12RELATING LANGUAGE EXAMINATIONS TO THE COMMON EUROPEAN FRAMEWORK OF REFERENCE FOR LANGUAGES: LEARNING, TEACHING, ASSESSMENT • Reading and Listening Items and Tasks: Pilot SamplesENGLISHKET – Reading
Item 28
Peter Bloxham went to China to see Yang play.A Right
Item type
Operations involved in answeringItem level estimated
B Wrong
C Doesn’t say
MCQ - three options
Inferring from information implicit in the text.
Intensive reading and detailed comprehen-sion.A2
Item 29 Yang will not earn any money in Cheswardine.
A Right
Item type
Operations involved in answeringItem level estimated
B Wrong
C Doesn’t say
MCQ - three options
Recognise and retrieve information relating to a specific detail in the text.
Intensive reading and detailed comprehen-sion.A2
Item 30
Yang is staying in Cheswardine with Peter and his family.A Right
B Wrong
C Doesn’t say
MCQ - three options
Inferring from information implicit in the text.
Intensive reading and detailed comprehen-sion.A2
Item type
Operations involved in answeringItem level estimated
Item 31
Yang thinks Peter’s village is a friendly place.A Right
B Wrong
C Doesn’t say
MCQ - three options
Inferring from information implicit in the text.
Intensive reading and detailed comprehen-sion.A2
Item type
Operations involved in answeringItem level estimated
13RELATING LANGUAGE EXAMINATIONS TO THE COMMON EUROPEAN FRAMEWORK OF REFERENCE FOR LANGUAGES: LEARNING, TEACHING, ASSESSMENT • Reading and Listening Items and Tasks: Pilot SamplesENGLISHKET – Reading
Item 32
Everyone in Cheswardine knows Yang’s music.A Right
Item type
Operations involved in answeringItem level estimated
B Wrong
C Doesn’t say
MCQ - three options
Recognise and retrieve information relating to a specific detail in the text
Intensive reading and detailed comprehen-sion.A2
Answer Key
1 = A26 = B27 = C28 = B29 = A30 = C31 = A32 = B
Statistical Report
Statistical Report (whole task)
mean facility (p)
mean discrimination (Pb)
0.690.37
Statistical Report (individual items)
item 0
Facility (p)
Discrimination (i.d.)Sample size e.g.e.g.
item 260.80.41
item 270.770.34
item 280.630.41
item 290.720.43>5603
item 300.680.32
item 310.720.35
item 320.540.36
14RELATING LANGUAGE EXAMINATIONS TO THE COMMON EUROPEAN FRAMEWORK OF REFERENCE FOR LANGUAGES: LEARNING, TEACHING, ASSESSMENT • Reading and Listening Items and Tasks: Pilot SamplesENGLISHKET – Listening
Key English Test (KET) Listening
General information
Background to the Examination
Key English Test (KET) is a general English qualification which is one of the Cambridge ESOL Main-Suite Examinations. Set at level A2 of the CEF, KET recognises the ability to cope with everyday written and spoken communications at a basic level. KET is designed for learners who have basic English skills, of the kind needed when travelling in a foreign country.
Candidature
KET is taken by 56,000 candidates per year in 60 countries. Around 75% of KET candidates are aged 18 or under and a further 20% are in the 19-30 age group. Around 85% of candidates at-tend preparation classes.
Structure of the Test
KET tests the skills of Reading, Writing, Listening and Speaking – with each skill equally weighted at 25%. KET is administered in three separate papers: Paper 1 Reading and Writ-ing, Paper 2 Listening and Paper 3 Speaking. There are four possible grades in KET: Two pass grades (pass with merit and pass) and two fail grades (narrow fail and fail). Results are based on the candidate’s aggregate scores across the four skills.
KET Listening - Paper 2
The paper has a fixed format, with Parts 1-5 testing listening skills in a variety of formats. There are 25 questions. Texts are written or adapted by item writers and recorded in a studio to simulate genuine spoken language. Candidates are expected to demonstrate listening strategies, such as separating out important information from redundant material and de-ducing meaning from context by focusing on important key words and ignoring unimportant unfamiliar terms.
Part Three - Questions 11-15
This task focuses on listening for detailed understanding. The text is a short informal dialogue (approx. one minute) between two people who know each other, talking about a topic of personal interest to both speakers. The candidates show their understanding of the conver-sation by answering five multiple choice questions, each with three options. The dialogues
15RELATING LANGUAGE EXAMINATIONS TO THE COMMON EUROPEAN FRAMEWORK OF REFERENCE FOR LANGUAGES: LEARNING, TEACHING, ASSESSMENT • Reading and Listening Items and Tasks: Pilot SamplesENGLISHKET – Listening
are entirely scripted, and performed by actors speaking standard variations of English at a moderate pace with clear articulation.
Listening (CEFR A2)
Test to be analysedTarget languageTaskRubricsItems
Time to do total testTarget levelsAge-group sectorDomain
Key English Test (KET)English
Listening component (Paper 2, part 3)Target languageTarget language
30m (inc. 8 m transfer time) CEFR A2 ALTE 1
Teenagers and adultsPublic domain
Communicative activities:
Can understand general meaning and
extract the essential information from short, recorded passages dealing with predictable everyday matters.
Can retrieve specific information from a dialogue between two individuals provided that they are speaking clearly, at a moder-ate pace in standard English.
Overall listening comprehension
Listening for information and argument Mark Distribution
Each of the five items carries one mark, representing 20% of the marks available across the five listening tasks on this paper.
Effective Level
All KET listening tasks are pre-tested using volunteer candidates. Typically, pre-test candi-dates are students preparing to take the exam in the near future. A range of age and nation-ality groups is represented in the pre-test population which roughly corresponds to that of the live candidature.
Pre-tested materials are then subject to statistical analysis at task and item level using both classical item analysis to establish that items are discriminating adequately, and Rasch analysis to determine the level of difficulty. Each task, therefore, consists of items of meas-
16RELATING LANGUAGE EXAMINATIONS TO THE COMMON EUROPEAN FRAMEWORK OF REFERENCE FOR LANGUAGES: LEARNING, TEACHING, ASSESSMENT • Reading and Listening Items and Tasks: Pilot SamplesENGLISHKET – Listening
ured (Rasch) difficulty, which are selected from within a specified range to determine the mean difficulty of the task.
Calibration
Tests are constructed from the calibrated tasks in the item bank. The one-parameter Rasch model is used for calibrating the items. For most routine analysis, Cambridge ESOL uses the BIGSTEPS analysis program supplemented by in-house programmes for formatting data and handling the output. The logit scale produced by BIGSTEPS is re-scaled to produce a conven-tional ESOL scale, which is used for test construction purposes. This is known as the common scale for item-based tests. The complete scale for Cambridge ESOL examinations, from KET (A2) to CPE (C2) covers a range from about 20 to 110. The expected ranges of values for KET on this scale is approximately 30-50, with a target mean of 41.
Candidate performance of this task
This part focuses on the candidate’s ability to pick out specific information in the context of a dialogue and to answer 3-option multiple-choice questions (MCQ). Candidates generally had little difficulty with this particular part. They found Question 15 the easiest and Question 13 the most difficult. In question 13, many of the weaker candidates did not hear the negative in “They don’t make you wear a swimming hat” and mistakenly chose option B as the answer.
17RELATING LANGUAGE EXAMINATIONS TO THE COMMON EUROPEAN FRAMEWORK OF REFERENCE FOR LANGUAGES: LEARNING, TEACHING, ASSESSMENT • Reading and Listening Items and Tasks: Pilot SamplesENGLISHKET – Listening
Listening Items
Questions 11-15 Instructions (recorded)
Now look at Part 3. Listen to Sue talking to her friend Jim about the new sports centre. For questions 11 -15 tick A, B or C. You will hear the conversation twice. Look at questions 11- 15 now. You have 20 seconds.
Item 0 – example itemThe new sports centre is A cheap. B big. C dark.
Item 11
Which bus goes to the sports centre? A 15 B 18 C 25
Item 12
From Monday to Saturday, the sports centre is open from A 6 a.m. B 7 a.m. C 9 a.m.Item 13
If Sue goes swimming, she must take A soap. B a swimming hat. C a towel.Item 14
At the sports centre, you can buy A sandwiches. B fruit. C drink.s
Item 15
Jim and Sue are going to the sports centre next A Wednesday. B Thursday. C Saturday.
18RELATING LANGUAGE EXAMINATIONS TO THE COMMON EUROPEAN FRAMEWORK OF REFERENCE FOR LANGUAGES: LEARNING, TEACHING, ASSESSMENT • Reading and Listening Items and Tasks: Pilot SamplesENGLISHKET – Listening
Content analysis
Listening component
The time allocated to the complete test paper (paper 2) is 30 minutes. (Paper Two consists of FIVE tasks.) No time allocation is specified for individual tasks/components within the test paper.
Text Characteristics
(Analysis of example tasks and items has been carried out in conjunction with the Dutch CEF Grid, the CEFR, the ALTE can-do statements and the DIALANG performance descriptors.)Test to be analysedTask
Rubric in L1/Target languageItem in L1/Target languageTime to do total task1. Text source2. Authenticity3. Discourse type4. Discourse subtype5. Domain6. Topic
7. Nature of content8. Text length9. Vocabulary10. Grammar11. Text speed
12. Number of participants 13. Accent
14. Clarity of articulation
15. How often played (how many times?)Comprehensible by learner at CEF level
KET (Paper 2) ListeningPart 3
Target languageTarget language
Not specified (total test 30m)Informal dialogueScripted (synthetic)ConversationDialoguePersonal
Free time and entertainmentConcrete1 minute
Only frequently occurringSimple structures onlyModerate paceTwo
Standard variations of EnglishClearTwice A2
19RELATING LANGUAGE EXAMINATIONS TO THE COMMON EUROPEAN FRAMEWORK OF REFERENCE FOR LANGUAGES: LEARNING, TEACHING, ASSESSMENT • Reading and Listening Items and Tasks: Pilot SamplesENGLISHKET – Listening
Item Characteristics
All questions (6 items, including the example) relating to the text are in multiple choice (three options) format. The language of the text itself and of the items is scripted for A2 level com-prehension. Facility values, discrimination indices, etc. are provided in the statistical section. Rasch difficulty values are calculated for each item to ensure consistency and the stability of the level across different test versions. All statistical information is based on a sample candi-dature of at least 4000.Item 0 – example itemItem Type
MCQ – 3 options Recognise and retrieve
Operations involved in answering
Information explicit in textSpecific detail
Item level estimatedItem 11Item Type
MCQ – 3 options Recognise and retrieve
Operations involved in answering
Information explicit in text Specific detail
Item level estimatedItem 12Item Type
MCQ – 3 options Recognise and retrieve
Operations involved in answering
Information explicit in textSpecific detail
Item level estimatedItem 13Item Type
MCQ – 3 optionsRecognise and retrieve
Operations involved in answering
Information explicit in textSpecific detail
Item level estimated
A2A2A2A2
20RELATING LANGUAGE EXAMINATIONS TO THE COMMON EUROPEAN FRAMEWORK OF REFERENCE FOR LANGUAGES: LEARNING, TEACHING, ASSESSMENT • Reading and Listening Items and Tasks: Pilot SamplesENGLISHKET – Listening
Item 14Item Type
Operations involved in answeringItem level estimatedItem 15Item Type
Operations involved in answeringItem level estimated
MCQ – 3 optionsRecognise and retrieveInformation explicit in textSpecific detailA2
MCQ – 3 optionsRecognise and retrieveInformation explicit in textSpecific detailA2
Answer Key
0 = B11 = B12 = A13 = C 14 = A15 = B
Statistical Report
Statistical Report (whole task)
mean facility (p)mean discrimination
0.760.44
Statistical Report (individual items)
item 0
Facility (p)
Discrimination (i.d.)Sample size 0.760.44
item 260.720.54
item 270.710.37
>4,000
item 280.630.51
item 290.810.44
item 300.930.35
21
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