REQUEST FOR INFORMATION INPEDPENDENT SCORING OF LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY TESTS RFI Summary and Instructions: This Request for Information (RFI) is issued solely for information and planning purposes. This RFI does not obligate the Government to issue a Request for Proposal (RFP). All costs incurred through your response are the vendor's responsibility. 1. The RFI closing date is February 22, 2013 at 13:00 ET; 2. Submit all questions or responses to Nadia Shokry at
[email protected]. Please include "Independent Scoring of Language Proficiency Tests" in the e-mail subject line; 3. Responses should include: a. Primary point of contact information: i. Name ii. Academic faculty or business title iii. Institution or organization affiliation iv. Email address v. Phone b. A brief summary of all experience in language testing. c. Examples of your organization's best practices in the area of independent language proficiency test scoring. i. Explain in detail what the best practices are. ii. How have you determined this to be a best practice? iii. What evaluation scale do you currently use to score language proficiency? iv. Have you used and are you familiar with the ILR skill levels? v. Do you have a non-disclosure/confidentiality policy in place and if yes how do you enforce it? (If an award is made, all testers must not be either current or former FSI instructors). d. Estimate cost of scoring 600 speaking and reading language tests (tests would be scored from video recordings of the live test on the FSI campus); e. List all questions and concerns about this requirement. All responses submitted in response to this RFI will be used for official planning purposes and will not be re-distributed outside of the Government. Requirement Summary: The Foreign Service Institute (FSI) provides training to employees of the Department of State and other government agencies in more than sixty foreign languages, regional area studies, and professional disciplines, including: economics, political science, information management, and management skills, etc. In addition to foreign language teaching, FSI conducts foreign language reading and speaking proficiency tests in seventy one languages to State Department personnel and tests in an additional 30 languages throughout the Government. FSI is seeking an auditing/consulting services company that would independently audit and re-score a sample of 600 speaking and reading language proficiency tests, originally conducted by FSI representatives. The 600 tests would be comprised of tests in seventy one languages; please see list of languages in attachment 1. The auditing service and re-scoring will be performed between core hours of 7:30am to 6:00pm Monday through Friday on the FSI facility at 4000 Arlington Blvd, Arlington, VA 22204. Language Proficiency Test: FSI administers approximately 5,000 language tests annually, which are scored according to the attached Interagency Language Roundtable (ILR) skill level descriptions (attachment 2). The language proficiency test measures the examinee's ability level to communicate in the tested language. Test Structure and Guidelines: The test is administered by a team of two: an examiner and a tester; The examiner: administers the test. S/he may or may not speak the test language The tester: interacts with the examinee in the test language and must be a native speaker of the particular test language The language sample is reviewed and evaluated by both team members; The test is administered and scored in approximately 2.5 hours. However, if the examinees language ability is limited, the test timeframe will be shorter; Reading test (explained below)_ 45 minutes Speaking test (explained below)_ 45 minutes Scoring and additional administration_ 1 hour Tests are audio-recorded and/or video-recorded; All test scores are detailed and described in the ILR Skill Level Descriptions; Examinees with documented disabilities are granted special accommodations for the language test. The Speaking Test: PART I - The examinee engages in an everyday conversation with the tester, in the test language, about social, personal, and current events. PART 2 - Using materials written in English, selected by the testing team, the examinee chooses a topic and gives an oral report in the test language. The examinee can use the materials as a guide, or can draw upon personal knowledge and experience to respond to follow-up discussions questions. PART 3 - The Tester provides information, facts, and opinions, in the language, to the examinee. The examinee then relates to the Examiner in English what he or she learned. The Reading Test: PART 1 - All interaction during the Reading Test is in English. The examinee has a certain amount of time to read several short passages in the tested language and summarizes the texts to the testing team. The texts vary widely in subject matter and difficulty. PART 2 - The examinee will read in detail two longer articles selected from several choices and give a detailed report of the articles.