Developing a speaking test for the Diagnostic English Language Assessment (DELA)

2025-2027

The aim of the project is to develop an AI-assisted academic speaking assessment to complement the current DELA.

The project aims to develop a speaking test for the Diagnostic English Language Assessment (DELA). The DELA is a free post-entry English language assessment offered to University of Melbourne students who have already been accepted into the university. The DELA is designed to identify students who may need assistance with their academic English communication skills early in their university journey and guide them to appropriate support mechanisms available on campus. The DELA is mostly taken by students from non-English speaking backgrounds (particularly international students).

While reading, writing and listening skills have in the past been particularly central to student achievement in university settings, speaking is becoming increasingly more important. Many courses are moving to assuring assessment tasks by requiring interactive orals and many courses offer opportunities for work-integrated learning or other practical opportunities for students to engage with community members or clients during their university degree. These opportunities require highly developed spoken communication skills. The emergence of generative AI provides new opportunities for the development of such an add-on to the current three-skills assessment. The aim of the project is to develop an AI-assisted academic speaking assessment to complement the current DELA.

The project will benefit from the expertise of language assessment specialists in the Language Testing Research Centre and School of Languages and Linguistics (Faculty of Arts), the team at Melbourne Data Analytics Platform (MDAP) and AI specialists in the Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology (FEIT).