Measuring English Proficiency in Immigrants: Research to improve learning

[Chip Reuben]

We are starting to research what might help immigrants from Mexico to the US (or perhaps from other non-english to english speaking countries) learn English faster and better. Therefore we need to find a test that measures (provides a numerical score) of english fluency (proficiency), and preferably one that is validated. We think that the TOEFL would be too long and hard, and so we are looking for a simpler test than TOEFL.

Any tips or help would be greatly appreciated :)

[Jamie (K)]

What sort of situation are the people to be tested in? What sort of organization is doing it? Your options depend a lot on money and the technology available to you. Can you give us more information, so that we can give better suggestions?