Securing the global talent pipeline through digital English assessments

Duolingo was a partner of UUKi's TNE conference which took place on 3-4 November 2021.

We are now well into a new academic year. There have been many changes since pre-Covid times: higher education institutions are now delivering more of their teaching online, and actively embracing the opportunities created by technology to transform student learning. The same is true of student assessment, an area where technology has historically been slow to make an impact.

Making the global talent pipeline more resilient

The push towards digital delivery has been especially evident with high stakes English language testing, where an immediate consequence of the pandemic was a large-scale closure of testing centres just as students were finalising their arrangements for international study. This triggered a 2,000% surge in take-up of the Duolingo English Test (DET), which at the time was the only digital platform for high stakes English language testing and is still the only major ‘born digital’ English language test. In the last admissions cycle, DET test takers took the test in over 12,000 towns, cities and suburbs worldwide. Since the pandemic, the industry has moved rapidly to make at-home digital testing more widely available, both to guarantee international students access to English language qualifications and to avoid student mobility from becoming hostage to public health or other crises again.

Improving the enrolment journey to English-medium institutions

The Duolingo English test was developed by the same team that was responsible for Duolingo, the world’s largest language learning app. Like the app, the test was inspired by a desire to deploy modern technology to improve access to education.

English remains the most popular language studied on Duolingo and other language learning apps, reflecting the reality that command of English continues to be regarded as a passport to maximising opportunities in the global economy. This is driving continued growth in demand for English-medium study opportunities both in English-speaking countries as well as through the expansion of transnational education. Test takers now share their Duolingo English Test score reports with a wide range of higher education provider types. This includes globally and regionally recruiting institutions, as well as to both domestic and foreign programmes within their own country. Students wishing to pursue higher education in English have a much wider range of options than ever before, and universities are increasingly looking to diversify the number of countries represented in their student body.

It is in this context that improvements to the accessibility of English language tests are so important. Traditionally, English language tests were considered predominantly through the prism of the receiving institutions’ needs, with little regard for the test taker experience. However, this also meant that student requirements around ease of access, affordability, quick turnaround times, result verification and being able to take the test when ready received relatively little priority.

Using Artificial Intelligence and Computer Adaptive Testing to put students first, while meeting institutional needs

Rebalancing English proficiency tests to make them more student-oriented is the challenge that Duolingo set out to solve over five years ago when it launched the Duolingo English Test. The DET leverages AI to make on-demand testing possible, at a radically reduced price, and almost entirely eliminates capacity constraints. In particular, the Computer Adaptive Testing engine allows the assessment to take place more quickly than with traditional tests – in approximately one hour, as opposed to three - and enables students to prove their proficiency in a test that is just as secure and valid as traditional linear paper-based tests. The adaptive test engine means that the exam is rapidly able to calibrate itself to a student’s level of competence. The student therefore completes the exam more quickly at a time and place of their own choosing, without having the anxiety (and cost) of having to travel to (a sometime quite distant) exam centre, significantly reducing the stress and disruption associated with passing this critical milestone.

Democratising access to English proficiency testing

The advantages afforded by digital assessments during the pandemic have led to significant uptake by institutions in both the US and UK, attracted by the benefit of securing wider access to global talent, including those traditionally underserved by physical test centre provision.

This wider access is a positive development and a good illustration of the power of technology to democratise testing in the same way that it has done with learning.

Simon Lebus is a Senior Adviser to Duolingo.

Duolingo was a partner of UUKi's TNE conference which took place on 3-4 November 2021.