A Concept Model for Computer-based Spoken Language Tests

Spoken language education plays an important role in modern language courses. Computer-based spoken language test systems provide a convenient, efficient and reliable approach to test and assess individual spoken abilities. But most E-Learning systems concern more about written training and test. Existing models and systems do not completely meet special requirements of spoken language tests. In our study, we have examined distinctive features of spoken language tests and corresponding content resources. In this paper, we propose a concept model which is especially designed for representing, organizing, packaging and delivering E-Learning resources for spoken language tests. A Spoken-English-Test-Oriented (SET-Oriented) architecture is constructed based on this model. A family of commercial spoken language test systems is built for content authoring, online learning, tests and assessment, mostly simplifying the procedure of organizing a spoken language test.