The SPEAK test
The SPEAK Test is a licensed revision to Educational Testing Service's oral exam. IELC Faculty use this assessment tool with graduate students who apply for teaching assistantships. The application is paperless, synchronized to be hands-free.
The application is run by internally controlled timers that refresh the screen, the text, audio (including the questions), and the test-takers recorded responses. Subtle animations and visual cues pace the test so that the students only need to focus on the presented media and speaking.
The application is paired with a remote grading system used by IELC faculty ensures anonymity and security. The coding and media for each of the six versions of the test (and the practice module) were entirely re-factored in HTML, JavaScript, PHP, and CSS3.
The application is designed so that all the media can be exchanged to make different versions of the test as planned for the future. The IELC lab uses models of other similar speaking tasks to help candidates prepare. This newer SPEAK-prep software uses various types of media related to contemporary topics.