Development of SPOT for the purpose of Placing Japanese Language Students

在组织语言课程时，有必要确定学生的一般语言熟练程度，并将他们安排在适当的班级。我们发明了SPOT(简单绩效导向测验)，作为一种新的工具，可以让不同水平的学习者被简单、快速和准确地安排。研究结果表明，SPOT是一种足够准确的安排学生的方法。SPOT包括一段录音，母语为英语的人朗读一系列完整的句子，受试者一边听录音，一边读答题纸上相同的日语句子。答题纸上的每个句子都有一个空格，考生必须根据磁带填写。每个空白由一个代表全部或部分语法项目的平假名字符组成。本研究项目阐明了以下几个方面：1)分析了几个机构(包括日本和国外)在不同情况下的测试结果，结果表明，SPOT的分数具有很高的可靠性。2)SPOT似乎不适合测试语言知识的每个离散点，但对于测试综合能力是有效的。3)语音变化(时长、音高轮廓、在现场朗读的句子中，元音或辅音的去语音或弱化)与得分有很强的相关性。4)研究表明，SPOT通过测量日语学习者的自动加工能力来对他们进行排名。5)SPOT将是考察日语学习者语法习得过程和结果的一个很好的工具。

When organizing a language course, it is necessary to determine the general language proficiency level of the students and place them in the appropriate class. We have invented SPOT (Simple Performance-Oriented Test) as a new device that allows learners at various levels to be placed simply, swiftly and accurately. The results of the research suggest that SPOT is a sufficiently accurate means to place students.SPOT consists of an audio taped recording of a native speaker reading a series of complete sentences, to which the testee listens while reading the same sentences in Japanese script on the answer sheet. Each sentence on the answer sheet contains a blank which the testee must fill in based on the tape. Each blank consists of a single hiragana character which represents all or part of a grammatical item.This research project has elucidated the follwings.1) The results of trials at several institutions (both in Japan and foreign countries) under different circumstances has been analyzed and the results show the score of the SPOT is highly reliable.2) The SPOT does not seem suitable for testing each discrete point of language knowledge, but is effective for testing intergrated proficiency.3) The phonetic variations (duration, pitch contour, devoicing or weakening of vowels or consonants) of the sentences read in the SPOT have strong relation with the score.4) The research suggests that SPOT ranks Japanese learners by measuring their automatic processing ability.5) The SPOT would be a good instrument to investigate the process and outcome of grammar acquisition by Japanese Language lerarners.