Learning listening english by using computers to the second year students of english major at hue college of foreign languages. | The use of computer-adaptive testing (CAT) for placement testing purposes has become an increasingly appealing and efficient method of assessment. Simply put, CAT saves testing time and decreases examinee frustration since low-ability examinees are not forced to take test items constructed for high-ability testers, and vise versa. As Bergstrom and Gershon (1994, ) note, “When the difficulty of items is targeted to the ability of candidate, maximum information is obtained from each item for each candidate, so test length can be shortened without loss of reliability. The American College Testing program offers COMPASS, a computer-adaptive placement test given to students entering college to assess their preparedness to do college work in reading and math. A number of high-stakes tests in the United States are also now administered in CAT form (., Educational Testing Service’s Graduate Record Examination), and those in charge of constructing the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) are in the process of developing a TOEFL CAT for administration to various applicants taking the TOEFL in the twenty-first century.
