English tests for users of different tongues, The Telegraph 13-Apr-04

SUDESHNA BANERJEE

Globalisation has made it necessary for the world to speak the same language — English. And the urge is reflected in the increasing popularity of the English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) examinations that Trinity College, London, conducts the world over.

“The tests, now more than 70 years old, have turned really big in the past 10 years,” affirms Clinton Rae, director of language examinations at Trinity, in town to launch the language tests in India in collaboration with Orient Longman. While Italy and Spain have traditionally been big markets, it is China and India that are now being targeted as sunrise segments.

Comparing the Asian neighbours, Rae points out how they differed in their needs. “China does not have a tradition of speaking English. Sections of the community write fluently, but due to a lack of an English-speaking culture, their conversational skills are poor. India, in contrast, has a history of speaking the language and has evolved its own idiom. But the people here were speaking amongst themselves and not to the world. International business collaborations, as well as aspirations of higher education abroad, have triggered the urge to pick up what we call international English,” explained Rae.

Trinity, an examining body dating back to 1877 and known here for its music certification, has brought two tests — The Graded Examinations in Spoken English (GESE) and the Integrated Skills in English (ISE).

The GESE is a series of tests that assess communication skills of candidates, age seven onwards. “I have even tested a 76-year-old Spanish grandmother who wanted to brush up a practice she had left behind in her childhood,” laughed Lynda Coney, one of Trinity’s 300 international examiners, who discussed the testing procedure with an assembly of teachers from city schools and colleges on Monday.

The ISE is more comprehensive, taking into account reading, writing and listening, as well.

According to Coney, who conducted similar meetings in Hyderabad, Mumbai and Chennai before landing in Calcutta, the tests can last from five minutes to 25 minutes, depending on the level chosen, and cost from Rs 1,700 to Rs 12,000.

How useful would such tests be for students here? Principal of M.B. Girl’s School Malini Bhagat felt the internationally-acclaimed certificate would come handy for students and employees looking to prove their language proficiency abroad.

Sucheta Mukherjee, head of the English department at Loreto College, held out a note of doubt about the “prohibitive costs”.

But with call centres and medical companies showing interest as well, Orient Longman, the country managers of the Trinity tests, are in positive mood.