Trinity Exams to Improve English Proficiency, Indiavarta, Chennai 8-Jul-06

Trinity Exams to improve English proficiency
Saturday July 8 2006 11:27 IST

CHENNAI: It has been only two years since the Trinity examinations in English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) were brought to India through Orient Longman.

And last year, 3,000 students wrote the exam and this year we expect an increase of at least 8 times, said Clinton Rae, director of Language Examinations, Trinity College of London.

While addressing mediapersons in the city, he said that the College through Orient Longman conducts the Integrated Skills in English examinations (ISE) and Graded examinations in spoken English (GESE) for people across all age groups across 40 centres in India.

“India has a head start over other countries. And there has been an increased awareness and a need to improve English and raise English standards in schools,” he said.

The exams like IELTS and TOEFL are filtration exams and check the status of learning, he said, while this certification from Trinity aims towards improving your proficiency of English and how well you can use the language.”

Adding that the schools train students for these exams and Orient Longman help teachers to prepare the students, he said, “We will take this forward in three phases to create awareness this year. We will target schools first and then colleges and individuals.”

The consultant, Examinations Division, Orient Longman, Joe Tun Sein said, “We have got a very good response from semi-urban areas and smaller towns in the country. And we will develop ways of taking this on a wider basis.”

And talking about the acceptance of these exams in Universities overseas, Clinton said, “We are one of the strongest in the Europe. And we have our presence in Italy, Spain, United Kingdom, China and other countries. We are still exploring the possibilities of developing this.”

The ESOL examinations are conducted in February, September and November in India.