Oxford Spotlight is a Computerised Adaptive Test (CAT), that utilises an advanced digital platform engineered to rigorously evaluate proficiency in English Reading, Listening, Grammar, and Vocabulary. Utilizing sophisticated algorithms and adaptive testing protocols, the Oxford Spotlight delivers a highly precise and individualized assessment experience.

Oxford Spotlight’s digital-first architecture confers several technical advantages. Foremost, it employs real-time item response theory (IRT) to dynamically calibrate question difficulty based on the examinee’s performance metrics. This adaptive mechanism not only augments the precision of proficiency measurement but also enhances testing efficiency by tailoring item selection to the candidate’s competency level

Oxford Spotlight components are supported by an extensive and meticulously curated item bank, encompassing a wide array of syntactic structures and lexical items to provide a thorough evaluation of linguistic knowledge. Items replicate authentic language use contexts, thereby ensuring a robust and comprehensive level assessment.

The Oxford Spotlight applies several rigorous procedures to ensure academic quality is maintained and upheld. All content writers and moderators have over 10 years’ experience within the field of content writing and familiarity with the CEFR scales. Content writers are issued with EAQUALS Core Inventory for General English alongside the ‘TrackTest’ English Language Level descriptors.

Content is moderated alongside the EAQUALS level inventories to ensure that the complexity of grammatical structures and range of vocabulary match the level of the material and to ensure the test is accessible to all candidates regardless of the level. As well as this, material is checked using a text analyser to ensure appropriateness of level.

Creation of test items follows a set framework (described below) which ensures the full range of reading and listening sub skills are tested.

The selection of topics is informed by the CEFR vocabulary list. Topics selected by item writers are monitored by Oxford ELLT Senior Academic team to ensure there is a balanced representation.

Each Oxford Spotlight test item is carefully moderated using steps 1-to-5:

1. The question stem is clear and concise
2. There is only one answer
3. The distractors look similar to the answer and do not stand out
4. Distractors are plausible and are NOT ridiculous or humorous
5. Difficulty of question is at the correct CEFR level

All test material including test items are pre-tested in exam conditions within language schools across the UK, Canada and the USA. Students that participate in item testing have been pre-tested on arrival and grouped into classes accordingly.

All assessment sets are tested twice, using two cohorts of different levels to ensure accuracy and validity of results.

Yes, you can use our core test, which includes the components: Reading, Listening, Grammar and Vocabulary.

The test is the most flexible test on the market. The following test components can be tailored to your needs: 

• Language assessment level
• Choice of examiner
• Assessment method
• Order of components
• Time it takes to complete test
• Security features
• How candidates get their results

Speak to our team about how we do this.

The test is very secure. We use the same rigorous security measures used in the Oxford ELLT. You can choose the security features they would like to include: Choose video / audio recording (proctoring), screen sharing (proctoring), require ID upload, and 360 video environment scan.

No, Spotlight is an Adaptive Placement Test – a quick and easy way to establish a candidate’s level of English. Although it sits within the Oxford ELLT’s family of tests, Spotlight cannot be used as part of a university or visa application. 

An adaptive placement test changes questions based on a candidate’s previous response. If candidates successfully answer questions, the difficulty level will increase. If a candidate struggles, the difficultly level decreases. This method provides uniformly precise scores moreover than standard fixed tests.

The chosen components by the institution will determine how long the test will take to complete. We estimate that the core test (Reading, Listening, Grammar and Vocabulary components) would take 80 minutes for a candidate to complete.

Candidates can simply access the test through a laptop or PC through links which are unique to each institution. The test is not currently mobile friendly. The test can be taken on the following browsers; Chrome, Microsoft Edge and 360 Browser.

It takes on average 48 hours for us to build and deliver bespoke test.