English Language Skills Assessment (ELSA)

Contact us

Australian Council for Educational Research

19 Prospect Hill Rd, Camberwell, VIC, Australia 3124

T: +61 3 9277 5502
F: +61 3 9277 5757

The English Language Skills Assessment (ELSA) is a secure online diagnostic test of English language proficiency that provides instant feedback to teaching staff.

ELSA is designed to assess the readiness of non-native English speakers seeking entrance to Foundation Year and Tertiary programs.  The test focuses on real-life, integrated English language that students will encounter at English-speaking tertiary institutions.  The test assesses low and intermediate level English language skills.

Instant individual student report and test feedback allows teachers to gauge the students’ level of English language ability prior to course commencement and enables them to provide targeted assistance to students to ensure successful participation in tertiary study.

Key Benefits

Selection and placement

• identifies strengths and weaknesses in English language skills
• supports student selection and teaching and learning decisions

Ease of access 

• available worldwide
• complete flexibility with testing date and time

Quality of content 

• sound psychometric properties
• test questions cover a wide range of subject areas with varying levels of difficulty.

Reporting

• automated marking for the entire test.  All tasks including writing tasks are assessed automatically online.  This eliminates waiting time for marking of written English. 
• instant diagnostic student reports provide detailed information about student ability in each skill tested.  A sample of student writing is provided to further aid diagnostic review by support staff. 
• secure reporting means access to student reports is restricted to the nominated online test administrator, ensuring the confidentiality of all student results.