On behalf of the Testing and Certification Division of the University of Michigan English Language Institute, I am pleased to announce the January 2009 launch of a new international English proficiency exam, the Michigan English Test (MET). The MET is intended to provide evidence of English proficiency for educational, employment, and other high-stakes purposes. The MET is a secure test that assesses listening and reading, grammar and vocabulary with an optional speaking component, and will provide users with reliable and dependable test scores. All test takers will receive an official score report, indicating their level of proficiency, directly from the University of Michigan.
More information about the MET will be available soon.
Sincerely,
Dr. Gary Buck
Director,
Testing and Certification Division
English Language Institute
University of Michigan
We would be very interested to hear something about the background to this test, like why did they decide to create a test with no writing component and with a speaking component that was optional. What is the philosophy behind a test which says (assuming most people will opt out of an optional interview) we don't know how well they can speak English and we don't have a clue if they can string a few half-decent paragraphs together? Is this another case of business imperatives trumping common sense?
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