Placement Decisions in Private Language Schools in Iran

Despite being highly frequent, placement decisions and how they are made do not frequently feature in the language testing literature. The current study surveyed 30 language institutes in Iran on their placement testing policies and practices. Particularly, we probed into content areas tested, test taker characteristics considered, institutional issues in connection with placement decisions, test users and issues of power in assigning language learners to course levels. Descriptive statistics showed that oral skills and the sub-skills of grammar and vocabulary are often tested for placement purposes. Reading, writing, and translation are tested with less frequency. In addition, apparently construct-irrelevant variables like gender and age were found to moderate placement decision making. It was also found that institutional interests seem to affect decision making about assigning students to course levels. Moreover, it was revealed that in making placement decisions, the power almost exclusively is in the hands of the institutions, and stakeholders have little, if any, influence in the process. Finally, though participants claimed otherwise, expertise in language testing and assessment seems to be lacking on the part of those in charge of making placement decisions. Findings carry implications for placement decision making in Iran and in other EFL/ESL contexts.