Oral Placement Tests in English Language Institutes in Iran Agree with Interview Principles

This study aims to discover whether the oral placement tests in English language institutes in Iran conform to interview principles. To achieve this goal, thirty four placement interviews from different English language institutes in Iran are investigated and compared with the interviews principles stated by Patton. Patton 2002 believes that in all interviews on any given topic, it is possible to ask any of six main types of question about: Experiences and behaviors, Opinions and values, Feelings, Knowledge, sensory information and Background or demographic information. While investigating, the researcher found that although all of them are placement tests but they are not testing the knowledge directly. Evaluation is done through interviews in which all six categories are included and simultaneously the English knowledge is tested as well.Consequently, the oral placement tests in English language institutes in Iran are not considerably different with the interview principles and they follow the same rules as all interviews follow.

Keywords:

English language institutes , Interviews , Iran , Oral tests , Patton , Placement tests