How good is dialang

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daegga
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Re: How good is dialang

Postby daegga » Thu Oct 21, 2021 6:30 pm

sfuqua wrote:Anybody, especially Americans, who want to do anything with dialang or a real CEFR test need to do a lot of specific preparation to get a good score.


Definitely, but those cefr test skills are largely independent of the language. The language specific ones (such as your menu example) become quickly irrelevant at the higher test levels (if you are tested for a specific level), at least for the passive skills.
The can-dos seem quite arbitrary and touristy at the lower levels, but who does an A2 test anyway?
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Re: How good is dialang

Postby sfuqua » Sat Oct 23, 2021 2:13 am

Dialang gave me menus after saying that my vocabulary was at a high level. I'm only talking about dialang, not CEFR tests in general.
I'm sort of shocked at how specific the skill set was that it was looking at.
The only other language tests I have any familiarity with is the whole ILR test set up. I took a bunch of the old form of the test while I was in Peace Corps years ago. It is a completely diferent thing.

I did zero preparation for dialang, and that showed :lol:
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Re: How good is dialang

Postby lingua » Sat Oct 23, 2021 10:29 pm

daegga wrote:The can-dos seem quite arbitrary and touristy at the lower levels, but who does an A2 test anyway?


For Portuguese citizenship one need only pass an A2 test. So if other countries have similar requirements I could see doing only the minimum level needed so as not to risk failing.

I tried dialang a couple of years ago but I don't think I ever finished all the sections. It was so tedious. I don't recall if I thought the results were reasonable or not.
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Re: How good is dialang

Postby sfuqua » Fri Nov 26, 2021 11:55 pm

I also took the Defense Language Institute's online assessment, and it was night and day different. It was much longer, and much less specific to certain topics.

I liked the results a lot more too:
Based on your performance in this ODA session, your ILR proficiency level estimate is 3 or higher (Current Level).

Note: The primary purpose of ODA is to provide you with formative feedback - feedback to help you in the learning process. The ILR level estimate you are given here is intended to function as a reference for charting your progress toward higher proficiency. You may or may not receive the same level at an official test.
The goal is to work incrementally toward your target proficiency level, by learning more about the content areas and the lexical, syntactical, and discourse aspects that you have not yet mastered. The following is a detailed diagnostic feedback on your performance.

You have demonstrated the ability to understand the highest level of texts that the ODA system offers. The current version of ODA does not assess beyond the ability to understand texts on general abstract topics. Therefore, the section on "what you NEED to do next" may contain little or no feedback.


3 is the equivalent of C1 according to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ILR_scale

Of course it is silly to define yourself by an online test in any case :-)
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Re: How good is dialang

Postby sfuqua » Fri Dec 03, 2021 2:04 pm

I think dialang is a strange test. Not only did it get a very different score than the longer, and, in my opinion more comprehensive, ODA test, but dialang said this about my level in the initial screening vocab test:
People who score at this level are typically advanced learners, with a very substantial vocabulary. Learners at this level are usually fully functional, and have little difficulty with reading, though they may be less good at listening.

Then it gave me a B1 on the real test. Dialang seems like a weird test, at least for me. :D
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荒海や佐渡によこたふ天の川

the rough sea / stretching out towards Sado / the Milky Way
Basho[1689]

Sometimes Japanese is just too much...

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Re: How good is dialang

Postby BeaP » Fri Dec 03, 2021 2:14 pm

sfuqua wrote:People who score at this level are typically advanced learners, with a very substantial vocabulary. Learners at this level are usually fully functional, and have little difficulty with reading, though they may be less good at listening.

People who score at this level are typically considered advanced learners by Duolingo, with a very substantial vocabulary compared to other tourists. Learners at this level are usually fully functional in the hotel, and have little difficulty with reading the menu, though they may be less good at listening to the announcements at the train station.

Here you go. :D
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Re: How good is dialang

Postby reineke » Fri Dec 17, 2021 7:03 pm

sfuqua wrote:I think dialang is a strange test. Not only did it get a very different score than the longer, and, in my opinion more comprehensive, ODA test, but dialang said this about my level in the initial screening vocab test:
People who score at this level are typically advanced learners, with a very substantial vocabulary. Learners at this level are usually fully functional, and have little difficulty with reading, though they may be less good at listening.

Then it gave me a B1 on the real test. Dialang seems like a weird test, at least for me. :D


Dialang compared to a comprehensive CEFR test taken at one of the cultural institutes is about as accurate as one of those $20 Bluetooth-enabled scales vs a DEXA scan. You need to travel and pay for DEXA/CEFR exams and even those are not "perfect" but they will certainly make you work harder and show a more accurate, holistic result. According to my bluetooth scale I'm built like a Greek god and most online tests place me (or used to) in the C1-C2 range. I'm not booking an appearance at Mr Olympia, however, not am I likely to sit for any CEFR exams. That's not from a total lack of interest at least regarding the latter but because I know I have deficiencies in certain exam-specific areas.

Dialang gets the job done for the most part and so do the online tools if you use them as a general reference and with a grain of salt. Similarly you can use a scale, calipers (if you're aiming high), a measuring tape, your fingers, your naked eye, a lap around the park and you should not have any issues measuring progress and approximate state of things. If you need a vocabulary specific test, Leipzig is good, easy to understand and brutally honest. I don't remember many people posting their active vocabulary results here.

Proficiency, placement and practice tests
https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 19&t=2897/

Leipzig - 15 languages
https://itt-leipzig.de/about-the-vocabu ... 2/?lang=en

Additional

Spanish
http://vocabulario.bcbl.eu/
Italian
http://vocabolario.ugent.be/

Finally, a compromise solution if anyone wishes to take a "real" test at home for a moderate fee:

LTI/ACTFL
https://www.languagetesting.com/
https://www.languagetesting.com/lti/pro ... ent_id/228?
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Re: How good is dialang

Postby Le Baron » Fri Dec 17, 2021 9:07 pm

BeaP wrote:though they may be less good at listening to the announcements at the train station.

I can barely tell what they're saying on the English trains most of the time and I am English. On the French trains they have the same malady as the French interviewers: rambling on with irrelevant padding. I hear the words of my old history teacher Mr Wardale: "just stick to the facts lad."
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