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The Assessment of Aptitude: Past and Future
Martin Hinton

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 Individual differences in L2/FL learning, Language learning aptitude

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Hinton, M. (2011). The Assessment of Aptitude: Past and Future. (39!0) "n P. #ra$o%ian (ed).
Łódź Papers in Language Testing . &arsa%: 'hoar.

The Assessment of Aptitude:

Learn Fast Past and Future.

Martin Hinton
*#+ 'ierad-
Understand papers Abstractfaster with short

summariestraditiona
and 10 key takeaways
This paper sets out to inesti/ate the %a in %hih forei/n an/ua/e earnin/ aptitude has
een assessed sine that %or$ e/an in the 19!0s and to desrie the suess %hih those
methods hae met %ith. "t %i then /o on to outine possie paths for innoation in the fied and to eamine
the han/in/ oneption of the roe and nature of aptitude in more reent researh. The fina setion of the
paper %i desrie an eperiment in %hih seera ne% methods for assessin/ aptitude %ere triaed and
disuss oth the pratiait and preditie suess of these proedures.
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Introduction

ne important area of assessment in the fied of appied in/uistis does not refer to the assessment
of an/ua/e itsef, ut rather to the testin/ of the indiiduas aiit to hande an/ua/e, speifia in this
ase, his aiit to earn a ne% one. This aiit is $no%n as an/ua/e earnin/ aptitude and its er eistene
is the su4et of a /ood dea of ontroers. "t is not, ho%eer, the intention of this paper to eamine the
numerous studies %hih hae een arried out to oth proe and disproe this eistene nor een to reount
the onfitin/ ie%s re/ardin/ the reeane of aptitude testin/ to modern an/ua/e teahin/. The paper
%i, rather, eamine the reatie ne/eted 5uestion of ho% est an/ua/e earnin/ aptitude shoud e
assessed, assumin/ that it does eist and is %orth studin/.

To do this, a rief desription of the tehni5ues used in the past %i e neessar aon/ %ith a
disussion of the fa%s inherent in those methods. A numer of su//estions %i then e made as to ho%
aptitude testin/ mi/ht est pro/ress in the future, ta$in/ into aount han/in/ pereptions of earner suess
and modern teahin/ praties. "n the fina setion of the paper an outine %i e /ien of a stud %hih
attempts to put some of these su//estion into pratie and the resuts disussed.

Traditional Aptitude Tests

The foundin/ father of aptitude testin/, +ohn 6arro, e/an his %or$ %ith the 7nited 'tates miitar
in 19!0. He tested students on miitar an/ua/e ourses %ith a %ide ariet of eerises desi/ned to assess
o/nitie aiities thou/ht to e important in an/ua/e earnin/ and then tested them at the end of their
ourses for fina forei/n an/ua/e profiien. ('tansfied and 8eid 200) "n this %a, he %as ae to see
:
 ourses for fina forei/n an/ua/e profiien. ('tansfied and 8eid 200) "n this %a, he %as ae to see
eat %hih eerises appeared to predit eentua in/uisti performane and retain these %hie disardin/
others. His oneption of aptitude testin/ %as, therefore, a hit and miss proess of eimination rather than a
/rand theor ein/ tested and this method /uaranteed him pratia suess %hie eain/ the theoretia
asis of the 5uait under oseration er muh a matter of deate. As ornei and '$ehan put it:
understanding and construct validity were sacrificed in favour of predicative validity. (ornei and '$ehan
2003)

ne oious %ea$ness in 6arros method of uidin/ his test, is that, sine there %as no
fundamenta understandin/ of uniersa o/nitie proesses ehind it, his resuts ma %e hae een
affeted  oa irumstanes, suh as the a/e and se of the earners and the teahin/ methods used,
o%erin/ their preditie po%er in other times and paes. Another is that some of the tests 6arro re4eted
%ere not eft out for theoretia reasons or eause of their %ea$ preditie po%er ut eause the %ere too
long and complicated ;...< too cumbersome to be included in the test. ('tansfied and 8eid 200: !1) This
su//ests that his emphasis on the pratia ma hae aused him to omit tas$s %hih tested aiities reeant

to aptitude ut did not fit %e into the test as he finaised it. The four omponents of aptitude %hih he ater
identified: phoneti odin/ aiit, /rammatia sensitiit, indutie an/ua/e earnin/ aiit and rote
earnin/ aiit, ma not then onstitue a omprehensie ist. "ndeed, it has een said, some%hat sathin/,
that this separation into components was a tactical affair (ornei and '$ehan, 2003: !93) intended on to
epain retrospetie the apparent suess of his tests and hain/ no sound theoretia asis. Here,
ho%eer, the emphasis of aptitude researhers eomes ear: despite this ritiism, '$ehan sti uses tests
deried from 6arros %or$ (the =M>AT) in his o%n attempts to proe that aptitude eists and to understand
of %hat it is omposed ('$ehan 19?@), thus, apparent aeptin/ that 6arros method of assessment %as
aid een if his theoretia onstruts deeoped ater %ere not.

The Modern >an/ua/es Aptitude Test (M>AT), of %hih the eementar ersion (=M>AT) is a
simpified op, /re% out of 6arro and 'apons findin/s ut %ere deeoped further  a priate ompan,

Pshoo/ 6orporation.
tests; they had a lot to do'tansfied and 8eed
with deciding 5uote
how the test6arro
shouldas
besain/
scoredofand
thatthings
ompan: They
like that designed and
('tansfied the
8eed, 200: !0). The fina, pui aaiae form of the test, then, %as deeoped utimate as a
ommeria produt, not an aademi too.

"n its urrent form, the M>AT onsists of fie setions. =ah of these inoes andidates /iin/ pen
and paper ans%ers to either aura or isua stimui. "n the first, *umer >earnin/, andidates hear seera
made up %ords representin/ numers and are then tested on their memor of these numers  ein/ /ien a
omination of di/its in the ne% an/ua/e an atiit ear desi/ned to assess shortterm or %or$in/
memor. Part t%o, Phoneti 'mos, as$s andidates to assoiate ertain sounds %ith ertain smos and
then identif %hih %ord the hae heard from a %ritten ist. Part three, 'pein/ 6ues, ontains mutipe
hoie 5uestions %here a series of misspet =n/ish %ords shoud e mathed to their definitions, for
eampe $o- shoud /o %ith attire. This oious inoes some preious $no%ed/e of =n/ish
oauar. Part four, &ords in 'entenes, as$s andidates to identif and math parts of speeh, an atiit
undouted made easier  the earier stud of /rammar, and fina, part fie, Paired Assoiates, is a simpe
memori-ation /ame. ('tansfied, 2009)

The M>AT, then, is simiar in form to the tests %hih shoo pupis routine ta$e in ass.
6andidates sit 5uiet %ith their o%n ans%er sheet and a peni, read to /ie the ri/ht responses to the tas$s
put efore them. The s$is re5uired to do %e in the test are i$e to e ose in$ed to those %hih hep
shoohidren do %e in ass eer da: onentration, /ood readin/ s$is and omfort ehind a des$ as
%e as the thin$in/ s$is 6arro %as oo$in/ for. These s$is are oious auae in earnin/ a an/ua/e
in ass ut, at first si/ht, at east, reate ess %e to the aiit to atua use the ne% an/ua/e to
ommuniate.

Another %e$no%n test %as deeoped  Pimseur (19@@) and aimed speifia at oder hidren.
The format of his test is simiar to 6arros, a/ain andidates do not produe an sounds of their o%n, or
interat ommuniatie in an %a instead, the are tested on the aiit to disriminate sounds %hih
the hear and a $no%ed/e of =n/ish oauar. ('tansfied, 2009) Athou/h oauar $no%ed/e aso
omes into the M>AT, Pimseurs more diret testin/ of it iustrates his er different understandin/ of %hat
it is he is trin/ to assess: he aso inudes a sore for motiation and points ased on the andidates aera/e
/rades at shoo. This su//ests that he is testin/ i$eihood of suess on a an/ua/e ourse rather than innate
aiit to earn forei/n an/ua/es. &hat is partiuar affin/ aout his inusion of motiation is that he
/ies it a %ei/htin/ of 4ust ? points out of a tota of 11B, %hih seems er o%, espeia onsiderin/ that
eistin/ $no%ed/e of =n/ish oauar ounts for 2. "f motiation is to e onsidered, sure it is a
stron/er fator than this.

ther tests %hih hae een deeoped hae /enera foo%ed the same pattern and radia
different methods of assessment hae not een deemed neessar. This is hard surprisin/ sine it is no%
%e estaished that this form of aptiutde testin/ has proed to e an aurate preditor of suess in forei/n
an/ua/e earnin/. As =is notes, referrin/ to %or$ ased on 6arros researh, Ca fair stron/ reationship
has een onsistent found et%een an/ua/e aptitude and earnin/D (=is 199: 9@). A ariet of studies
hae een done to estaish this in$ and there is no serious opposition to its aeptane ('$ehan 19?@,
>arsenFreeman and >on/ 1991, #rashen and Terre 19?3, 8oinson 200!). This, of ourse, omes as no
surprise onsiderin/ the %a in %hih oth 6arros M>AT and Pimseurs an/ua/e atter test %ere

deeoped preise to produe a orrespondene %ith an/ua/e ourse suess and not to test an estaished
theor of the o/nitie proesses of an/ua/e earnin/. The main point of ritiism has een, as #rashen and
Terre point out, that studies sho% aptitude test sores reatin/ more ose to classroom skills than
communication skills (#rashen and Terre 19?3: 39). This has ed to the su//estion that aptitude tests are
usefu in preditin/ an/ua/e earnin/ suess on, or at east main, eause the ose refet the tpes
of tas$s usua present in the forma, assound, stud of an/ua/es (>arsenFreeman and >on/ 1991,
'pos$ 19B9, &eshe 19?1). "t %oud seem, then, that in order for the assessment of aptitude to aoid this
%ea$ness and sho% that it is rea aptitude and not /enera assroom eperiene and ompetene %hih is
affetin/ earners pro/ress it %oud e neessar to deeop testin/ tas$s %hih %ere more simiar to atua
ommuniatie use of the an/ua/e.

As 8oinson points out, %hen these tests %ere ein/ deeoped the preaiin/ assroom methodo/
:
 As 8oinson points out, %hen these tests %ere ein/ deeoped the preaiin/ assroom methodo/
%as the audioin/ua method (8oinson 200!) and %hat %as onsidered /ood performane oth durin/ ass
and in tests, and the o/nitie traits re5uired to produe it, ma hae een rather different from %hat %oud
e epeted toda. aving high aptitude makes you a good learner but not necesarily a good ac!uirer as
#rashen and Terre put it (#rashen and Terre 19?3: 0) . 'pos$ su//ests that there ma e eidene for a
special aptitude for the more advanced social communicative skills the inusion of %hih in aptitude
assessment %oud correct the imbalance that resu lts from the concentration of attention on academic skills.
('pos$, 19?9:10?) 'ine modern teahin/ methods a emphasis on a5uisition rather than earnin/ and
ommuniatie s$is are onsidered paramount in the assessment of an/ua/e profiien the 5uestion then
arises: are %e assessin/ the ri/ht $ind of aptitudeE

There are t%o approahes to this issue ta$en  researhers in the fied. ne is to aim that aptitude,
as traditiona understood and tested, ontinues to predit, een in essforma a5uisition enironments
%here the riterion of suess is ar/e ommuniatie performane not /rammatia $no%e/e. This is the
ourse ta$en  '$ehan, desriin/ aptitude as relevant not simply to formal learning situations" but also to
more communicatively oriented classrooms as well as #ac!uisition$ settings. ('$ehan, 19?@: 111) The other is
to aept that some han/es need to e made oth to the oneption of aptitude and %hat its onstituents are,
and to the %a in %hih it is tested. 8oinson has set out four areas of researh %hih need to e arried out
in order to improe the understandin/ and assessment of aptitude:

1. Ho% do the aiities tested faiitate earnin/ in different ontetsE

2. Ho% do omponents of aptitude fit to different tas$sE
3. Ho% do aptitudes for ear and adaned earnin/ differE
. &hat omponents predit a5uisition of pra/mati ruesE (8oinson 200!)
These ate/ories aept that different aspets of the /enera 5uait $no%n as aptitude ma affet
different tpes of earnin/, een different tas$s %ithin one frame%or$, and do so in different %as at arious
a/es and sta/es of earnin/. Aptitude, therefore, eomes a muh more feie and maeae too. Tests
%hih oud detet an aptitude for the a5uisition of pra/mati rues %oud presuma oo$ er different
and one er different information from tests %hih assessed i$eihood of suess at repetite /rammar
tas$s.

A New Approach

There are, then, three areas in %hih it %oud e usefu to deeop testin/ proedures %hih oud
form part of an updated aptitude tests: the aiit to a5uire rather than earn, the aiit to a5uire pra/mati
eements of an/ua/e use and, most simp, et most important, the aiit to produe meanin/fu,
omprehensie speeh as opposed to orret ans%ers on a sheet of paper.

The most diffiut of these is that onerned %ith the pra/mati side of an/ua/e. 8oinson admits
that it:
is likely that the substantial variance in success in developing the
pragmatic hallmarks of advanced L% ability will not be reducible to

variance
&...' (hatonthese
measures of individual
individual differences
difference measuresinfor
thepredicting
cognitive abilities
advance
task performance are is" as yet" unclear &)' (8oinson 200!: !9@0)
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