Materials

The questionnaire used in this study was developed over a period of several months through discussions among the authors. Several earlier surveys of language programs in general [Rhodes BranamanRhodes Branaman1999,Walker LiWalker Li2003] and placement testing in particular [Wherritt ClearyWherritt Cleary1990] provided initial models for the development of the current questionnaire. During the first few discussions, it became apparent that the survey would only be able to provide a general window into the placement process. To truly understand and evaluate the placement process, knowledge of the context in which placement takes place is important. This means that ideally one would have information about the program's curriculum, goals, students, etc. Unfortunately, there was no feasible way to collect this type of information on any kind of national level. Because so much of the placement process is program specific (i.e., geared towards placing a certain population of students into a certain sequence of courses), a major challenge was to develop the questionnaire in such a way that it was general enough to cover many different types of language programs while at the same time providing detailed information about the placement testing process.