Versant

Measure English speaking skills quickly, accurately and reliably

Author/s:

Versant, 2006

Administration:

5 to 15 minutes by telephone. Scoring online

Qualification code:

OC3

Description:

Click for a free demo  |  Click for a fact sheet  |  Listen to a sample test

Use Versant to objectively measure English speaking skills.

• Evaluate the ability to understand spoken English
• Evaluate the ability to be understood when English is spoken
• Enable consistent English language proficiency levels throughout your organisation
• Evaluate English spoken language proficiency objectively.

What our customers say...

"After complaints from the public about the knowledge and comprehension of English by some licensed taxi drivers, East Dorset District Council decided to test for this at the licence application stage. Versant provided me with an open and fair system that could assess each applicant objectively, instead of staff having to make subjective judgements on individuals. Versant is quick and easy to use".

Steve Ricketts, Licensing Manager. East Dorset District Council

Versant™ enables you to assess levels of spoken English language skills necessary for a work role or job.

• Use Versant to assess an individual's spoken English language skills in 15 minutes or less.
• Choose convenient, easy and secure administration by telephone.
• Once you have authorised the testing process, the applicant simply makes a phone call and the testing begins. Results are automatically scored and available within minutes.

Versant saves time and improves the hiring process

When interviewing time is limited, use the fully automated Versant to screen any number of candidates and make sure you interview only those with sufficient spoken language skills. The tests are simple and intuitive for native speakers and for proficient non-native speakers of English. Items have been reviewed for fairness and bias-free usage.

How versant test administration works

1. The administrator provides the candidate with written instructions and a personal access number.
2. The candidates can access the test 24 hours a day by phone from wherever they are being assessed.
3. The administrator retrieves scores online within minutes.

Reporting

Click for a sample report. The candidate achieves an overall score with sub-scores in the following areas: 

• Pronunciation.
• Fluency. This reflects the rhythm, phrasing and timing evident in constructing, reading and repeating sentences.
• Sentence Mastery. This reflects the ability to understand, recall and produce English phrases and clauses in complete sentences.
• Vocabulary. This reflects the ability to understand common everyday words spoken in sentence context and to produce such words as needed.

Recommended cut-off scores have been carefully calculated but Pearson can work with you to determine job specific bespoke cut-off scores if required.

TRY BEFORE YOU BUY: Visit www.versanttest.co.uk.

Can Do Guide

A detailed explanation of the alignment between individual scores and "oral interaction" descriptors based on Council of Europe (2001). Can Do Guide (presented in Adobe acrobat PDF format).

Fact Sheet:  Click for a fact sheet

To listen to a sample test, please visit: http://www.versanttest.co.uk/samples.htm

Useful Links:  The following link to the H&SE website outlines the importance of communication at work: