Exam Schedule

Exams are a wonderful tool, not a dreaded punishment. They help us evaluate how successful we are as teachers and as an Institution in doing our job well of teaching Hindi. They help you as a student evaluate how well you are learning Hindi or Urdu. They are like milestones along a long journey, reasons for encouragement indicating how far we have come, and how far we still must go to reach our destination.

Semester Final Exams

We currently have two types of exams: course-related final exams and competency/proficiency exams. The course-related examinations should normally be taken as a final exam at the end of a semester by those who have completed the relevant course. They will be graded by only one teacher. If you take one of them at a time other than at the end of a Beginner Hindi course, you need to make arrangements only with your teacher. The EWLI office does not need to be contacted. These exams are given without a charge for all current students. We have split the textbook we use for our Beginner Hindi courses into three semesters, each with its own final exam.” The three Beginner Hindi exams and the chapters of the Introductory Hindi Course (Landour Language School) textbook they are based on are:

1. Beginner Hindi A exam: Chapters 1-14
2. Beginner Hindi B exam: Chapters 15-21, 23
3. Beginner Hindi C exam: Chapters 22, 24-30

Competency / Proficiency Exams (FSI)

FSI exam scheduling form

Semester final exams are administered by only one teacher. In contrast, the FSI exam administration requires two teachers. All FSI exams must be scheduled through the EWLI office. Use the FSI exam scheduling form to make your request for an examination. The charge for these exams is found on the pricing page.

The specific dates on which we will administer the FSI (Competency/Proficiency) exams are listed in the School Calendar. We offer them four times a year: in March, May, October, and December Requests for dates other than those already scheduled by EWLI will be entertained where necessary.

While the Semester Final exams are relatively new development, the competency-related exams have been a part of the testing services of EWLI for many years. Their purpose is different and the two types of exams should not be confused. Competency exams are not specifically tied to any textbook or course content. They can be taken by a student regardless of which textbook he has used to study Hindi. They are often taken by those who have never studied at EWLI. Their goal is to test language proficiency.

It is possible for someone to do quite well in a course-related final exam. He may say “I have finished studying this textbook.” But a more important question is, “How well do you speak Hindi?” Completing a textbook or a given sequence of introductory courses does not always guarantee that a student gains communicative competence. However, outside of the artificial classroom setting, ability to communicate is what really counts. Communicative competency is what we need to be successful in our ministries and in meaningful interaction with Hindi speakers. Administrators in companies we work for want to know what level we have reached in our communicative competence. Achieving communicative competence requires that a student apply much effort outside of the classroom context. He has to practice speaking Hindi on a daily basis.

At this point, we have three exams at EWLI through which we seek to establish what level of communicative competence a student has attained (Level 1, 2, and 3). These levels are not defined by any course content or textbook. They have been defined by The Interagency Language Roundtable (ILR). The ILR scale is a set of descriptions of abilities to communicate in a language. It was originally developed by the United States Foreign Service Institute, and is still widely known as the FSI scale. It consists of descriptions of five levels of language proficiency. See the FSI scale section at the end for a full description of each of these levels.

Normally a student will take a given FSI level exam when he or she feels his competency level is adequate to attempt it. Some companies have policies for their personnel regarding their taking exams within a certain time frame after their arrival in India. We will honor these requests.

Obviously, EWLI teachers cannot easily give advice regarding a student’s readiness to attempt a given competency level for those who are not students at EWLI since they have no knowledge of that student’s Hindi abilities. However, those who are students at EWLI will want to get the advice of their teacher regarding when it is advisable for them to attempt these exams. The Administration and Teachers of EWLI want the students to succeed and do well in these examinations. For this reason, a teacher may advise a student to keep studying for a few more months before they attempt to take a given exam. The student is at liberty to take the exam at any time, but by doing so, he should not be surprised if he fails the exam when he disregards the advice of a teacher who has his best interest at heart. The teacher who interacts with the student on a regular basis is able to judge the student’s level of competence informally. The actual exam is merely a formal appraisal of what has already been informally felt about the student’s competency in Hindi.

It is not possible to “cram” for a Competency Exam. Consistent, regular effort and use of Hindi over an extended period of time is the best preparation for a Competency exam.

The Competency exams have both written and oral portions. See the study guides as you prepare for them. These will give you some idea as to what to expect regarding the format of the exam.

FSI Level 1 exam study guide

Written
Oral

FSI Level 2 exam study guide

Written
Oral

FSI Level 3 exam study guide

Written
Oral

The oral exam is usually about half an hour long and 2 teachers will conduct it together, giving their marks and comments separately. The average of their scores will be the result, with 75% as the passing grade. Similarly, the written exam will be graded independently by 2 teachers, and the average will be the grade. The written exams take about 3 hours. The EWLI office will notify students of their results. The teachers will then discuss the details of the exam with the student if he/she wishes. Exams cannot be kept by the students nor can photocopies be made of them.

Creating a course-related final exam is a fairly simple task. However, creating a competency exam that is an accurate, reliable, and uniform instrument is something that Language Acquisition Experts themselves are endlessly debating. The ‘validity’ of a test is the degree to which the test actually measures what it is intended to measure. EWLI is currently in the process of making its three competency exams more reliable instruments, in line with the definitions given below for the FSI scale. Eventually they may be combined into one exam for all levels in which a student will be assigned a level as the grade, rather than the current system of pass/fail at each level with three separate exams, one for each level

FSI Scale of 5 levels

Elementary proficiency (S-1)

A person at this level is described as follows:

• Able to satisfy routine travel needs and minimum courtesy requirements
• Can ask and answer questions on very familiar topics; within the scope of very limited language experience
• Can understand simple questions and statements, allowing for slowed speech, repetition or paraphrase
• Has a speaking vocabulary which is inadequate to express anything but the most elementary needs; makes frequent errors in pronunciation and grammar, but can be understood by a native speaker used to dealing with foreigners attempting to speak the language
• while topics which are “very familiar” and elementary needs vary considerably from individual to individual, any person at the S-1 level should be able to order a simple meal, ask for shelter or lodging, ask and give simple directions, make purchases, and tell time.

Limited Working proficiency (S-2)

• A person at this level is described as follows:
• able to satisfy routine social demands and limited work requirements
• can handle with confidence, but not with facility, most social situations including introductions and casual conversations about current events, as well as work, family, and autobiographical information
• can handle limited work requirements, needing help in handling any complications or difficulties; can get the gist of most conversations on non-technical subjects (i.e. topics which require no specialized knowledge), and has a speaking vocabulary sufficient to respond simply with some circumlocutions
• has an accent which, though often quite faulty, is intelligible
• can usually handle elementary constructions quite accurately but does not have thorough or confident control of the grammar.

Professional Working proficiency (S-3)

• A person at this level is described as follows:
• able to speak the language with sufficient structural accuracy and vocabulary to participate effectively in most formal and informal conversations on practical, social, and professional topics
• can discuss particular interests and special fields of competence with reasonable ease
• has comprehension which is quite complete for a normal rate of speech
• has a general vocabulary which is broad enough that he or she rarely has to grope for a word
• has an accent which may be obviously foreign; has a good control of grammar; and whose errors virtually never interfere with understanding and rarely disturb the native speaker.

Full Professional proficiency (S-4)

A person at this level is described as follows:

• able to use the language fluently and accurately on all levels normally pertinent to professional needs
• can understand and participate in any conversations within the range of own personal and professional experience with a high degree of fluency and precision of vocabulary
• would rarely be taken for a native speaker, but can respond appropriately even in unfamiliar situations
• makes only quite rare and unpatterned errors of pronunciation and grammar
• can handle informal interpreting from and into the language.

Native or Bilingual proficiency (S-5)

A person at this level is described as follows:

• has a speaking proficiency equivalent to that of an educated native speaker
• has complete fluency in the language, such that speech on all levels in fully accepted by educated native speakers in all of its features, including breadth of vocabulary and idiom, colloquialisms, and pertinent cultural references.