The DELNA programme has been developed in association with the Language Testing Research Centre, Department of Linguistics and Applied Linguistics, The University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
The assessment procedure is available to incoming students. It is designed to identify your strengths and weaknesses in academic English.
This assessment procedure has two parts: Screening and Diagnosis. See the DELNA Handbook http://www.delna.auckland.ac.nz/delna_handbook.pdf for examples of tasks in both parts.
The screening: a vocabulary task (7 minutes) and a speed-reading task (10 minutes).
Students who reach a certain score on the screening tasks are unlikely to need specific English language support and do not need further diagnosis. Students who fall below the score are recommended to go on to the diagnosis.
The diagnosis: a reading task (50 minutes), a listening task (30 minutes) and a writing task (30 minutes).
These tasks have been trialled at the Universities of Melbourne and Auckland and each task enables us to diagnose your present language skills and to predict your performance in academic English.
If your results suggest that you need further language support to enable you to make the most of your studies we can then direct you to this help on campus, as soon as possible in your first semester rather than wait until you are facing difficulties with assignments, group work and examinations.
DELNA is NOT A SELECTION TOOL. This means that your results will not be used to exclude you from a course of study. It has been put in place to get you appropriate and effective help with the academic English skills you will need in your university studies.
Feedback: Diagnosis
If Faculties, Departments or Course Coordinators require a whole course to do DELNA then results will be sent to them so that they know what language support to put in place or recommend to their students.
For more information please read the handbook elsewhere on this site.
You can find all the information about the assessment in the DELNA handbook available here as an Acrobat Reader pdf file.
The assessment includes:
Screening
Diagnosis
These tasks have been trialled at the University and each task enables us to diagnose your present language skills and to predict your performance in academic English.
Vocabulary:
This task is designed to assess your knowledge of the meanings of words you are likely to come across in academic texts. You are given definitions and have to match these with words of a similar meaning. You will have just 7 minutes to complete all 27 items.
Speed Reading:
In this task you are asked to speed read a text that has been "doctored" to include an additional word in each line and to circle the word "that does not belong". The text is on a topic of general academic English and you have 10 minutes to work through 3 1/2 pages of text.
Reading Comprehension:
In this task you are required to read a text of approximately 1,500 words in length on a topic of general academic interest. You are then asked to answer a variety of questions which assess what you have understood. Some of the questions are multi-choice, others require you to write short answers. You have a total of 50 minutes to read the text and answer the questions.
Listening Comprehension:
You are required to listen to a mini-lecture on a topic of general academic interest. The lecture is divided into sections. After each section you answer questions that assess your ability to extract specific information and to follow the general meaning of what you have heard. Most of the questions require short written answers. You have 30 minutes to listen to the tape and complete answers.
There are TWO writing tasks.
Writing: 30 minutes
In the first you are presented with information in a table or diagram and asked to produce a page of commentary. Instructions which ask you to comment on particular aspects of the information given guide you in your thinking. You write at least 200 words (1 to 1 1/2 pages) and have 30 minutes to complete this task.
A task of this nature, which assesses the ability to understand and interpret information, is generally regarded as a key component of academic literacy.
Writing: 40 minutes - used only by some courses
In the second writing task you are given a series of short extracts from a number of written sources which present differing viewpoints about a particular topic. Drawing on this information you are asked to present and support an argument with respect to the given topic. You write at least 300 words (2 pages) and are given 40 minutes to complete this task.
For more information please read the DELNA handbook.