Category Archives: Tests and Assessments

by Pisana Ferrari – cApStAn Ambassador to the Global Village cApStAn LQC is proud to announce its official ranking as one of the Top 40 Language Service Providers (LSPs) in Western Europe by independent market research firm CSA Research. “CSA Research is perceived as a reliable source worldwide for business insights on the language service …

“cApStAn Linguistic Quality Control recognized Among Top 40 Largest Language Service Providers in Western Europe”

by Cristina Titone – cApStAn LQC intern “Linguistic Quality Assurance is a set of processes designed to ensure that multiple language versions of documents meet the highest standards of linguistic, cultural and functional equivalence”: This is the definition of one of the main services offered by cApStAn Linguistic Quality Control. But what does such an …

“Animated films and assessments share a common challenge when going international”

by Pisana Ferrari – cApStAn Ambassador to the Global Village Translation quality is crucial in International Large Scale Assessments (ILSAs) as meaning shifts, which are language-driven, and perception shifts, which are culture-driven, can affect the psychometric properties of test items and thus compromise comparability. At the recent NCME conference in Toronto our CEO Steve Dept …

“Translation, test adaptation and linguistic quality assurance procedures in International Large Scale Assessments”

There is a growing interest and awareness of the need for a robust translation/adaptation design when administering tests in multiple languages and that this was reflected in the recent ATP Innovations in Testing 2019 conference program. cApStAn LQC is proud to be gold sponsor of this exceptional forum and we were delighted to present with …

““Translation is Not Enough: Preparing Your Exam for a Global Environment””

by Steve Dept – cApStAn partner The cApStAn Linguistic Quality Control team was in Vienna recently for the first National Project Managers’ meeting of the 8th cycle of PISA (the OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment). There were 88 confirmed participating countries/economies and 140 locales (language/region combinations) represented, and over 250 attendees. cApStAn is the …

“1st National Project Managers meeting for OECD PISA’s 8th cycle”

A cApStAn delegation consisting of Emel İnce (lead project manager for TIMSS 2019), Shinoh Lee (Operations Director) and our CEO Steve Dept received a warm welcome at IEA (International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement) last Thursday the 28th of February. An incredibly constructive meeting with IEA Amsterdam director, Andrea Netten P.h.D. and project team David Ebbs, Lauren Musu, Jan-Philipp …

“Translation and verification for international studies – IEA meeting”

Multilingual assessements will be a hot topic at ATP Innovations in Testing 2019 (March 15-20, Orlando, US) as there is a growing awareness of the need of a robust translation/adaptation design when administering tests in multiple languages. Advances in test adaptation and state-of-the-art translation technology have changed the paradigm. cApStAn has organized, coordinated and supervised …

“Planning to go international with your tests and assessments? Don’t miss our session at ATP 2019”

by Pisana Ferrari – cApStAn Ambassador to the Global Village “When something is a national priority, like language education, it transcends party lines and politics; language is non-partisan because of the positive impact it has on ALL individuals.” So reads the announcement for the 2019 edition of US Language Advocacy Day (LAD) (1), which took …

“US language education community advocates for government support”

by Pisana Ferrari – cApStAn Ambassador to the Global Village Unlike the arts and humanities, mathematics is generally understood to be universal and objective. Not so for the students and academics leading the process of “decolonization” across S. African universities, where “the spotlight has fallen onto mathematics”. Exactly what decolonizing math would entail isn’t entirely …

“In South Africa a new movement seeks to “decolonise” the teaching of mathematics”

by Steve Dept – cApStAn partner cApStAn linguistic quality control is a brand name (and a registered trademark) for a holistic approach to translation and adaptation of assessments and surveys; cApStAn also stands for a certain lifestyle and spirit: “Excellence among friends”, as one of the founding partners likes to put it. When we take …

“A Sense of Direction”

by Pisana Ferrari – cApStAn Ambassador to the Global Village/Roberta Lizzi – Senior project manager, external human resources director @cApStAn cApStAn has almost two decades of experience in the linguistic quality control of test items in international large scale assessements, such as PISA, PIAAC, PIRLS, TIMSS, etc. The translation verification process compares source and target …

“Challenges in parallel translation verification of test items with script/audio, e.g. for pre-school children”

by Pisana Ferrari – cApStAn Ambassador to the Global Village What reasonable investments should you make to move beyond the “just translate it” attitude? When do you translate, when do you adapt? What workflows work best for the translation of assessments? These are just some of the issues addressed at a well-attended webinar organised jointly …

“Multilingual tests: when do you translate, when do you adapt? And how?”