PROFESSIONAL LANGUAGE TESTING SERVICES

Be sure with the industry leader

At ALTA, language is everything we do. We have over four decades of experience in developing and administering valid, reliable language tests in over 100 languages to government agencies, healthcare organizations, and top businesses nationwide.

Whether the bilingual role you’re hiring for is in the emergency room, the flight cabin, or the board room, you know that accurate, culturally-sensitive communication is critical. When you partner with ALTA, your hiring decision is backed by decades of research, inter-rater reliability scores higher than industry standards, and a team of employee-owners invested in your success.

TESTS TAILORED TO SKILL SETS

Types of language tests we offer

Our general tests measure skill-specific objectives distilled from careful research and translated into a range of tasks for an easy-to-use and engaging experience.

Listening and Speaking

This test measures how well candidates can speak and understand the language when spoken.

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The Writing Assessment

This test measures the candidate’s ability to write in the target language.

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The Reading Assessment

This test evaluates the candidate’s ability to read and comprehend the language at the required skill level.

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The Translation Assessment

This test verifies whether or not the candidate can translate material written in English into the target language, or material written in the target language into English.

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The Interpretation Assessment

This test verifies whether or not the candidate can provide a consecutive interpretation between two speakers in English and the target language.

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Interpretation Services

Additional Language Testing Services & Resources

TESTS TAILORED TO JOB SUCCESS

Job-specific language proficiency tests

With decades of experience, we have a deep understanding of the language needs of specific industries, from government at the federal, state, and local levels, to healthcare, legal, financial, travel and hospitality. Our scoring considers both objective and subjective factors, measuring the candidate’s accuracy and application of industry terminology as well as level of fluency, pronunciation, and cultural proficiency.

Based on Job Requirements

Our Job Analysis process defines the language requirements for any job in any industry, recommends the best test, and sets a legally defensible cut-score.

industry-Specific Terminology

For industries that rely on specific language skills and terminology, we have developed custom suites of language tests, such as our award-winning language assessments developed in partnership with Kaiser Permanente for healthcare organizations, and our custom government and legal language testing solutions.

Recruitment and Training

ALTA language tests are used in the recruitment and training processes for major airlines, financial institutions, non-profit organizations, U.S. government agencies, and businesses of all sizes.

Success Stories from Our Clients

WE ARE PASSIONATE ABOUT THE DETAILS

Validity and reliability

ALTA’s language tests are developed in-house by our team of expert test developers, linguists, SMEs, and psychometrician, with rigorous oversight from our quality assurance specialists. Our multidisciplinary approach ensures we create reliable language performance measurement tools that strictly adhere to the Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing.

We maintain exceptional scoring accuracy through consistent inter-rater reliability audits and conduct regular rater training (“norming”) sessions. This commitment to excellence has enabled us to achieve the highest levels of inter-rater reliability in the industry.

Learn more about validity and reliability here. Or, we’d love it if you ask us about technical aspects like the difference between Fleiss’ Kappa and Cohen’s Kappa—our team of specialists is always enthusiastic to discuss the science behind our methodologies.

EASY AND STRAIGHTFORWARD

Your experience

Our goal is to decrease administrative burdens and streamline the testing process. Clients receive access to ALTA’s testing portal, a proprietary platform for scheduling and assigning language assessments to candidates.

Tests are delivered through a secure online and telephonic testing system, available 24/7 in most languages. Candidates are provided with guidelines, including details on the format, speaking requirements, and other aspects of the test to foster comfort and confidence. Results are guaranteed within two business days or sooner.