Best-In-Class Spoken English Assessments with Automated English Fluency Tests

Communication is an essential competency in today’s corporate world. The better your communication skills, the better a person understands you. Communication is a two-way process and therefore requires complete understanding among the communicators. 

Depending on your profession, if you work in a team or interact with customers or other people, having good communication skills is very important. Exceptional communication skills are now an essential professional requirement and vital to converting your performance into success. To be a good communicator, you need to be a good speaker and an active listener. 

Effective business communication paves the way for employees and management to achieve organizational goals. For this reason, organizations focus on recruiting and developing candidates who have strong English communication skills. However, standardized communication tests fail in setting the right benchmarks and addressing their competency-based language assessment needs.

Mercer | Mettl's automated English speaking online testing tool, SpeechX, accurately evaluates aspirants' spoken English skills who speak languages other than English. Mettl’s SpeechX uses Proprietary Speech Analytics and Carnegie Speech’s patented Speech Recognition Engine and Pinpointing Technology to evaluate candidates' listening, comprehension, fluency, and grammar skills. 

This English proficiency test software assesses spoken language competence at the phoneme level against the pronunciation, grammar, fluency, and lexical stress of native speakers. The tool helps identify critical errors in sentence correction, sentence reading, and impromptu speech. 

Generally, BPOs undertake mass hiring by employing VNA trainers - a process that is labor-intensive and prone to errors. SpeechX, an AI-Powered spoken English evaluator, effectively addresses the existing challenges of conducting mass assessments for customer-facing roles in the BPO industry. 

It is entirely machine-administered and auto-graded to evaluate non-native speakers on nuances of speech. Similar to a VNA trainer who identifies trainable and non-trainable errors, SpeechX flags whether the gaps identified in the assessment of candidates are trainable or not.

While examining pronunciation, this English fluency testing tool also evaluates over eight crucial non-trainable mistakes. SpeechX assesses fluency by gauging it across ten plus dimensions: prosody, speaking rate, pausing, intonation, etc. 

SpeechX redefines the way English speaking tests are conducted by holistically evaluating a candidate’s language skill. Moreover, this English fluency test software can work wonders for corporate houses that are actively searching for the right candidates to hire for sales profiles and critical client-facing roles.

Online English Speaking Test for the Business Processing Outsourcing (BPO) Industry

In business, communication is of the essence. Marketing researchers have shifted their focus from transaction-centric models to customer interaction models of service providers. The nature of the communication forges a temporary but strong relationship that enables customers to understand the product quality or service, prompting them to become either a buyer or a brand loyalist. 

If the customer is to leave with a feeling of having his needs addressed well, communication needs to be clear and relevant. The same holds true for the call center industry, where the staff relies on building a good 'rapport' between the customer and the operator. 

Pronunciation and accents should not impede intelligibility, grammar should be flawless, and culturally appropriate communication should be extensively used to build rapport when needed. Miscommunication is a blunder that leads to dissatisfied customers hanging up on representatives in exasperation. That’s why BPOs/call centers must include pre-employment assessments as an integral part of their hiring process. 

Employers should ensure that the essence of communication messages remain intact, so administering automated English speaking proficiency tests to aspirants will help recruit candidates with excellent language skills.

Why should you use Mercer | Mettl's English proficiency test software?

SpeechX has been developed to address the pain points of the BPO industry. These being: a short turnaround time in hiring as the candidates have to be manually evaluated and human bias in hiring candidates.

This tool-based English communication skills test is AI-backed and auto-grades the candidates’ pronunciation, fluency, grammar, and listening comprehension. The test gives an overall score based on the CEFR level, ranging from A1 (beginner) to C2 (proficient), helping the organizations know the candidate's level at present.

This video-proctored assessment tool is also useful for hiring candidates in roles where excellent speaking skills are required, for example, sales roles.

This English fluency assessment evaluates candidates on their ability to listen actively and respond coherently. The test questions have been designed so that each question's difficulty level progressively increases in each section as a candidate proceeds in the test.

Employers can effortlessly screen job candidates with SpeechX, a 45-minute voice assessment test that delivers insightful results in minutes. With the help of a computer or smartphone, test-takers respond to prompts allowing recruiters to assess job candidates based on critical evaluation parameters such as fluency, sentence mastery, pronunciation, vocabulary, and listening comprehension. 

Use this test for:

While the online English speaking test can be used as a filtration tool, it can also be used as an essential  input into critical HR decisions, such as:

Recruitment - hire the best talent from the pool of potential candidates.

Learning and Development - understand the current proficiency level of employees; train and develop employees effectively.

Test Details:

Answer to common queries:

How can you test a candidate’s English speaking proficiency?

Mettl’s SpeechX, An AI-powered spoken English evaluator, is an English speaking test software that considers four evaluation parameters to assess a person's speaking proficiency, namely fluency, listening comprehension, pronunciation, and grammar. Its assessment methodology incorporates CEFR guidelines and identifies critical non-trainable errors. It is powered by Carnegie Speech’s world-class speech evaluation and pinpointing technology. Powered by Intelligent Speech Technology, the voice assessment test evaluates foreign language speakers on nuances of speech.

What is the English language test?

The English fluency assessment test gauges a candidate's ability to use language with the highest accuracy level. The language test measures a candidate's speaking, listening, reading, and writing skills depending on the assessment objectives, whether it be for studies, work, or migration.

What are the different types of speaking skills?

Listed below are some essential skills that every influential speaker has managed to gain mastery of:

• Non-verbal language - Non-verbal body gestures, such as posture, stance, eye contact, etc., are just as important as verbal skills. When it comes to public speaking, non-verbal skills always come in handy.
• Pauses - Pauses are a must-have element for speaking; the reason is that listeners may consider it a verbose, uninteresting presentation if there are no proper pauses in between.
• Emphasis - Effective speakers, be it in non-formal or formal situations, also put a particular focus on specific points they want to present.
• Intonation and Stress - these two skills are essential for effective speaking. Stress is used to emphasize crucial syllables of specific words, and intonation is the rise and fall in pitch that speakers use to convey additional meaning through communication.

How do you communicate professionally?

Business communication is essential for organizational success, regardless of industry. Yet many among us face difficulty in communicating with clients and co-workers. Listed below are some points that prolific communicators managed to master:

• Active listening 
• Positive body language
• Choosing a communication channel wisely
• Tone quality 
• Seriousness of communication
• Grammar skills

What are the different types of speech?

Given below are basic types of speeches:

• Informative speech
• Entertaining speech
• Persuasive speech
• Demonstrative speech
• Impromptu speech
• Motivational speech
• Debate speech
• Oratorical speech
• Special occasion speech
• Forensic speech

How can you make communication more meaningful?

Developing exceptional communication skills is needed for achieving success in many aspects of life. People with strong communication skills share better interpersonal relationships with their peers and family. There are some core areas of communication skill that, if improved, can make communication more effective and meaningful:

• Practice active listening
• Study and analyze non-verbal communication
• Integrate emotional intelligence with communication
• Get feedback from the audience
• Ensure clarity while transmitting messages
• Maintain a positive attitude
• Keep the messaging short and simple
• Use humor
• Make communication interactive

What is a call center assessment test?

Job candidates need to go through a call center skills test while applying for a call center job. This test helps employers to ascertain the applicant's suitability for particular roles in the call center.

What is language assessment/testing?

Language assessment or testing is a field of study that comes within the ambit of applied linguistics. It intends to assess the language proficiency of candidates in academic, work-related, or immigration-specific contexts. The assessment may comprise speaking, listening, reading, writing, combining two or more of these competencies, or other constructs of language proficiency.

How do I prepare for a language assessment test?

Do you want to ace the English speaking test, such as the SpeechX assessment test? These simple tips can help you perform effectively on assessment day:

• Prepare well in advance for the test
• Keep practicing before the exam
• Purchase a preparation guide or language-specific textbook while preparing for the test
• Jot down a new word every day and add it to your memory 
• Subscribe and listen to podcasts and enhance your listening capacity
• Practice watching more content (movies, TV series) without subtitles
• Make it a habit to read English newspapers and magazines daily
• Download language learning apps and study on the go

What does a language assessment test involve?

A language proficiency test consists of questions that intend to assess test-takers' skills on several evaluation parameters. For instance, the SpeechX voice assessment test evaluates candidates' expertise in these areas - pronunciation, fluency, grammar, and listening comprehension. 

What is a tool-based communication test?

The SpeechX test is a tool-based communication assessment that assesses candidates’ expertise in spoken English. This English fluency test software incorporates globally-recognized CEFR guidelines and comes integrated with Carnegie Speech’s world-class speech evaluation and pinpointing technology. This AI-powered English conversation testing tool boasts a host of crucial features that make language assessment as easy as pie.

Which is the best English proficiency test?

SpeechX is widely used in evaluating job-specific skills of candidates for KPO, BPO, and ITES industries where the role requires dealings with customers or clients who are native speakers. The benefits of spoken English assessment software are two-fold. First, it enables organizations to enhance the efficacy of their campus hiring and lateral hiring outcomes by assessing candidates for their spoken English skills based on vocabulary, fluency, grammar, and other crucial parameters. Secondly, it helps learning and development teams evaluate the employee's communication skills, address the skills gap, and devise training programs that address particular training needs.

Related Tests:

• Verbal Ability Test
• Verbal Ability Test (British English)
• Grammar, Spelling, and Punctuation Test

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