Testing students who speak English as a Second Language is a very contentious and challenging practice. While there are multiple tests given by school districts to assess a student's language ability and placement, one assessment in particular is called the Modern Language Aptitude Test or MLAT. 

The MLAT test was initially published in 1959 and strives to assess a student's success in learning communication skills with an emphasis on speaking and listening. The test is NOT open to the public due to its "sensitive nature." However, the test does offer some sample questions to show how it measures this specific type of intelligence. After taking an introductory course here at UIUC on the Foundations of Bilingual Education, it is quite clear that these assessments are far from perfect. Language is a very complex area to test, especially one's progress, capability, and intelligence in this area. 

One section of the MLAT is to test a student's ability to learn a way for writing English sounds phonetically. For example, a student will hear a set of sounds such as "bot, but, bok, buk...bok, buk, bov, buf" and will read the 'words' as they are pronounced. Next, the student will be assessed by hearing one of the 'words' and will have to choose the correct option. Question 1 might now read aloud "but" and the student must look at the options and choose the corresponding word. 

While this test attempts to use nonsensical words to assess a student's foreign langauge ability and might on the surface look fairly easy, it is quite challenging for students who speak another language. It is especially challenging for students who speak langauges that are not from the same family as English. The limitations of this type of a test (and I've only shown you one snapshot) are that it is incredibly difficult to test language comprehension/ability. Most learners are much further than what the test score tells simply because the information and knowledge is there but the assessment is not showing it. Language is complex, there are multiple ways of showing mastery in a language. Just because one student does not have perfect pronunciation does not mean that same student does not have strengths or mastery in areas such as listening or reading.