The military administers the DLAB when a person desires to qualify for training in a linguist career field. That said, with exposure to foreign language-learning concepts, most people can increase their score on the DLAB. This test is based on the idea that some people have more latent ability in this area than others or that their life experiences predisposed them to be good with languages. In short, it tests what’s called your “metalinguistic awareness”. Instead, the DLAB uses various constructed languages to see if the test taker can determine functional grammar and usage rules. It actually has nothing to do with any specific language. The DLAB tests how well a person could theoretically learn foreign languages. To ensure currency, linguists take the DLPT every year. Scores can range from 0+ to 3 for lower-range (i.e., “easier”) languages or up to 4 on upper-range (more difficult) languages. Proficiency scores are assigned to both the listening and reading portions.
Some questions are multiple-choice while others require constructed-response test responses (meaning the answer must be written out).Ĭertain languages are rated as more difficult than others.įor scoring, the DoD defers to Interagency Language Roundtable guidelines. The written part requires reading long passages of various content types, then answering questions related to the text. Test takers wear headphones for the audio portions, listen to snippets of audio recordings such as news or conversations, and answer questions based on their comprehension of what they heard. This web-based test is 3 hours long and utilizes audio and written components to test one’s listening and reading abilities. Per DLI’s Foreign Language Center, the DLPT’s most current version is the DLPT5. Members who obtain a satisfactory DLPT score are eligible to receive incentive Foreign Language Proficiency Pay (FLPP). In other words, they hold a primary job but may occasionally get tapped to perform linguistics work, too. Such persons can serve in an auxiliary capacity to fill gaps when needed. The second use of the DLPT is to test speakers of other languages who aren’t working in a linguistics career field. The Air Force calls them Cryptologic Language Analysts, while the Navy uses the term Cryptologic Technician Interpretive. In the US Army, this enlisted career field is called Cryptologic Linguist.
The first is to ensure that personnel working within linguistics career fields are qualified and current on their skills. The military uses the DLPT for two main reasons. However, because of their unique attributes, other agencies and countries occasionally use the tests as well, for various purposes.Īustralia is one country that uses DLAB, and I’ve shared my personal experience taking the test in a previous post. The defense language tests are generally used by the US Department of Defense and administered to native English-speaking military personnel. Think of DLPT as a military equivalent of CEFR (European languages), JLPT (Japanese), HSK (Chinese) and so on. The DLAB measures one’s ability to learn foreign languages.The DLPT measures one’s proficiency in a specific foreign language.Developed by the Defense Language Institute (DLI), the tests differ as follows: The DLPT and DLAB serve entirely different purposes. Australian Defence Force language allowances.Defense Language Aptitude Battery (DLAB).Defense Language Proficiency Test (DLPT).
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