Candidate evaluation strategies for improved difficulty prediction of language tests

Abstract

Language proficiency tests are a useful tool for evaluating learner progress, if the test difficulty fits the level of the learner. In this work, we describe a generalized framework for test difficulty prediction that is applicable to several languages and test types. In addition, we develop two ranking strategies for candidate evaluation inspired by automatic solving methods based on language model probability and semantic relatedness. These ranking strategies lead to significant improvements for the difficulty prediction of cloze tests.