Cheating in language assessments: a major challenge for universities and language training centres

Language assessment plays a central role in higher education. It enables the accurate placement of students, ensures that groups are homogeneous and guarantees that everyone benefits from courses that are tailored to their actual level. However, the widespread use of online language tests has given rise to a significant problem: cheating.

For those in charge of university language centres, the issue is not just a technical one. It affects the credibility of results, fairness between students, and the effectiveness of training programmes. Faced with this challenge, universities have often reverted to time-consuming and restrictive in-person exams.

Today, there is a solution: ELAO, our professional language placement test which has been partnered with the proctoring tool Mereos to offer a reliable and secure monitoring system tailored to higher education institutions.

Why do students cheat on online language assessments?

The temptation to cheat on an online language test is considerable and can be explained by several factors:

• Immediate access to external resources: online dictionaries, machine translators, grammar checkers
• Outside help: a classmate or someone more skilled can take the test in the student’s place
• Easy access to digital tools: opening new tabs, using a second screen, consulting personal notes

In the absence of supervision, some students exploit these possibilities, compromising the reliability of language assessment results.

The rise of artificial intelligence: New resources for cheating

In recent years, artificial intelligence has profoundly transformed the landscape of learning and assessment. Tools such as ChatGPT, DeepL and Grammarly now enable students to correctly answer grammar, vocabulary and even writing questions in a matter of seconds.

While these technologies are tremendous educational assets, they also pose a major risk to the integrity of online testing. All a student needs running in the background is an open AI programme to obtain almost instantaneous answers that are difficult to detect as being AI generated.

As a consequence, the traditional methods that have been used to prevent cheating are no longer sufficient. Universities must equip themselves with tools that are not only capable of monitoring their students but also their digital environments in order to guarantee the credibility of their assessments.

The consequences of cheating for universities and language training centres

Cheating is not a minor problem; it can have real and costly repercussions for institutions.

• Inappropriate student placement: a student who obtains an artificially inflated score may be placed in a group that is too advanced for them, thereby hindering both their learning and the dynamics of the class.
• Unjustified exemptions: some students may benefit from an exemption thanks to a high score even though their actual level does not justify it.
• Loss of academic credibility: if the results do not reflect the students’ real levels, teachers and institutions will lose confidence in the assessment tool.
• Logistical challenges: to attenuate the risks of cheating, many universities still insist on carrying out in-person language assessment, which requires classrooms and proctors and takes up administrative time.

In short, cheating reduces educational effectiveness and undermines the reputation of institutions all the while increasing the organisational burdens they have to manage.

How ELAO & Mereos provide a reliable solution

In order to counter the challenge of cheating, Mereos – an online monitoring solution specifically designed for higher education – has been integrated into ELAO. In practice, this means that Mereos safeguards every stage of ELAO tests without imposing cumbersome technical constraints on students.

The advantages of monitoring with Mereos

• Verification of a student’s identity and their environment (via webcam and recognised form of identification)
• Behaviour monitoring during tests (suspicious voice or noise detection).
• Supervision of digital activity (screen monitoring, restricted browsing, second screen detection).
• Browser lockdown (mandatory full-screen mode, blocking of tabs, shortcuts and extensions).

These features ensure that all ELAO assessments reflect a student’s true language level and give teachers confidence in the results obtained.

Conclusion: Reconciling flexibility and reliability in language assessment

Cheating in language assessments represents a growing challenge, which has been exacerbated by new technologies and the rise of artificial intelligence. At the same time, it is essential for universities and language training centres to guarantee reliable results without sacrificing the flexibility of online testing.

Thanks to its partnership with Mereos, ELAO now offers a robust monitoring solution that is simple to deploy and perfectly suited to the needs of higher education institutions.