The Cued American English Competency Screening-Fluency (CAECS-F) estimates a candidate’s fastest expressive cueing fluency rate where the candidate maintains accuracy >70%. Candidates are evaluated on their ability to cue a verbatim message accurately as it gradually increases in rate of delivery. Other transliterator skills like identifying speaker characteristics and matching the speaker’s pronunciation are not evaluated.

Administration: The CAECS-F is taken online by appointment. The candidate is presented with one continuous lesson delivered as audio-only. The lesson begins at a rate of 1.5 syllables per second and increases in increments of half a syllable per second until the final section, which is delivered at 5.0 syllables per second.

Content was recorded at the indicated rate for each sentence. However, natural pauses were inserted within and between sentences to reflect natural delivery.

Rating: Candidates are rated on the accuracy of their handshape and placement/movement cues synchronized with clear mouth shapes. Minor form deviations do not figure into the candidate’s score. However, feedback on cueing clarity is provided.

Dialect and pronunciation variations do not figure in to scoring. Candidates do not need to match the speaker’s pronunciation.

While paraphrasing can be an appropriate strategy during actual cued language transliteration assignments, candidates are expected to cue the content without changing the words or their sequence in any way.

Results: Results are sent four to six weeks after the administration date. Candidates receive a summary report with an estimated rate of fluency and diagnostic feedback.

The following video provides a sample of the directions presented to the candidate before the test begins. Note: Topics may differ for various forms of the test.

Scoring: The candidate’s estimated fluency score is determined by the fastest rate for which the average accuracy is 70% or above for the section.

To assist candidates and other stakeholders in conceptualizing these rates of delivery, the following brief clips were prepared using the same procedures as actual test content. Note: The topics presented here are different than actual test material and the length of each clip below is significantly shorter than sections of the test.

Frequently Asked Questions

  • The purpose of the CAECS-F is to evaluate accurate production of cues. While prosody is an important and meaningful aspect of cued English, it does not figure in to the score of the CAECS-F. Other assessments evaluate a candidate’s ability to delivery a message with appropriate prosody and facial expression.

  • Candidates are not evaluated on their ability to match the speaker’s pronunciation. Consonant connections across word boundaries support cueing rapidly, but are not considered with regard to accuracy for this test.

  • Cued language transliterators may be under external pressure to become certified even as new practitioners. However, the purpose of national certification is to ensure a sufficient level of qualification appropriate for diverse consumers and across settings. CLTs must be fluent in cued English to become nationally certified.

  • The CAECS-F aims to efficiently identify a candidate’s fastest rate of delivery which maintains an average accurate rate >70%.Standard rating begins at 3.0sps and proceeds based on candidate performance. Comprehensive rating is also availabpe and provides scores and feedback for every section at an additional cost.

  • Standard rating aims to efficiently identify the candidate’s fastest cueing rate wherein an average accuracy >70% is maintained. Generally, three or four sections of the test must be rated to estimate the candidate’s expressive fluency. A rate >3.5 syllables per second is required as the prerequisite to register for the CLTNCE. Feedback for rated sections is provided.

    Comprehensive rating is available at an additional cost for those who wish to be evaluated across all rates of delivery (1.5sps to 5.0sps) with feedback for each section. This option may be useful for employers needing to evaluate a transliterator’s expressive fluency.

  • Results are sent four to six weeks following the administration date for both standard rating and comprehensive rating.