Diagnostic English Language Assessment (DELA)

Complete the DELA to receive a custom plan on how to enhance your English language skills.

What is the Diagnostic English Language Assessment (DELA)?

The Diagnostic English Language Assessment (DELA) is a free assessment designed to give you a picture of your communication skills and identify areas for you to focus on.

It is an in-person, paper-based exam with three sections: reading, writing and listening.

The DELA is available to all University of Melbourne students – undergraduate, graduate, domestic and international. It is particularly recommended for students who speak English as an additional language.

There is no ‘pass’ or ‘fail’ mark. As a diagnostic assessment, DELA helps you identify your individual strengths and weaknesses and the steps you can take to improve.

How to access the DELA

The next DELA will run as an in-person assessment at the Parkville campus in July, prior to Semester 2 on the following dates:

  • Wed 22 July: 1-3pm
  • Thurs 23 July: 11-1pm and 2-4pm
  • Fri 24 July: 10:30am-12:30pm and 1:30-3:30pm

Please check back for registration details.

If you have any access needs, please email the Language Testing Research Centre before you take the assessment.

Your DELA results

Your DELA results will be emailed to your University email account within ten working days of sitting the DELA.

Your results email will include:

  • Your average overall score out of six
  • A breakdown of your scores for each area:
    • Writing (content, fluency and form)
    • Reading
    • Listening
  • Recommendations for University of Melbourne programs to help you further develop the skills you need to succeed.

If you have sat the DELA and have not received your results after ten working days, please email Academic Skills with your full name and student number.

What your scores mean

DELA score: 6

Reading: You read efficiently and with ease and are able comprehend and synthesise both factual and more abstract information. You should have no difficulty in coping with the reading demands of your course.

Listening: You can understand, recall and synthesise key points and supporting details in an academic lecture delivered at normal speed. You should have no difficulty coping with the listening demands of your course.

Writing:

  • Form: You use a wide variety of sentence structures; your vocabulary is extensive and always used appropriately.
  • Fluency: You have shown that you are a competent writer. Your writing is fluent and well organised. The message can be followed effortlessly, the tone and style are appropriate to the task.  Your essay shows a clear and logical progression of ideas.
  • Content: You provide sufficient ideas and evidence, although some examples might lack relevance.

Your writing shows that you are well equipped to cope with the writing demands of tertiary study.

DELA score: 5

Reading: Your ability to read and understand academic texts is generally satisfactory, although you may benefit from further practice.

Listening: You will be able to identify nearly all the relevant information from an academic lecture, but the speed of delivery may make it difficult for you to draw all the different pieces of information together.

Writing:

  • Form: You use a wide variety of vocabulary and sentence structures appropriately, with no significant errors in word formation or spelling.
  • Fluency: You have shown that you are generally a competent writer. The essay generally reads fluently and the organisation was generally coherent. The tone and style of the essay might have been at times inappropriate.
  • Content: You provide sufficient ideas and they are arranged logically. Some ideas might lack supporting evidence or the overall point of view is not always clear.

Any flaws in your expression or content area unlikely to affect your overall mark for your writing assignments, but you may benefit from further practice.

DELA score: 4

Reading: You may be able to read and understand academic texts in general but it may take you extra time to interpret more complex and abstract ideas. This may mean that you have to make extra effort to complete your coursework on time.

Listening: You should be able to understand most of the content of an academic lecture delivered at normal speed, but you could find that you are a little slow processing the meaning of what the speaker is saying. You may sometimes find it difficult to distinguish the important points from the details or examples given.

Writing:

  • Form: You use a satisfactory range of sentence structures but are not always accurate in complex sentences. The errors that you make may prevent you from expressing your ideas clearly.
  • Fluency: Your writing is mainly satisfactory but the inappropriate use of  linking devices causes some strain for the reader.
  • Content: Your argument does not always progress logically and some points may be irrelevant or lack support.

While you should be able to cope with most written work, you may benefit from further work on refining the content and form of your essays.

DELA score: 3

Reading: You may have difficulty reading academic texts. While you can probably get the overall sense of what you are reading you may miss out on key concepts or information. This could affect your ability to do your assignments well or to respond accurately to examination questions.

Listening: You may have considerable difficulty following an academic lecture delivered at normal speed. You may find that you misinterpret or draw the wrong conclusions from what is said.

Writing:

  • Form: You use a limited range of sentence structures. Grammar errors and limited vocabulary make it hard for you to express your ideas clearly.
  • Fluency: Your writing causes problems for the reader because you either don’t use linking words or you use them inappropriately. This means that the organisation may not be clear.
  • Content: You provided few relevant ideas OR your whole essay missed the point of the question

The above features of your writing may mean that your may be penalised in your writing exams or assignments on the grounds of poor English expression.

DELA score: 1–2

Reading: Your knowledge of grammar and vocabulary appears limited. This means that you read very slowly and may take longer than average to do the reading required for your course. You may also find it difficult to follow the line of argument in what you are reading and therefore to complete your assignments satisfactorily.

Listening: You have difficulty identifying or interpreting the meaning of key information contained in an academic lecture delivered at normal speed.

Writing:

  • Form: You use mainly simple sentences and make some basic grammar errors. Your vocabulary is limited in range and spelling errors cause strain for the reader.
  • Fluency: Your writing is hard to understand because your ideas are not organised.
  • Content: You wrote very little or the ideas you did provide are directly copied from the question or irrelevant.

The above features of your writing will make it very difficult for you to complete any written work satisfactorily.

What to do after taking the DELA

You will receive personalised recommendations based on your results. These will be resources and programs to help you target skills you need to communicate effectively for your degree and future employment.

All programs are designed to fit in with your course of study, at no additional cost.

Frequently asked questions

  • We recommend taking the DELA at the start of your first semester. However, you can take it at any time throughout your enrolment.

    It is also possible to take the DELA a second time, if you want to track your progress over the course of your studies.

  • The DELA takes less than two hours to complete.

    It assesses the three crucial academic skills you will use most at university:

    • Reading (45 mins)
    • Writing (30 mins)
    • Listening (approximately 20 minutes).

    Each of these three modules needs to be completed in one sitting, meaning that once you have started one of them, you will need to complete it. In between the modules, however, you can take breaks.

  • There is no need to study for DELA.

    However, you can look at sample questions in the DELA Handbook to give you an idea of what to expect.

  • The DELA outcome will not affect your enrolment.

    The DELA results will not appear on your University transcript.

  • If your academic results are unsatisfactory, and you have not taken up the DELA and subsequent development recommendations, you are unlikely to receive a favourable response to a request to continue your studies.

    If there are circumstances that prevent you from undertaking the recommendations, please get in touch with us at Academic Skills so that alternatives can be explored.

  • IELTS Academic (International English Language Testing System) is used for university admission purposes to ensure that international students meet the University’s minimum English language proficiency requirements.

    The DELA is a post-entry diagnostic procedure that indicates your individual strengths and weaknesses and the steps you can take to improve them.

    Many students who have taken the IELTS still benefit from additional communication skills development.

    DELA results are presented in more detail than IELTS (e.g. there are three scores for writing rather than just one).

    Unlike the IELTS, the DELA results come with recommendations for the most suitable programs to help you further develop your communication skills at the University of Melbourne.