Developing a Validated Proficiency Assessment Framework for German Language Learners in Nigerian Higher Education

This study develops and validates an original proficiency assessment framework for German language learners in Nigerian higher education, responding to the absence of a nationally standardised, contextually adapted instrument for measuring German language competence at university level. Existing German proficiency assessments used in Nigeria, including the Goethe-Institut examination suite, are designed primarily for European learners and may not adequately account for the linguistic backgrounds, discourse conventions, and communicative priorities of Nigerian tertiary students. The study employs a four-stage instrument development methodology grounded in educational measurement theory: theoretical framework construction, item generation, expert panel validation, and large-scale empirical field testing. The assessment framework covers the four language skills alongside pragmatic competence and intercultural communicative competence dimensions. Field testing is conducted with 600 German language students across eight Nigerian universities in five geopolitical zones, providing the normative and reliability data required for standardisation. Rasch modelling and confirmatory factor analysis are applied to establish the psychometric properties of the instrument. Findings confirm satisfactory reliability and validity across skill dimensions, with adaptations to item content and task design required to optimise construct validity in the Nigerian context. The validated framework is proposed as a national benchmark assessment for German language programmes. Keywords: proficiency assessment, German language, Nigerian higher education, test validation, Rasch modelling.