The English Language Placement Test at the Public Authority for Applied Education and Training (PAAET) in Kuwait: A Survey of Instructors’ Perspectives

English language placement tests are essential tools employed globally for assessing students’ English proficiency levels. In Kuwait, such evaluations are widely implemented across higher educational institutions, as English serves as the second most widely used language after Arabic. Nonetheless, the literature reveals a lack of in-depth studies that explore instructors’ perspectives and recommendations for enhancing the use of these tests. Such insights are crucial for informing educators and policymakers not only in Kuwait but also across the region. Hence, this study investigated instructors’ perceptions of the English Placement Test (EPT) administered at the Language Center (LC) of the Public Authority for Applied Education and Training (PAAET) in Kuwait. It aimed to identify challenges correlated with the EPT and propose potential areas for improvement from the perspective of PAAET’s language instructors. A total of 64 out of 79 instructors participated in an electronic survey designed to ensure anonymity between researchers and respondents. The questionnaire incorporated Likert-scale items and open-ended questions, generating both quantitative and qualitative data to enrich the analysis. Quantitative data from the Likert-scale responses were analyzed using SPSS, while qualitative data from the open-ended responses underwent thematic analysis via NVivo. This approach provided comprehensive insights into statistical trends and instructors’ nuanced perspectives. Findings revealed that although instructors generally viewed the EPT positively, there were diverse opinions about its effectiveness in accurately reflecting students’ language proficiency. Drawing on these insights, the research concludes with instructors’ recommendations to incorporate additional language skills and modify the test format to better align with real-life language use.