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   Relating language curricula, tests and examinations to the CEFR

Relating language curricula, tests and examinations to the Common European Framework of Reference (RELANG) 

The RELANG initiative offers training to stakeholders in the Member States of the European Union and the European Centre for Modern Languages (ECML) in relating language curricula, tests and examinations to the CEFR in a valid and equitable way.

#RELANG   #ECML

What is the initiative about?

In recent years the Council of Europe‘s Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) has become a powerful instrument for shaping language education policies. The growing acceptance and use of the CEFR levels of language proficiency has created a situation in which, all over Europe, public bodies, examination institutes, language schools and university departments seek to relate their foreign language curricula and examinations to the CEFR.

The RELANG initiative offers training to stakeholders in the Member States of the European Union and the European Centre for Modern Languages (ECML) in relating language tests and examinations to the CEFR in a valid way and exploring relationships between foreign language curricula and the CEFR.
  

Objectives

The long-term objective of the initiative is that language tests and examinations used in participating states ensure the valid assessment of learners, and that learners’ test performances are expressed in terms of CEFR levels which are valid, understood and widely accepted. As part of the initiative, a series of national workshops in participating states are offered to address such issues as:

  • principles of assessment in pre-service teacher education
  • principles of alternative, continuous methods of assessment
  • principles of testing mediation and pluricultural/plurilingual skills in the classroom
  • principles of applying the CEFR and the new Companion Volume to the development of tests of second language competence
  • principles of constructing valid language tests and examinations based on the CEFR and its Companion Volume
  • principles of relating existing language tests and examinations to the CEFR and its Companion Volume
  • principles of relating foreign/second language curricula to the CEFR and its Companion Volume

Support materials will also be developed and adapted to the specific needs of the participating states.

Outputs

  • Modules for training in relating foreign language curricula to the CEFR
  • Modules for training in developing valid language examinations linked to the CEFR
  • Training workshops for local and regional multipliers in participating EU and ECML Member States
  • Support for local and regional multipliers through an online platform in developing language tests and examinations linked to the CEFR
  • Screening reports of existing tests and examinations in relation to the CEFR

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F.A.Q.


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Publication

The publication offers an introduction to linking examinations to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages in a valid way. The highlights are targeted at producers of language examinations, who are less familiar with psychometric procedures and who are not (yet) assessment experts.
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Relating language examinations to the Common European Framework of Reference Levels of Languages Proficiency 
By José Noijons

Latest articles

11 Dec 2023
Call for the ECML-EU joint action "Innovative methodologies and assessment in language learning" 2024 – open until 10 January 2024

11 Dec 2023
Final conference of the 6th medium-term programme 2020-2023 (13-14 December 2023, Graz, Austria & online)

15 May 2023
National training workshop "Relating language curricula, tests and examinations to the Common European Framework of Reference (RELANG)" (19 – 21 April 2023, Lisbon, Portugal)

28 Mar 2023
National training workshop "Relating language curricula, tests and examinations to the Common European Framework of Reference (RELANG)", (7 – 9 March 2023, Vilnius, Lithuania)

01 Mar 2023
Series of 48 language education workshops in member states

08 Feb 2023
ECML-EU joint action: a series of 23 workshops scheduled between March and December 2023

The impact of RELANG in various countries

GERMANY

MONTENEGRO

ARMENIA

ALBANIA

MALTA

PORTUGAL

ESTONIA

SERBIA




This initiative is carried out within the framework of a cooperation agreement between the European Centre for Modern Languages and the European Commission, entitled
Innovative Methodologies and Assessment in language learning
www.ecml.at/ec-cooperation