About the RELANG initiative

The European Centre for Modern Languages of the Council of Europe and the European Commission, Directorate-General for Education and Culture, signed a contribution agreement to implement the action “Innovative methodologies and assessment in language learning”. This action includes two initiatives, one of which is RELANG. The RELANG initiative focuses on assisting educational authorities in relating language examinations to the levels of proficiency defined in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR).

Target Groups

The workshops aim to reach as wide an audience as is practicable. Thus language specialists in all relevant foreign languages are invited to take part, rather than specialists in one foreign language only, or second-language specialists. Participants must be in a position to disseminate the results of the workshop to a wider audience.

In addressing stakeholders the focus will be on the learner: sample (local, existing) language tests will be evaluated to see to what extent CEFR-relevant language skills are being assessed, whether learners are given an opportunity to show they are able to function properly in relevant social, economic and political contexts. In other words: whether the tests meet the general requirements of validity and equity.

The primary target groups will be:

Curriculum developers
Teacher trainers, pre-service and in-service
Language testers and examiners
Item writers
School inspectors
Policy makers

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