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James Clifford (1988) in his seminal book The Predicament of Culture analyses deceptive accounts of other cultures presented from one’s own perspective. Drawing on this analysis I would like to reflect on examinations and certification looking at quantitative evaluation seen from the qualitative standpoint as well as at qualitative assessment viewed from the quantitative stance.
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The paper argues that recent research has alerted us to the changing nature of the use of language in communication in contemporary societies. In relation to the assessment of academic writing, particularly with reference to English, it is suggested that there is a need to broaden the concept of construct. I will draw on studies in English as a Lingua Franca and informal logic of argument to support my argument.
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Task-based language assessment has developed simultaneously with taskbased language teaching (TBLT). Tasks provide significant advantages as they enable assessment focused on examinees’ abilities to use the language. This article reviews task-based language assessment in the context of the recent changes to the CEFR and a paradigm shift in language learning.
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The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages has had a significant impact on the learning and teaching of modern languages in Europe, but, above all, it has revolutionised the way language skills are assessed and has contributed to the development of language knowledge certification systems. However, it has often been the subject of criticism and controversy. Certain deficiencies, which seem to be a natural consequence of the document’s comprehensiveness and the assumed goals, have also been noticed by its authors. In 2018, The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: learning, teaching, assessment. Companion volume with new descriptors was published. The document aims not only to improve imperfections, but above all to adapt the description of language education to the current context of language use. The authors of the publication have, among other things, set up language proficiency descriptors for areas not specified in the 2001 version of the CEFR. This is how the Pre-A1 level description was developed. It refers to the level of competence at which the learner has not yet acquired a generative capacity, but relies upon a repertoire of words and formulaic expressions. The paper’s aim is a holistic presentation of this level: the process of the creation of descriptors, as well as the description of language activities and strategies of a novice language user.
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Our study investigated the difference in achievement between two groups of high school students – those who took shorter tests more frequently, and those who took longer tests less frequently. Both tests types tested listening, reading and writing skills. The results showed no statistically significant difference between the two groups, and the participants’ preferences as to the length and frequency of tests indicated a difference of only just above five percentage points in favour of shorter and more frequent tests. Teachers should thus examine their students’ attitudes and motivation, adapt their revision lessons and teaching material accordingly, and construct the most appropriate instrument for testing their students’ achievement.
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The aim of this paper is to reflect on the method of assessing the B2 English writing subtest in the context of English certification exams administered by the University of Warsaw Council for the Certification of Language Proficiency. The paper starts with a brief discussion of two types of assessment: holistic and analytical. Next, the results of a qualitative study conducted among the raters of the English language certification exams are presented. The aim of the study – of a pro-quality nature – was to determine which of the two types of assessment (analytical vs holistic) results in a more reliable and accurate assessment of candidates’ language skills.
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The paired format of a speaking test appears to offer a more interactionally symmetric alternative to traditionally used Oral Proficiency Interviews (OPIs) (e.g., Lazaraton, 1992, 1996; van Lier, 1989). This article focuses on two paired tasks, a simulated discussion and a problem-solving task, which have been developed to enhance the construct of the speaking test which is currently used at the Jagiellonian Language Centre at the Jagiellonian University.
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The paper is a description and analysis of some language features in the tasks used in certification exams of Polish. The problem with these features is connected with the two-level language rule in Polish, the variety of language forms and the type of language style.
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The present paper aims at presenting Italian language proficiency certificates offered by Italian universities and other institutions. A particular focus was put on such certification features which better address the university students’ needs.
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The condition for obtaining a C1 and C2 language proficiency certificate is communicative competence approaching the level of the native speaker. When developing Russian language certification tests, one should take into account its typological, grammatical and historical-cultural features. These include the synthetic nature of expressing typical meanings, the inflective way of expressing grammatical meanings and weakly expressed regional and dialectal differences. One should also consider the modification of the listening comprehension tests at level C1.
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This paper discusses difficulties associated with developing Hebrew certification exams and preparing students to pass the exam in accordance with the CEFR standards. These difficulties are mainly related to the discrepancy between the main assumptions of the Hebrew language teaching methodology in Israel and the requirements for foreign language courses and certification exams at the University of Warsaw.
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A certificate in a foreign language is an important asset in the modern labour market: it certifies communication skills in a foreign language, although it does not guarantee the reliability of certified competences in specific professional situations. Certification of communication skills in the field of languages for specific purposes should include both assessment of language and professional skills, and thus certify the so-called learners’ dual competence. This paper aims to diagnose and discuss the real problems encountered in practice in the assessment of dual competences of learners of specialized languages.
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This paper discusses the specificity of the certification of specialized language varieties. The subject of the analysis and reflection is the certification of proficiency in military language according to the STANAG 6001 standards. The paper reviews detailed requirements for the individual linguistic skills, as well as the nature and the design of the exam along with the examples of the tasks for each proficiency level. Th e discussion is supplemented with teaching implications relevant specifically for the STANAG 6001 exams.
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Teachers and researchers of foreign languages have been concerned about integrating CEFR descriptors into teaching and assessment practices for some time now. Due to its reference nature, the CEFR is open for interpretation and its use therefore requires initial training. The chapter presents the theoretical background to such training and sample activities used to help Ukrainian pre-service FL teachers to operationalize the CEFR.
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Examination malpractice is claimed to be a problem in Polish schools and universities. What is the actual scale of academic dishonesty among Polish higher education students and what seems to be its causes? What kind of actions do Polish students consider dishonest and which of them are not assigned to this category? The article describes a survey on academic integrity conducted at Polish higher education institutions and presents conclusions relevant to certification purposes.
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Borrowed from one of Diderot’s anonymous contributions to Raynal’s famed anticolonialist encyclopedia of travels (1770-1780), the quotation opposes strongly to a long-standing humanist tradition of travelling as a precious medium of education, especially for young men, established at the sixteenth century from classical sources. New eighteenth-century representations of travel as useless or even morally dangerous (Muralt, Rousseau) result in Diderot’s moral condemnation of the European traveller, mainly on political grounds. However, his so-called “anticolonialism”, highly rhetorical and ambiguous, may be seen both as an expression of his own dialogic turn of mind and as a kind of mock echo to Raynal’s personal ambiguities.
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The publication of the "Histoire générale des voyages", with its subtitle the "Nouvelle collection de toutes les relations de voyages par mer et par terre, qui ont été publiéesjusqu’à présent dans les différentes langues de toutes les nations connues", caused to Prévost a number of problems. The introductions, which open different parts (and books) of the "Histoire", show how the author copes with sources. Through his meticulous work of analysis a traveller figure takes shape. Prévost presents merits and weaknesses of travellers and brings about the question of the reliability of travel narratives he presents in his "Histoire".
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Brought about by the reflections of the author-narrator of "Le Cabinet du philosophe" ("In The Philosopher’s Study"), Marivaux’s last jornalistic endeavour (1734-1738), the narrative fiction that occupies the last six issues, could make one puzzled, even disturbed. From the second episode, the title metamorphoses from "Le Voyageur dans le Nouveau Monde into Monde vrai [Suite du]" ("The True World [Continuation of]"), as if the narrator, with his own way of being and seeing, wanted to disappear behind the result of the changes in his vision of humanity. However, it is his triple status that determines what follows. Our analysis will therefore look at the status of the narrator-traveler, at his own perception of that status, at his evolution and at the commentary on it. Marivaux’s reflections could well have a universalist implication, even one that points towards the socio- and ethnological relations and their critiques of later centuries.
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The paper proposes a reflection on the relationship between real and fictitious travellers, between authentic and imaginary journeys. The discursive articulation that makes the traveller witness a subject of speech allows us to define the conditions in which the problematic relationship between the experience of the real world and its narrative is established. It is also on this relationship that the interdependence between the narratives of real journeys and the narratives of imaginary journeys is based. The journey, as an act of narrative, can then be perceived as a figuration or metonymy of fiction itself.
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The existence of travellers in the 18th-century reality encourages to search the definition of their characters. Three examples of literary imaginary travels help to define the traveller who becomes an explorer, a master of a new land. The article is an attempt to show to which extend the definition of an usurper, a “providential man” and of a conqueror are relevant to the travels to the unknown lands by Nicholas Klimius, Peter Wilkins and Édouard Alfrède.
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