Series | SAIL
Monograph | Rethinking English Language Certification
Chapter | What Is Certification?

What Is Certification?

Abstract

The first chapter looks at how English language certification has developed over the past decade, in the light of the massive growth of English as the language of choice for international communication, and the related needs for language assessment. It shows how certification received a boost from the publication of the CEFR at the beginning of the new millenium, offering  the opportunity for all boards to validate their exams in line with a common, functional based, description of language competences. Although the major international boards use quite different approaches to implement these assessments (as we shall see in later chapters), we conclude by suggesting that they nonetheless share five common objectives, by attempting to produce tests which are authentic, valid, fair, secure, and which have a positive impact.


Open access | Peer reviewed

Submitted: Oct. 2, 2017 | Published Nov. 6, 2017 | Language: en


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