Information about ECL exams for applicants

European Consortium for the Certificate of the Attainment in Modern Languages was established in 1992 in London, and its aim was to create homogenous language tests for the member states of the European Union. The Consortium Centre now is in Pecs. ECL tests can be taken for the following languages: English, German, Hungarian, Italian, Slovak, Spanish, Polish, Serbian, Romanian, Russian, Bulgarian, Check and Croatian.

We can proudly say that the location of the National exam ECL Centre (NEC) in the Republic of Croatian is at the Faculty of Education as one of the activities of the Sub-department of linguistics and literature of this Department.

In 2008, the Faculty of Education in Osijek signed an agreement with the European Consortium for the Certificate of the Attainment in Modern Languages (ECL) in Pecs. Thereby the Faculty of Education in Osijek was appointed the ECL National Tensting Centre in the Republic of Croatia. The Faculty was thus authorized to compile and assess ECL tests in Croatian as well as to conduct ECL tests in the Croatian language. In the same way, one reputable European university in the country of each individual language is responsible for other modern languages.

ECL exams for Croatian language, but also for English, German and Hungarian can be taken at the Faculty of Education in Osijek, based on the same criteria drawn up in the standardization process.

Language proficiency testing is performed by experts in the language proficiency assessment, who belong to the ECL exam team at the Faculty of Education. The ECL exams test the oral and written ability to use these languages in everyday discourse.

The ECL narrow examination team of the Faculty of Education consists of linguists Dubravka Smajić, PhD, assistant professor, Nina Mance, PhD, assistant professor, Ivana Trtanj, PhD, assistant professor and Manuela Karlak, PhD, assistant professor. Ivana Moritz, PhD, assistant professor, Lana Mayer, PhD, assistant professor and Ksenija Benčina, Senior English Language Instructor also take part in the implementation of foreign language exams.

Additional information in the ECL can be found at the home page of the Faculty of Education in Osijek (https://www.foozos.hr/ecl) and on the ECL Consortium in Pecs web page (https://eclexam.eu/).

The ECL Consortium

The Creator of the ECL Tests

After many years of professional preparatory work the Member States of the European Union established a consortium in 1992, with London as the centre. With the help of the ERASMUS and later the LINGUA programmes its task was to develop a uniform language test in the languages of the Member States of the European Union. In accordance with the EU unification policy the Member States that formed the consortium wanted to ensure equivalency and recognition of the certificates in each language without having to be validated nationally. (Nostrification.)

Competence, Languages

The professional responsibility of the “ECL” language tests – ECL stands for “European Consortium for the Certificate of Attainment in Modern Languages” – was taken up by a prestigious university in the home country of each language that constructs the tests and evaluates the papers. On the basis of the uniform criteria established in the first phase of standardisation, ECL exams can be taken in English, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Polish, Romanian, Bulgarian, Serbian, Slovak, Russian, Spanish, Croatian, Czech and Hebrew.

Features of the Test

The content and overall validity of the tests have been established after extensive research by specialists and pilot tests on specific target groups. The ECL exams test oral and written ability to use the language of everyday discourse on practical, professional and personal topics at varying degrees of complexity.

Comparability

Comparability is one of the important characteristics of the ECL tests. To ensure this, examinations as well as test materials and certificates are built on uniform principles. According to these uniform principles the parameters and criteria of evaluation and the types of tasks are the same in each language.

Reliability

Each specialist member of the Consortium is responsible for test construction and marking in their own language. To ensure maximum reliability for the ECL tests, all items are pre-tested, test constructors and markers are trained before each session, and a system of double marking is used. A committee of specialists from each of the languages being examined monitors the standards of question-setting, marking and awarding to ensure equivalence between levels of achievement across the languages.

Exam levels

LEVELS OF THE ECL EXAM SYSTEM

Level A2

After successfully achieving level A2 you are a good tourist: you can ask questions, you understand the simpler answers, you can go shopping, you can ask for food and drink in the target language, you understand the signs, that is: you can manage.

Level B1

After achieving level B1 you can look for a job and work among colleagues speaking the target language; you start understanding newspaper and radio news, TV programmes, you can even try going to the cinema or theatre.

Level B2

After achieving level B2 you can start studies in the secondary schools and at the colleges and universities of the target language country. You have learned the structure of the target language and understood its logic – and by now you have surely got to like it. You start appreciating literature; you understand announcements at the railway station and what people are shouting in the street. That is you are starting to feel comfortable in the target language and in the target language country.

Level C1

When you achieve level C1 you become an equal partner of the native speakers of the target language. You write, read and speak like they do, you can study, work and do research among them, you can continue expanding your knowledge of the culture, literature and history – that is the past and present of – the target language culture without difficulty.

For more information - https://eclexam.eu

Exam dates 2020 and application:

https://eclexam.eu/application/