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Center for Language Evaluation and Certification

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The CVCL promotes and develops study and research in the field of assessment and evaluation of language skills and competence.
Established in 2005 as an autonomous university center, it has consolidated and strengthened a traditional experience in the certification of Italian as a Foreign Languege, developed since 1987 by the University for Foreigners of Perugia.

Costituitosi nel 2005 come Centro universitario autonomo, consolida e potenzia una tradizionale esperienza nel campo della certificazione della conoscenza dell’italiano L2, maturata sin dal 1987 dall’Università per Stranieri di Perugia.

Functions and institutional activities of the CVCL

Development and production tests

The CVCL develops testing and testing examinations for the issue of language certificates attesting to the knowledge of Italian as a Foeign Language at different levels of proficiency and for different contexts of use. The language certificates issued by CVCL levels are comparable to the most important certificates issued by the European institutions members of ALTE (www.alte.org) and relate to the learning objectives specified in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages ( CEFR) of the Council of Europe.

Certificates are:

  1. certificates of non-specialized Italian: acronym of CELI (Certificate of Italian Language). These may be customized in::
    • CELI aimed at educated adults
    • CELI aimed at teenagers aged 13-17 years (in CELI1, CELI2 to, CELI3 a)
    • CELI aimed at immigrants with little schooling (CELI the impact, the CELI1, CELI2 i)
  2. certificates of Business Italian Language known by the acronym of CIC (Certificates of Business Italian) aimed at operators in the corporate sector, commercial and organizational area. The CIC is divided into 2 levels (CIC CIC Intermediate and Advanced) are also related to the levels B1 and C1 of the CEFR.
  3. certification for teaching Italian as a foreign language known as DILS-PG - Certificate in Teaching Italian Foreign Language assessing teacher education and certifies the didactic-pedagogic qualification essential for the evaluation of the service provided.

Training

The CVCL organizes training and updating courses, in the field of testing and language assessment in the disciplinary perspective of Language Testing, aimed at teachers who, in their own testing centers, act as examiners test for oral exams CELI and CIC .
The courses are held twice a year in Perugia (usually in May and October) and on request can also take place at the same test centers. The course contents are based on the criteria, rating scales, materials and video that CVCL prepares for this purpose, as well as on projects (contents and materials) made from CVCL independently or in cooperation with European institutions, in particular the Council of 'Europe, European Commission and professional association ALTE (Association of Language Testers in Europe) 1.
The CVCL organizes once a year a preparatoty course for DILS-PG certification.

Research

The CVCL realized, 'since the 90s to today, within the European ALTE, in collaboration with the Division for Language Policy of the Council of Europe and of European Commission funding, several research projects on language assessment and the implementation of the Common European Framework of Reference.

In detail, the last projects completed or under construction:

  • Project of experimentation of the manual "Relating Language Examinations to the Common European Framework of Reference" to provide empirical evidence of the said bond levels with CELI exam levels of the CEFR.
  • Project of the description for the Italian language reference levels of the CEFR which has as its goal the production of materials and inventories in Italian language starting from the CEFR descriptors. The materials (in agreement with the Council of Europe) were published by Nuova Italia publishing house under the title: Profile of the Italian language. Reference levels of the CEFR A1, A2, B1 and B2.
  • Project SurveyLang. The project, otherwise known as "European Indicator of Language Competence" is funded by the European Commission and is one of the objectives set by the Lisbon Strategy for 2010. The project aims to measure the foreign language skills of pupils at the end of compulsory education , in all EU member states. The Commission proposed that, at least in the first phase of the project, the languages involved are the five languages most frequently taught in the European Union: English, French, German, Spanish and Italian.
  • Project for the Certification of Italian language usage skills in contexts of immigration. The project has been developed according to the theoretical and methodological guidelines of a document by the LAMI (Language and Migration) working group inside of ALTE, in consultation with the Council of Europe. The project, which has led to the definition of three certification levels (A1 to B1) and the related training, always starting from the CEFR descriptors with the active collaboration of teachers’ networks as the CTP (Permanent Territorial Centres), already Examination centers the CVCL.
  • Project, called Italiano Lingua Nostra. Percorsi certificati per accoglienza e integrazione has been funded by the European Fund for the Integration of third-country nationals (2007-2013) in collaboration with the Department of Immigration and Civil Liberties of the Ministry of Interior. The project has enabled implementation of courses of Italian as a Foreign Language articulated in two levels: from A1 to A2 in the common scale of the CEFR and the administration of the relative levels of CELI Immigrants.
  • Project aimed at creating an intervention program for the dissemination of knowledge of the Italian language for non-EU citizens regularly present in Italy through the administration of the examinations, certification of level A2 produced in collaboration with the Region of Umbria.
  • Project commissioned by the Autonomous Province of Bolzano and aimed at the creation of language tests for bilingualism to be implemented under the reform of the examination to ascertain the knowledge of the Italian language.
  • Project, commissioned by the Association of Intercultural NUR Cagliari and financed by the Ministry of Interior - European Fund for the Integration of Third Country Nationals (2007-2013) aimed at designing and testing a new type of test for isocial inclusionl: the so-called KoS test (Knowlodge of Society) and administration of the certification exam CELI immigrants class A1, A2 and B1.
  • The CVCL EIF is also leader of the project entitled L’Italiano dell’Accordot "The project envisages the implementation of training programs at regional level, aimed at specific target groups and, simultaneously, of the innovative actions, in terms of teaching methods. The Project will involve 150 citizens of third countries within the chosen range of the more marginalized target users so that, in addition to fully achieve the condition of functional literacy, they can acquire and certify the language skills required by the level descriptors of the CEFR A1
  • The High School and Language "O. Tedone "Ruvo di Puglia has finally commissioned to CVCL the realization of a research activity in the region of Puglia, through the processing and analysis of questionnaires and its impact study. This research is aimed to analyze the importance of language skills in the working environment of Puglia, to facilitate the insertion and the professional upgrading of citizens of third countries and to create experimental vocational training courses in regional language learning Italian as a Foreign Language