WHAT IS MY LEVEL
All our clients are assessed according to communicative ability in the language.
We use the 8 levels of language proficiency as outlined below, from beginner
to advanced.
(Complete beginners do exist but rarely come to language schools).
Language Levels
These are the levels we use. Where do you
think you are on this scale?
Low-Beginner (Faux débutant):
Unable to function in the spoken language.
Mid-Beginner (Faux débutant élémentaire):
Able to function in only a very limited capacity by using a number of memorized
words and phrases.
High Beginner (Elémentaire):
Able to satisfy immediate needs with learned utterances. Does not speak in
complete sentences.
Low-Intermediate (Pré-intermédiaire):
Able to handle a variety of tasks in previously learned, uncompl
icated social
situations. Speech is generally limited to the present tense and sentences
may not always be complete.
Intermediate (Intermédiaire):
Able to successfully handle a variety of communicative tasks in uncomplicated
social situations. Can ask and respond to questions, make requests for information,
and express personal meaning, but responses may still contain hesitancy and
grammatical inaccuracies.
High-Intermediate (Post-intermédiaire):
Able to narrate and describe in major time frames and can talk about a wide
range of concrete social and work topics. May still make errors with basic
grammatical structures, but they have a much stronger control of the grammatical
system than the Intermediate level.
Advanced (Avancé): Able to participate
actively in most formal and informal exchanges on a variety of topics with
linguistic ease, confidence, and competence. May still make some high-level
grammatical and translation errors.
High-Advanced (Confirmé):
Close to native-like fluency and can communicate at a professional level of proficiency.
May experience lack of vocabulary in unfamiliar contexts and situations.
European framework
The Council of Europe is developing a "Common European
Framework of Reference: Learning, Teaching, Assessment". (CEFR level
s).
This is work in progress but you could look at this link to see if the information
there is of interest to you.
http://www.coe.int/T/DG4/Portfolio/?L=E&M=/main_pages/levels.html
