Professional language testing is playing an increasingly important role in Austria as well as in all countries of the EU. Although language competence is being assessed in Austria at secondary and tertiary level in the educational system, professionalism in the current practice is largely missing. For instance, it is unknown what school-leaving certificates mean in terms of achievement in foreign languages. The reliability of the assessment procedures and of the resulting grades is unknown, and, consequently, information about validity does not exist. Examination content and format, as well as assessment criteria, vary from school to school. As a result, school-leaving examinations are neither comparable across schools nor, clearly, among different regions of the country. Also, not surprisingly, it is far from clear how these examinations relate to the Common European Framework.

 

The situation in modern languages at universities is not much different. Each department runs its language programme according to its own curriculum, using assessment procedures which are developed on site. Specifications for these examinations usually do not exist, the psychometric properties of the examinations are largely unknown, and it is unclear how the content and level of the examinations relate to the Common European Framework. As a result, it is unclear what the diplomas of Austrian university graduates in modern languages mean in terms of language competence.

 

This state of affairs is the result of a nationwide lack of professionalisation in Language Testing and Evaluation. The Language Testing Centre aims at remedying this situation by providing an institutional basis for

 

- professional test development

- research in Language Testing and Evaluation

- pre- and in-service teacher training in Language Testing and Evaluation

- conferences and workshops in Language Testing and Evaluation.