AssessingEnglishinEurope

Abstract

One of the results of integration in the European area has been the development of a unified language policy promoting “plurilingualism,” providing some measure of coherence to the learning, teaching, and assessment of language ability. In practice, English has been the primary additional language learned, and it is learned in and out of school systems from ever earlier ages by ever more people, for purposes of personal development, migration, survival, education, and employment. A long tradition of formal English language assessment exists in parts of Europe, often for high stakes purposes, though informal and formative assessments have also been promoted in such projects as DIALANG and the European Language Portfolio. In recent years, language assessment has been discussed with reference to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). Examinations claim “alignment” to the CEFR, and test users ask for results in terms of the six levels into which the CEFR divides language ability. There is debate, however, as to whether using the CEFR for such alignment is possible, defensible, or even desirable. The meaning and role of the framework remains to be agreed. The direction of this debate, the language‐related policies of users, and the changing demographic of English language learning will influence future ESL assessment practice in Europe and beyond.