BUREAU FOR INTERNATIONAL LANGUAGE COORDINATION BUREAU DE COORDINATION

BUREAU FOR INTERNATIONAL LANGUAGE COORDINATION BUREAU DE COORDINATION LINGUISTIQUE INTERNATIONALE STANAG 6001 TESTING: INTEGRATING TEST DEVELOPMENT STAGES SHAPE, MONS-BELGIUM Julie J. Dubeau, BILC Chair Welcome Address, 3. 09. 13

Outline p What is BILC? n Membership, Secretariat, Mission p Programme of work: n Events n Cooperative Language Training Assessments n Assistance to Testing Programmes p NATO Language Context n STANAG 6001 Conference Theme

BILC Secretariat BILC Steering Committee Chair J. Dubeau GRB (1966 -1981) DEU (1982 -1996) USA (1997 -2008) CAN (2008 -201? ) Senior Advisor Dr. R. Clifford Secretary J. Vasilj-Begovic Language Testing Programmes P. Garza Associate Secretaries Language Training Assessments K. Wert

BILC Mission & Vision Mission: To promote and foster interoperability among NATO and Pf. P nations by furthering standardization of language training and testing. To support the Alliance's operations through the exchange of knowledge and best practices, IAW established procedures and agreements. Vision: To achieve levels of excellence where progress made by one is shared by all.

Two Main Events BILC Conference in Spring Last hosted in Tbilisi by Georgia “NATOspeak: English in Multinational Settings” 2014 Conference in Bruges, Belgium: 4 -9 May Theme TBD BILC Professional Seminar in Fall Last hosted in Bled by Slovenia “Back to Basics: Recipes for Instructional Success ” 2013 Seminar hosted by Sweden, in Stockholm: 13 -18 Oct “ Diligent Design: Building Blocks to Maximize Learning”

Military / NATO Language Context: Complicated and Complex! p Each nation is responsible for own training / testing programme p No common tests - only a common standard STANAG 6001 Nations certify their military and give members SLPs based on own STANAG– based tests. p SLPs of job descriptions may not reflect actual language requirements p ‘Targets’ may be set too high, but national policies sometimes set unrealistic goals as well

Global Partnerships

Language is #1 shortfall p English skills lacking - Need for proficiency is increasing p Native speaker not proficient in communicating in multinational environment p Documents & needed correspondence too lengthy, too complex p Inadequate harmonization of requirements & procedures p Content/intensity of training falling short

INTEGRATING POLICY & REQUIREMENTS p What is needed – When? for whom? p Testing Proficiency and Performance p Capturing Capability through testing p Accountability through measurement p High stakes p Access to promotions & postings

INTEGRATING TEST DEVELOPMENT STAGES p Communications with stakeholders p Washback p 7 Stages of Development: p Practicality p Challenges Issues

Updates p www. NATOBILC. org p STANAG for Non-Specialists p LNA – Planning, on-going p WG on Level 4 - Final report p WG on Translation & Terminology, on-going

Contact us: Julie. Dubeau@forces. gc. ca Jana. Vasilj-Begovic@forces. gc. ca BILC@forces. gc. ca www. NATOBILC. org