BUREAU FOR INTERNATIONAL LANGUAGE COORDINATION BUREAU DE COORDINATION

BUREAU FOR INTERNATIONAL LANGUAGE COORDINATION BUREAU DE COORDINATION LINGUISTIQUE INTERNATIONALE Forging Effective Partnerships to Optimize Operational Success Julie J. Dubeau BILC Chair Bruges, May 5, 2014 www. natobilc. org

Briefing Outline • BILC Background, mandate • Programme of Work & Standardization Efforts • NATO Language Context • NATO STANAG 6001 • Updates • Effective Partnerships

Background Established in 1966 as an advisory body to NATO. Founding members are France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States. 1967: Belgium, Canada, Netherlands 1975: SHAPE and IMS/NATO (non-voting members) 1978: Portugal 1983: Turkey 1984: Denmark and Greece 1985: Spain 1993: Norway 1999: Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland 2004: Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia 2008: Albania, Croatia The BILC Chair presides over the Steering Committee which meets at the spring conference. Voting members are the heads of NATO delegations. Partner nations are welcome to attend and observe at Steering Committee.

BILC Steering Committee GRB (1966 - 1981) DEU (1982 -1996) USA (1997 - 2008) CAN (2008 - 2014) USA (2014 ) Chair J. Dubeau Senior Advisor Dr. R. Clifford Secretary J. Vasilj-Begovic Language Testing Programmes P. Garza Associate Secretaries Language Training Assessments K. Wert

Mandate 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.

Programme of Work & Standardization Efforts 2013 • BILC Conference (spring) 2013 – Georgia NATOspeak: English in Multinational Settings • BILC Professional Seminar (fall) 2013 – Sweden Diligent Design: Building Blocks to Maximize Learning • STANAG Testing Workshop (fall) 2013 – SHAPE STANAG 6001 Testing: Integrating Test Development Stages

Programme of Work & Standardization Efforts • Language Testing Seminar (LTS): 2 weeks • Advanced Language Testing Seminar (ALTS): 3 weeks • Language Standards & Assessment Seminar (LSAS): 7 days • Tailored workshops in nations

Programme of Work & Standardization Efforts BILC conducts research, special projects & provides support to nations; Language Teaching and Testing Exchange: Visits to requesting NATO & Partner nations to assist with language training & testing programmes: Conducted 2013/14: Russia, Georgia, Moldova, FYROM Planned 2014: Algeria, Azerbaijan, Montenegro, Greece, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, etc.

JALLC Report 2010: Interoperability Shortfall due to Language English language skills lacking Inadequate harmonization of req & procedures Need for proficiency is increasing Documents & needed correspondence too lengthy, too complex Content / intensity / duration of training falling short Native speaker not proficient in communicating in multination environment

NATO Language Context: Complicated & Complex! Each nation is responsible for its own training & testing programme - No common tests, only a common standard: STANAG 6001 SLPs of job descriptions may not reflect actual language requirements: 60% of IMS posts require 4444 Another 12% require 4343 Language Needs Analysis (LNAs) of positions would be informative…

SAGE 2014 SACEUR'S ANNUAL GUIDANCE ON NATO EDUCATION – SAGE Language competencies are identified as an important shortfall and actions are needed to mitigate and resolve this problem.

NATO TSC – Warsaw 2014 BILC Presented to NATO Education Leadership on NATO language context, issues and challenges BILC Meeting with Joint Force Trainer (JFT) to discuss Analysis of Job Descriptions: SAGE 2014 Guidance

Analysis of Job Descriptions SAGE 2014 “ACT is requested to conduct an assessment of the language requirements for collective groups, NATO posts, along with the review of Job Descriptions” 58% of SLPs in job descriptions reflect language requirements BILC CE Post study 2009 l Inflated requirements = inflated SLPs? Goal: Produce a guide for HR & assist in assigning appropriate STANAG 6001 levels of proficiency to JDs

EWGNTG Meeting I-2014 Amsterdam, NLD 29 April - 01 May EWGNTG Ro. D • Bureau for International Language Coordination (BILC) to revise STANAG 6001 (Language Proficiency Levels), as Edition 5, in order to be in line with new format IAW AJP 3(J) and to reflect that BILC is the “Custodian” • • • NSA issued tasker for NTG, as a MCJSB WG and Owner of STANAG 6001, to ask BILC to revise STANAG 6001 HQ SACT NTG section sent letter to BILC, on behalf of the EWGNTG, requesting STANAG 6001 revision Complete by end of Calendar Year 2014

STANAG 6001 5 4 Professional 3 2 1 0 Functional Survival

STANAG 6001 - Status • NSA Requested BILC draft a ST (Standardization Task) • BILC as Custodian • STANAG 6001 Currently being reformatted • Edition 5 – NO CHANGE IN CONTENT

Updates • • Terms of Reference International Staff Comparison Chart Level 4 Working Group Military Terminology BILC Website National Reports Future Events

Effective Partnerships BILC: NTG/JSSG, ACT/JFT, funding from MPD, DEEP collaboration, etc. Multinationals Working Groups: dev + del of LTS, ALTS, LSAS STANAG 6001 WG, Terminology WG, L 4 WG, etc Bi-Laterals: CAN & USA (as associates in Secretariat) Partnerships for testing, faculty development ACTFL for BAT Joint ventures within national military organizations Civilian governmental institutions & Universities + Defence Academies

A few conclusions… Language is key to interoperability Language training is costly - planning is essential Learning a language takes time!! Training in STANAG 6001 interpretation & application is essential Goal should be to invest in lifelong language learning of military personnel

THIS IS YOUR BILC. ENJOY!!!!!! WWW. natobilc. org julie. dubeau@forces. gc. ca jana. vasilj-begovic@forces. gc. ca Wert. K@marshallcenter. org Garza. P@marshallcenter. org