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B ureau for I nternational L anguage C oordination

Learn about BILC's history and mission, its STANAG 6001 role, training and testing programs, conferences, and special projects.

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B ureau for I nternational L anguage C oordination

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  1. Bureau for International Language Coordination Julie J. Dubeau Jana Vasilj-Begovic BILC Secretaries Varna, Bulgaria October 11, 2010

  2. Outline • What/Who is BILC? • What do we do? • Custodians of STANAG 6001 • Assistance to Training Programmes • Visits • Assistance to Testing Programmes • Visits, Conferences, Seminars & Workshops • Special Projects and Events

  3. BILC History • NATO’s consultative and advisory body for language training and testing issues • Established in 1966. The founding members are France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Subsequently, the following countries joined: 1967: Belgium, Canada, Netherlands1975: SHAPE and IMS/NATO (non-voting members) 1978: Portugal 1983: Turkey 1984: Denmark and Greece1985: Spain 1993: Norway 1999: Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland2004: Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia 2009: Albania and Croatia • PfP countries routinely participate. MD countries are welcome.

  4. BILC STRUCTURE • The BILC Chairman presides over the Steering Committee • The voting members of the Steering Committee are the heads of each full member delegation. Secretariat staffed by: • United Kingdom (1966-1981) • Germany (1982-1996) • United States (1997-2008) • Canada (2008- )

  5. BILC Mission and Vision Mission To promote and foster interoperability among NATO and PfP 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.

  6. Two Main Events • Annual Conference in Spring (May) • May 2011 hosted by Lithuania - “Defining Operational Proficiency” • Professional Seminar in Fall (Oct) • October 2011 hosted by U.S.A. – “Furthering Our Training Goals Through Research”

  7. STANAG 6001 - Custodian • Edition 3 promulgated by NSA in Feb 2009 • English and French versions can be downloaded from the BILC website www.bilc.forces.gc.ca • Secretariat proposed admin change during Istanbul conference last May • Change is in progress at NSA

  8. What does BILC do? • Collaborative Language Training Assessments (K. Wert) • Goal: to assess language training and testing programmes and offer recommendations • 2010: Georgia, Macedonia, Serbia • 2011: Albania

  9. What does BILC do? • Assistance to National Testing Programmes (P. Garza) • Goal: to assist nations in establishing, restructuring or improving their testing systems Bosnia-Herzegovina: 2008-present Workshops and assistance visits Spain: 2009, 2010 Workshop and assistance visit Georgia: 2009-present Workshops and assistance visits BiH and Georgia: June 2010 Cooperative event on STANAG 6001 testing

  10. Language Testing Seminars (LTS) and (ALTS) • Developed and conducted by BILC testing experts • Objective: To provide NATO/PfP language testing professionals with the theory and practice of test development based on STANAG 6001 • LTS- attended by more than 325 graduates from NATO/PfP/MD nations • ALTS- originated from need for further professional development/piloted in 2009

  11. Introduction to STANAG 6001, Ed. 3 Focus on L2 All four skills integrated Practical, interactive small group exercises Emphasis of test development process Limited statistical analysis STANAG Standardization exercises Focus on L3 Modular structure Practical, interactive small group exercises Moderation of already developed items More in-depth statistical analysis LTS ALTS

  12. Special Projects and Events:Level 4 Analysis • In Istanbul, BILC Steering Committee recommended to form a working group to: • Analyse Level 4 • Study feasibility of testing at Level 4 • Develop test specifications if need established • Status: Level 4 Working Group formed • Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Netherlands and USA • Parallel work to be done on PE posts analysis in order to establish whether level 4 linguistic designations match STANAG 6001 level 4 descriptors (in planning)

  13. Level 4 Analysis • First meeting held: • Sarajevo STANAG 6001 Speaking Conference, August 2010 WG members to: • produce a draft paper on the conceptual model for all four skills • revise proposed models through online collaboration • meet at the BILC Conference in Vilnius to finalize documents and formulate recommendations

  14. Testing ConferenceSarajevo 2010 • Standardizing Approaches to Testing Speaking • Specific goals • Increase understanding of the STANAG 6001 descriptors for speaking • Compare STANAG 6001 speaking test protocols • Improve elicitation techniques • Standardize the rating of speaking tests • Identify the challenges of testing speaking and discuss possible solutions

  15. QUESTIONS? Enjoy the Seminar!

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