The DIALANG System, which has been developed over the past six years with substantial Community support and in consultation with the European Commission, offers on the Internet valid and reliable tests which diagnose language proficiency in the 11 Community languages as well as in Icelandic, Irish and Norwegian. Tests for listening, reading, writing, grammar and vocabulary in all 14 DIALANG languages are now available in the form of a Beta Version, which can be downloaded from the Project website www.dialang.org free of charge. Test takers are given feedback on their performance and advice on how to advance from their current level of proficiency. DIALANG is the first test system which anchors 14 European languages to the proficiency levels of the Council of Europe’s Common European Framework using the same assessment criteria throughout.

The main objectives of the current Project Phase (DIALANG Phase 3, 12/2002-11/2003) are (i) the maintenance and optimisation of the DIALANG System and (ii) the commercialisation of the System, which is to ensure its survival beyond the end of Community support. In order to pave the way for commercialisation, the Freie Universität Berlin (DE), Jyväskylän yliopisto (FI), Lancaster University (GB) and Stichting CITO Markt (NL) have formed a European Economic Interest Grouping: DIALANG EEIG. The Founding General Assembly of DIALANG EEIG, at which the Contract of Formation was signed, was held in Berlin on 28th April 2003. The object of DIALANG EEIG is to harness the DIALANG-related intellectual property rights and to licence their exploitation in order to ensure the maintenance of a freely available basic version of the System, to facilitate the development of an enhanced version and to promote research devoted to language testing in general and to the DIALANG System in particular.

The basic version now available has primarily been developed with the individual learner in mind. Future developments of the System leading to an enhanced version are to meet the needs of institutional users. In order to ensure that the enhanced version envisaged will incorporate features particularly relevant to institutional users, we are inviting interested organisations to test the Beta Version and provide us with feedback regarding the System’s functionality. To this end, a questionnaire has been developed, which can be completed electronically. Institutions and organisations interested in participating in the current trialling campaign are requested to contact the DIALANG Project Manager, Astrid Peter, at the following e-mail address: astrid.peter@sprachlabor.fu-berlin.de

ELC Information Bulletin 9 - April 2003