Writing assessment: Placement testing and the CEFR.

Abstract

In the fall of 2012 placement tests in four languages for incoming students were held at the University of Iceland. This article focuses on the test for students in Danish. The tests are based on the French DELF-tests, which are developed in accordance with the CEFR. This article describes the CEFR and how it can be used for education, teaching and evaluation. The purpose of the tests is to measure the language proficiency of incoming students in Danish, French, German and Spanish. Since students enrolling into Danish are required to achieve the competence level B-2 the test was designed accordingly. The results can be used for comparison, either to see the progress this group of students will make during the course of their studies or to compare them with next year‘s incoming students. Further work might provide interesting information on how the structure of teaching and its emphases affect students and their learning capacity.

Keywords: the European Framework, CEFR, assessment, written, placement test, language