ALTE 2011 'The Impact of Language Frameworks on Assessment, Learning and Teaching: Policies, Procedures and Challenges', Kraków (Poland)

Reflecting both the diversity and scope of the event, plenary speakers include some of the leading voices in the field of language assessment:

• Professor Lyle F. Bachman, Professor of Applied Linguistics at the University of California, Los Angeles - How Do Different Language Frameworks Impact Language Assessment Practice?
• Professor Elana Shohamy, Chair of the Language Education programme at the School of Education, Tel Aviv University - An engagement with the CEFR: A critical view and time for change
• Dr Waldemar Martyniuk, Assistant Professor of Applied Linguistics at the Centre for Polish Language and Culture of the Jagiellonian University in Kraków - The plurilingual and intercultural approach of the Council of Europe and its implications for evaluation and assessment in language education
• Dr Neil Jones, Vice Director of SurveyLang - 'Defining an inclusive framework for languages'
• Dr Michaela Perlmann-Balme, representative of the Goethe-Institut in the Association of Language Testers in Europe (ALTE) - The comparability of the A1-level across five European languages based on the experience of the European Survey on Language Competence
• Professor Giuliana Grego Bolli, Associate Professor of Applied Linguistics at the Università per Stranieri, Perugia - Migration policies in Italy in relation to language requirements. The Project “Italiano, lingua nostra”: impact and limitations.

Call for Papers

The 31 January 2011 deadline is for paper abstracts, comprising the title of the paper, a 250 word abstract for the selection committee, and a 70 word abstract for publication in the conference programme; if your abstract is accepted for the conference we do not need to see the full paper. Submissions must be made in the language of your paper, either German, English, Spanish, French, Italian or Polish. If you would like to give a paper in another language, please contact the ALTE Secretariat to discuss in more detail ALTE2011[at]CambridgeEsol.org

ALTE welcomes papers in German, English, Spanish, French, Italian and Polish related to the theme of the conference 'The Impact of Language Frameworks on Assessment, Learning and Teaching: policies, procedures and challenges.', such as:

• The extent to which frameworks affect language teaching, learning and assessment at individual, institutional, community and societal level
• The extent to which frameworks are useful for language teachers and learners
• Ways in which language frameworks can inform how particular languages are described by providing information about criterial features to distinguish different levels of proficiency

ALTE welcomes papers from anyone with a professional or academic interest in language assessment and its impact. Up to three speakers can deliver a paper.