HEJ, HU ISSN 1418-7108
Manuscript no.: LIN-001101
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The free movement of people and information within the European Union
and increasing co-operation with non-member states necessitates the
comparability of foreign language competence. With this aim in mind
the Council of Europe decided to develop a Common European Framework
of Reference for Language Learning and Teaching (henceforth
Framework), which is an open-ended and dynamic system for the
comprehensive, coherent and transparent description of objectives,
methods and skills. Although the descriptions are not fully completed
there are attempts throughout Europe to develop new examinations
reflecting skills and abilities described in the Framework as well as
to relate already-existing examinations to its proficiency levels.
Hungarian testing experts and applied linguists have already expressed
their aversion to the uncritical adoption (or even adaptation) of
language examinations developed by international language testing
bodies. They seem to think that these examinations threaten the
existence of well-established Hungarian bilingual examinations, which
take Hungarian needs and interests more into account. Thus they defend
the heavily translation-oriented, and until now solely recognised,
examination offered by the Hungarian State Foreign Languages
Examination Board (SFLEB). (cf. Bárdos, 1994 and Kontra, 1997) There
is no reason not to protect our achievements in our proficiency tests
and retain their (soundly) distinctive features, however, we need to
be certain that what we are protecting measures the most-needed skills
and sub-skills, and measures them well.
The situation is controversial: students aspiring to study abroad have to take
international examinations, be it Cambridge, Goethe or TOEFL,
regardless of having previously passed the Hungarian State Language
Examination. On the other hand, students, having passed these
internationally recognised examinations, have to go to "Rigó street"
(SFLEB) to "nationalise" the examination. That is, to write the
translation tasks so that they fulfil tertiary educational exit
requirements or to get a salary supplement if they find work in the
public sector.
Obviously, what we need is a compromise: the
newly-developed language examinations should consider the
recommendations formulated in the Framework as well as Hungarian
needs, which should be identified by means of needs analyses rather
than intelligent guesswork or political considerations. The survey
carried out by West and Crighton (forthcoming) reveals that several
countries of the former Eastern bloc are making efforts to improve
their testing systems, not exclusively in the field of language
testing. It gives evidence that these processes involve the
establishment and protection of national standards, as well as the
shift from knowledge-based to competence-based assessment. The new
Year 10 and Year 12 school-leaving language examinations being
developed for the National Core Curriculum reflect not only the
preferences of the Framework but also the results of international
co-operation.
| HEJ, HU ISSN 1418-7108
Manuscript no.: LIN-001101
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