News

Italy: key policy-makers discuss language assessment for migration in Europe

17 June 2010

As immigration continues to dominate the headlines, key policy-makers in Europe came together in Rome to address the challenges ahead in using language assessment for integration. Language Assessment for Integration in the Italian Context on the 11 May was organised by the association of European language experts, ALTE, and their Italian member, the Centre for Evaluation and Language Certification (CVCL) from the University for Foreigners in Perugia. The conference was chaired by Dr Nick Saville, Director, Research and Validation, Cambridge ESOL.

Fiorella Perotto from the European Commission and Philia Thalgott from the Council of Europe joined leading practitioners, consultants, educationalists and policy-makers from around Europe.

Martin Nuttall from the ALTE Secretariat said:

“This was an excellent opportunity to discuss language assessment for integration from both an Italian and international perspective. By bringing together a wide-range of experts on what is an important topic in Europe, we were able to share perspectives and learn from each other's experiences. The event was a useful contribution to the debate to ensure that language testing systems are fair to everyone.”

Delegates were also joined by Maria Rosa from the Italian Ministry of the Interior, Giuseppe Silveri from the Italian Ministry of Labour, Professor Elana Shohamy, Piet van Avermaet – as well as members and affiliates of ALTE. The event was part of a raft of activities in Rome centring around ALTE’s meeting and conference on 12–14 May. Dr John Trim, one of the authors of the international language standard, the CEFR, contributed to the week’s events with a workshop and plenary presentation. Another of the week’s showcases was a successful Introductory Course on Assessing Writing run by Cambridge ESOL's Dr Gad Lim and attended by participants from several countries including Italy, Germany, Denmark, Sweden and Spain.

Registration is now open for the ALTE testing courses which will take place in Bilbao from 20th September to 1st October. Other forthcoming ALTE events include the association's 39th meeting and conference in Prague in November, and the ALTE 4th International Conference to be held on 7-9 July 2011 at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Poland. The Call for Papers for the 4th International Conference is now open.

For further information about all ALTE’s events and activities, please visit the ALTE website – www.alte.org