New Cambridge exams due for release this year and in 2007 offer appropriate certification to two professional sectors.
Legal English
Available from May this year, the International Legal English Certificate (ILEC) examination is the first internationally recognised test of legal English. Tailored to the needs of the legal profession, ILEC will help lawyers and law students prove their ability to use English in an international legal context.
‘Increasing numbers of legal employers are requiring advanced English skills from the lawyers they hire,’ says Michael Lindner, a United States attorney and president of TransLegal which is collaborating with Cambridge ESOL in ILEC. TransLegal is based in Stockholm and is Europe’s leading firm of lawyer-linguists providing online legal English courses and resources, training in English and high quality translation of legal documents.
He says legal employers may not have the time or resources to check the working English of prospective legal employees. ‘ILEC will now provide them with an accurate and speedy way of checking this.’ Law students and lawyers seeking employment who may not have a qualification from an English speaking country will be able to demonstrate that they have the necessary legal English skills. He goes on to say:
‘A lawyer’s only tools are words. Nuances and shades of meaning are often crucial and can have enormous repercussions in legal dealings. And in an international context, English is the lingua franca of law.’
While there is accelerating interest in ILEC among law firms throughout Europe, the number of exam centres in Europe offering the ILEC exam is also growing day by day. There are now 70 centres in Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Russia, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. This number is likely to increase significantly over the coming months as more universities and law schools require examination centres closer to them.
ILEC was trialled in 2005 in France, Germany, Poland, Sweden and the United Kingdom. The feedback was positive and constructive, and has guided final decisions on test design. Pretesting of the exam started in March 2006 with more than 1,000 students from 18 countries.
The first exam was on 6 May and the second is on 11 November this year. The exam is three and a half hours long in total, and tests all four language skills – reading, writing, listening and speaking. ILEC is linked to the Council of Europe’s Common European Framework of Reference for Languages at levels B2 and C1 which are equivalent to FCE (First Certificate in English) and CAE (Certificate in Advanced English).
For a list of exam centres or people to contact for more information, go to www.LegalEnglishTest.org
ILEC
Major stakeholders in the international legal community see ILEC as a future tool for selection and development. More than 50 law firms, university law faculties, legal associations and legal English providers contributed to a pilot study of current use and future demand for legal English assessment, with specific questions regarding ILEC, its design and content.
The study found that these organisations use:
- an interview as evidence of English language skills – 57%
- a recognised English test (e.g. IELTS or TOEFL) – 39%
- an existing legal English test – 8%
In a study by Cambridge ESOL of 320 law professionals and students from 12 centres in eight countries, 85% saw ILEC as a useful means of furthering their careers, while 44% indicated they would choose to sit ILEC to gain promotion. Overall, 85% of participants in the study believed ILEC could fulfil all their needs in terms of providing evidence of their English language skills.
The analysis of the trials was carried out by the Cambridge ESOL Research & Validation team as part of Cambridge ESOL’s quality and development process. Findings from the study inform ongoing work to refine the examination content and delivery and to help ensure that the test is a fair and accurate assessment of the type of language used by law professionals and law students.
Financial English
Due for release in 2007 is a test of English for the financial and accounting sector, developed in collaboration with the world’s largest and fastest growing international accountancy body – ACCA (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants). Another world first, the International Certificate in Financial English (ICFE) will provide accounting and finance professionals with the opportunity to prove their language competence in readiness for working in global markets.
Following developments such as globally recognised frameworks for financial reporting, cross-border finance and international business, accountancy has rapidly become an international profession, providing professional accountants with the opportunity to pursue international careers.
Allen Blewitt, Chief Executive of ACCA, said: ‘Developments such as the advent of International Financial Reporting Standards together with the ever-increasing globalisation of finance and business means that accountancy is rapidly becoming one global profession. ACCA has always prided itself on providing a quality international qualification which is the same standard throughout the world.’
He continues: ‘We are delighted to take this approach one stage further by linking up with a world-renowned institution like Cambridge and giving finance students and other people already working in the profession, whose first language is not English, the chance to improve their career prospects and international mobility by providing a test of their financial English skills – which has become the international language of finance.’
The ICFE certificate will help employers operating in the international finance arena with the hiring and training of their employees, and universities with selection, placements and graduation of students.
For more information on ICFE, go to www.FinancialEnglishTest.org