The Association of Language Testers in Europe’s third international conference took place in April, hosted by Cambridge ESOL.
ALTE 2008 was a multilingual event with speakers from nearly 50 different countries and presentations delivered in five languages.
As an NGO with special consultative status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations, ALTE offered the conference in support of the UN International Year of Languages 2008.
The conference featured 200 papers, each on an important and timely aspect of language assessment and the programme was headed by six plenary speeches by leading contributors to the world of language assessment:
Professor John A Hawkins – Professor of English and Applied Linguistics at the University of Cambridge and Professor of Linguistics at the University of California, Davis
Professor Micheline Chalhoub-Deville – Professor, Department of Educational Research Methodology at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro
Dr Brian North – Head of Academic Development at Eurocentres
Dr Lynda Taylor – Consultant, University of Cambridge ESOL Examinations
Professor James E Purpura – Associate Professor of Linguistics and Education in the TESOL and Applied Linguistics Programs at Teachers College, Columbia University.
The theme of the event –The Social and Educational Impact of Language Assessment – reflected the current public debate on language testing and its use in the contexts of migration and citizenship. The significance of the theme was underlined by the speeches of two Members of European Parliament, Richard Howitt and Hannu Takkula – the Vice-Chair of the European Parliament Committee on Culture and Education. Both underlined the importance of language learning and testing in facing the challenges of a changing Europe.
The conference also included a forum on Language Testing, Migration and Social Inclusion held under the auspices of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Mr Terry Davis.
The European Commission’s Directorate for General Education and Culture was represented by Marguerite Kuzma who gave a keynote speech outlining plans for the implementation of the European Indicator of Languages Competences.