DIALANG is an online

diagnostic Diagnosis is the identification of the nature and cause of a certain phenomenon. Diagnosis is used in many different disciplines, with variations in the use of logic, analytics, and experience, to determine " cause and effect". In systems engine ...

system designed to assess a person's proficiency in 14 European languages.Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Icelandic, Irish-gaelic, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish and Swedish. Competences tested are reading, writing, listening, grammar and vocabulary, while speaking is excluded for technical reasons. DIALANG was designed primarily for European

citizens Citizenship is a "relationship between an individual and a state to which the individual owes allegiance and in turn is entitled to its protection". Each state determines the conditions under which it will recognize persons as its citizens, and ...

to assess their language abilities in adherence to Europe’s Common European Framework of Reference – CEFR – as a basis for determining language proficiency. The CEFR is a widely recognized framework used to describe and measure the language proficiency level of a learner in a particular language. Dialang was funded by the SOCRATES programme and by some 25 institutions, largely universities, throughout the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

.Alderson, J. Charles., Huhta, Ari (2005). The development of a suite of computer-based diagnosis tests based on the Common European Framework. Language Testing, 22 (3), 301. Dialang is explained in the Appendix C, pages 226-243 of the CEFR official document.

Fourteen languages

The current version of DIALANG provides

tests Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film), ...

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish ance ...

, Dutch,

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

, Finnish,

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

, Greek, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish,

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

, Irish, Icelandic, and Norwegian. It is a

web-based A web application (or web app) is application software that is accessed using a web browser. Web applications are delivered on the World Wide Web to users with an active network connection. History In earlier computing models like client-serve ...

project, and the system can be downloaded from its website free of charge. Users must have an Internet connection in order to use the software. DIALANG offers separate test for reading, writing, listening, grammatical structures and vocabulary. DIALANG provides test instructions, controls, help pages, explanations, self-assessment statements, test results, feedback and advice in all 14 languages. These tests enable the users to become aware of their strengths and weaknesses. The tests are offered across a wide range of proficiency levels from beginners to advanced. Due to the limitations of the test design, DIALANG has not yet developed effective methods to test speaking and writing. Users should note that DIALANG uses an indirect approach to assess written tasks: many writing tasks in DIALANG resemble reading, vocabulary or grammar tasks. Users are given the opportunity to write to complete some tasks; however, they may be limited to just a few words.

Purpose

DIALANG is not intended to be used for

certification Certification is the provision by an independent body of written assurance (a certificate) that the product, service or system in question meets specific requirements. It is the formal attestation or confirmation of certain characteristics of a ...

purposes. It is not designed to certify language proficiency. The purpose of DIALANG is to offer information regarding a test taker's strengths and weaknesses in a language. DIALANG suggest that its system will be most valuable to teachers, language teaching institutions, institutions running independent language learning schemes, and in institutions interested in promoting language proficiency among their staff. DIALANG is intended for any foreign language learner. DIALANG can assess language proficiency of those formally trained in language classes and those trained informally. DIALANG suggests that its unique feature of offering test in 14 languages could be particularly suitable to the diverse

second language A person's second language, or L2, is a language that is not the native language (first language or L1) of the speaker, but is learned later. A second language may be a neighbouring language, another language of the speaker's home country, or a fo ...

learners in Canada . There are no age restrictions for DIALANG test-takers. Yet, it is important to recognize that the tasks written and designed by DIALANG deal with issues that may not be appealing to young learners. Also, participants whose L1 is not among the 14 languages listed and who are not proficient enough in any of these languages may not be able to understand the instructions or the statements in the self-assessment questionnaire. By simplifying the language of instruction, DIALANG could be made accessible to a wider range of users .

References

* * * * *

External links

* {{Official website, https://dialangweb.lancaster.ac.uk/ Language policy of the European Union Language tests