home

Proficiency Assessment Benchmarks

Compiled from Internet sources

Michael Morrissey, March 2003, updated June 2003

Contents

Table of Comparative Assessment Benchmarks (English)

Table of Comparative Assessment Benchmarks (Other Languages)

Distribution of Incoming Students WS/SS 02/03 by TOEFL

Comparative Level Descriptions

Level 5 - Functionally native

Level 4 - C2 - Distinguished

General
Speaking, +
Writing, +
Listening, +
Reading, +

Level 3 - C1 - Superior

General
Speaking, +
Writing, +
Listening, +
Reading, +

Level 2 - B2 - Advanced

General
Speaking: Low, Mid, High, +
Writing: Low, Mid, High, +
Listening, +
Reading, +

Level 1 - B1 - Intermediate

General
Speaking: Low, Mid, High, +
Writing: Low, Mid, High, +
Listening, +
Reading, +

Level 0 - A2/A1 - Elementary

General
Speaking: Low, Mid, High, +
Writing: Low, Mid, High, +
Listening, +
Reading, +

Glossary (ACTFL)

Table of Comparative Assessment Benchmarks (English)

Foreign Service Institute (FSI)/Inter-Agency Language Roundtable (ILR)
American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL), correlated to FSI/ILR by ACTFL
Council of Europe (COE)/DiaLang/Association of Language Testers in Europe (ALTE)
Cambridge ESOL Examinations: Certificate of Proficiency in English (CPE), Certificate in Advanced English (CAE), First Certificate in English (FCE), Preliminary English Test (PET), Key English Test (KET)
IELTS International English Language Testing System, see http://www.ielts.org/teachersandresearchers/ieltsandthecommoneuropeanframework/default.aspx. 
TOEFL Test of English as a Foreign Language (Educational Testing Service; see http://www.ets.org/ell/cef.html).
TWE Test of Written English (Educational Testing Service; see http://www.ets.org/ell/cef.html).
TSE Test of Spoken English (Educational Testing Service; see http://www.ets.org/ell/cef.html).
TOEIC Test of English for International Communication (Educational Testing Service; see http://www.ets.org/ell/cef.html).
IBT Internet-Based TOEFL (including Speaking) from Sept. 2005 (pilot study projection):  http://www.ets.org/toefl/nextgen/scorereport.html

	FSI/ILR	ACTFL	COE	Cambridge ESOL	IELTS	TOEFL Paper/ Computer	TWE/ TSE	TOEIC	IBT 120 tot.
5	Functionally Native Proficiency				9
4+	Advanced Professional Proficiency, Plus		C2	CPE (pass, 3)	8	610/253?			101-102
4	Advanced Professional Proficiency				7.5
3+	General Professional Proficiency, Plus	Superior	C1	CAE (pass, 3)	6.5	560/220	5.5/55	880	83
3	General Professional Proficiency
2+	Limited Working Proficiency, Plus	Advanced High	B2	FCE (pass, 3)	5.5	510/180?			64
		Advanced Mid
2	Limited Working Proficiency	Advanced Low
1+	Elementary Proficiency, Plus	Intermed. High	B1	PET	4	457/137	4.5/45	550
		Intermed Mid
1	Elementary Proficiency	Intermed Low
0+	Memorized Proficiency	Novice High	A2	KET	3
		Novice Mid			2
0	No functional proficiency	Novice Low	A1		1

Table of Comparative Assessment Benchmarks (Other Languages)

	FSI/ILR	German	French	Spanish	Italian
5	Functionally Native Proficiency
4+	Advanced Professional Proficiency, Plus	Zentrale Oberstufenprüfung (ZDF) Kleines Deutsches Sprachdiplom (KDS)	Diplôme de Haut Etudes Française (DHEF)	Diploma Superior de Español (DSE)	Certificato di Conoscenza della Lingua Italiana, Livello 5 (CELI 5)
4	Advanced Professional Proficiency
3+	General Professional Proficiency, Plus	Zentrale Mittlestufenprüfung (ZMP)	Diplôme Supérieur d'Etudes Françaises Modernes/ Langue et Culture Françaises Modernes (DSLCF)		Certificato di Conoscenza della Lingua Italiana, Livello 4 (CELI 4)
3	General Professional Proficiency
2+	Limited Working Proficiency, Plus		Diplôme de Langue Française (DL)	Diploma Basico de Español (DBE)	Certificato di Conoscenza della Lingua Italiana, Livello 3 (CELI 3)
2	Limited Working Proficiency
1+	Elementary Proficiency, Plus	Zertificat Deutsch als Fremdsprache (ZDaF)	Certificat d'Etudes de Français Pratique 2 (CEFP2)	Certificado Inicial de Español (CIE)	Certificato di Conoscenza della Lingua Italiana, Livello 2 (CELI 2)
1	Elementary Proficiency
0+	Memorized Proficiency	Grundbaustein Deutsch als Fremdsprache (GBS DaF)	Certificat d'Etudes de Français Pratique 1 (CEFP1)		Certificato di Conoscenza della Lingua Italiana, Livello 1 (CELI 1)
0	No functional proficiency

Distribution of Incoming Students WS 02/03, SS 03 by TOEFL

	FSI/ILR	TOEFL P=C	Eingang WS 03 of 261 = %	Eingang SS 03 of 94 = %
5	Functionally Native Proficiency
4+	Advanced Professional Proficiency, Plus
4	Advanced Professional Proficiency
3+	General Professional Proficiency, Plus	677-630 =300-267	2 = 0.8	2 = 2.1
3	General Professional Proficiency	630-610 =267-253	7 = 2.7	0 = 0
2+	Limited Working Proficiency, Plus	607-570 =253-230	39 = 14.9	12 = 12.8
		570-533 =230-200	59 = 22.6	22 = 23.4
2	Limited Working Proficiency	533-483 =200-160	100 = 38.3	32 = 34
1+	Elementary Proficiency, Plus	483-447 =160-130	43 = 16.5	9 = 9.6
		447-407 =130-100	9 = 3.4	11 = 11.7
1	Elementary Proficiency	407-343 =100-60	2 = 0.8	6 = 6.4
0+	Memorized Proficiency	340-327 =60-50
0	No functional proficiency	323-310 =50-30