English for teaching staff
The purpose of the exam is to determine whether examinees are sufficiently proficient in English to be able to teach in this language. Some of the language competences that are tested belong to CEFR level B2 and others to CEFR level C1.
The exam is in two parts:
1. The written test
The written test consists of two tasks taken from an academic context. A minimum of 200 words should be written in each task.
This test lasts 90 minutes.
Writing Paper Sample
2. The oral test
The oral test is taken individually and is in five parts:
- Questions on the examinee's academic and professional background.
- Sustained monologue on a prepared topic (15 minutes' preparation time before the test).
- Interaction with the examiners. Examinees answer three or four questions on the same topic as in part two.
- Monologue related to a typical class activity.
- Mediation task. Examinees give information about an activity or event, based on a news item in Catalan or Spanish.
Oral Test Sample
The oral test lasts approximately 30 minutes (15 minutes for preparation and 15 minutes for the test itself).
Scoring
Written test
Two examiners assess the two tasks, following the criteria established for the following categories: overall impression, organisation, coherence and cohesion, and linguistic competence and accuracy.
Criteria for written production
Oral test
Two examiners assess the oral test. One of these uses the analytic criteria established for the following categories: fluency, coherence, cohesion and interaction, linguistic competence and accuracy, and intelligibility. The other applies holistic criteria.
Analytic criteria for oral production
Holistic criteria for oral production
Criteria for obtaining a passing grade
A passing grade is awarded when the examinee obtains a grade of at least 50% in each of the two tests and an overall grade of 55%.
