Un sujet CLES conçu pour le niveau B2 peut-il permettre de valider un niveau B1 ?

Claire Tardieu, Université Sorbonne Nouvelle

Abstract: This article concerns the language competence certificate ​​for higher Education (CLES) which is part of the action-oriented approach and is designed in the holistic form of a scenario. CLES B2 corresponds to level B2 of the CEFR, the minimum level normally required in France at the end of the Licence (3-year undergraduate degree). However, it turns out that the CLES B2 which assesses oral comprehension, written comprehension, written expression and oral interaction has the particularity of not allowing the compensation between the skills, thus creating an additional difficulty in the attractiveness of the certificate compared to others which assess a smaller number of skills or offer a final score. One of the solutions would be to issue a B1 or B1 + level to candidates who have failed at B2 level. Thus, our research aims to find out whether it is possible to produce a B1 or B1+ certificate from CLES tests that have been created for B2 level only.

After providing a brief overview of the contemporary challenges of language testing, we will present the methodology applied to our study which uses the CEF-ESTIM grid (Tardieu, Hilden, Reichert, Lehmann 2009) to determine what falls under B1 or B2 in a test at B2. Finally, some recommendations will be made for future uses.