BULATS

1
BULATS

• An Introduction

Kuzmina Tatiana - CenterCom
2
Points to consider

• What is BULATS?
• Key features of BULATS?
• BULATS is a multilingual test
• Why use BULATS?
• Range of BULATS
• Users of BULATS
• Agents
• What level is BULATS?
• Who is BULATS suitable for?
• Format
• BULATS - Web site

3
What is BULATS?

• BULATS stands for the Business Language Testing
  Service.
• Designed to help companies find out the level of
  language skills among
• their staff,
• trainees or
• job applicants.
• Assesses language skills which are needed for the
  workplace and for students and employees on
  language courses
• Helps professional/business courses where foreign
  language ability is an important element of the
  course.

4
Key features of BULATS?

• Flexibility in its delivery
• Tests available on demand
• Tests suit clients needs
• Tests can be administered on site
• Fast turn-around of results
• Range of 4 Tests on offer administered
  independently or in combination

5
BULATS is a multilingual test

• Offers parallel tests in English, French,
  German and Spanish.
• Tests of English are produced by the University
  of Cambridge ESOL Examinations
• French - by the Alliance Françoise,
• German by the Goethe-Institute
• Spanish by the Universidad de Salamanca.
• The service is co-ordinated by Cambridge
  ESOL, which has been producing language
  examinations since 1913 and delivers over a
  million assessments a year in 130 countries.

6
Why use BULATS?

• Evaluating the language skills of staff within a
  company
• A company decides it wants a complete language
  profile of its staff. BULATS can be used to test
  some or all employees. The service can also be
  used at regular intervals to monitor the
  company's language profile.

7
Why use BULATS?

• Evaluating the language skills of job applicants
• A company is recruiting staff to work in its
  international sales department. BULATS provides a
  simple way of testing prospective employees and
  providing the company with an up-to-date and
  accurate assessment of language ability.

8
Why use BULATS?

• Placing learners on suitable courses for language
  training
• A business college provides language training
  courses for its students and needs to place them
  in courses at the right level. BULATS can be used
  to place the students on suitable courses.

9
Why use BULATS?

• Screening learners who are unsuitable for the
  training courses provided
• A company wants to concentrate its language
  training on employees who are already close to
  the level of language required. BULATS can
  provide a test to screen off unsuitable
  candidates and so help make best use of resources
  available.

10
Why use BULATS?

• Evaluating language training given
• The training division of a company needs to
  assess the quality of language training being
  provided by an external training organisation.
  BULATS can be used to test people at the
  beginning and end of the course to monitor
  progress.

11
The range of BULATS

• BULATS provides a range of tests to meet
  different needs
• The Computer Test - a fast, accurate test of
  listening, reading and language knowledge
  (Grammar Vocabulary) length depends on the
  ability of the candidate
• The Standard Test - a paper-based alternative to
  the computer test (110 min)
• The Speaking Test - face-to-face evaluation of
  speaking skills (12 min)
• The Writing Test- thorough evaluation of writing
  skills in a business context (45 min)

12
The range of BULATS

• All 4 tests
• Computer Test
• Standard Test
• Speaking Test
• Writing Test
• can be used independently or in various
  combinations. This principle of flexibility
  allows BULATS to customize the service for
  different situations.

13
Users of BULATS

• TestimonialsBULATS is used by a wide range of
  companies and organisations in different sectors.
  These companies include well known international
  companies as well as small and medium sized
  businesses.
• AirbusEmirates GroupHitachiItalia
  LavoroUNDPWipro

14
Airbus adopts a new testing service

• European aviation giant Airbus has introduced a
  computer-based language testing BULATS It is to
  be introduced at Airbus' sites in France,
  Germany, Spain and the UK and will help to assess
  the effectiveness of its training programmes as
  well as testing the language skills of employees
  and job applicants.
• BULATS provides a rapid, accurate assessment of
  language skills in English, French, German and
  Spanish and is linked to the five-level scale for
  language assessment established by the Council of
  Europe.
• It involves a computer-based test, backed up by
  optional tests of writing and speaking skills in
  a business context. It is provided by four
  members of the ALTE - the University of Cambridge
  Local Examinations Syndicate, Alliance Française,
  Goethe-Institut and Universidad de Salamanca It
  is already in use by businesses and training
  organizations in Europe, the Far East and Latin
  America.

15
Agents

• BULATS is administered
• through a network of authorised BULATS
  agents. Agents are approved to sell the full
  range of BULATS tests to customers.
• Agents have information about BULATS including
  prices and availability of tests. Agents can also
  offer a demonstration of the computer test.
• CenterCom has become an Agent since 08.2006

16
What level is BULATS?

• BULATS assesses candidates across the whole
  spectrum of levels
• The majority of tasks are at intermediate and
  upper intermediate level
• Candidates at elementary and lower-intermediate
  levels will find parts of the test difficult

17
What level is BULATS?
ALTE Levels (CEF) Levels BULATS scores Level ESOL at these levels
Level 5 Level 4 Level 3 Level 2 Level 1 Level 0 C2 C1 B2 B1 A2 A1 90100 7589 6074 4059 2039 019 Up Advanced Advanced Upper Interm Intermediate Elementary Beginner CPE CAE,BEC H FCE,BEC V PET,BEC P KET
18
What level is BULATS?
BULATSscores Cambridge ESOL exams IELTS level TOEFL Computer
90-100 CPE 7.5
  7.0 250
75-89 CAE 6.5 232
  6.0 213
60-74 FCE 5.5 196
  5.0 173
40-59 PET 4
20-39 KET 3
19
Who is BULATS suitable for?

• The test is carefully designed to be suitable for
  a wide range of people at work technicians,
  secretaries or managers, in banking, in education
  or in manufacturing, in administration, research
  or marketing.
• BULATS does not require any previous business
  experience, and so it is also suitable for
  students
• who may need to use the foreign language in the
  future.

20
What is in the Computer Test?

• There are eight types of questions and they
  assess
• listening,
• reading and language knowledge (grammar/vocabulary
  ) skills.

21
Listening Tasks

• Listen and Select
• Candidates listen to a short recording and
  answer a short multiple choice question.
• Listen and Select (Graphic)
• The choice is between three pictures or
  images.
• Extended Listening
• Candidates listen to a longer recording and
  answer a series of multiple choice questions
  based on it.
• The questions are presented in the same order
  as the information in the text.
• You can hear the listening recordings twice.

22
Reading and Language Knowledge Tasks

• Read and Select
• Candidates are presented with a notice,
  diagram, label, memo or letter containing a short
  text.They choose a phrase that most closely
  matches the meaning of the text.
• Extended Reading
• Candidates read a longer text and answer a
  series of multiple choice questions based on
  it.The questions are presented in the same order
  as the information in the text.
• Multiple Choice gap-fill
• Candidates choose the best word or phrase to
  fill gaps in a text. Four choices for each gap.
• Open gap-fill
• Candidates complete blanks in a text by
  typing in the missing word.
• Gapped sentences
• Candidates complete gaps in a sentence by
  choosing the correct word or phrase. There are
  four choices for each gap.

23
Standard Test Format
Skill Pt Type of task
Listening 1 Understanding short conversations or monologues 10
Listening 2 Taking down phone messages, orders, notes, etc. 12
Listening 3 Listening for gist identifying topic, context or function. Short monologues / dialogues. 10
Listening 4 Listening to extended speech for detail and inference. Monologue / dialogue. 18
24
Standard Test Format
Skill Pt Type of task
Reading and Language Knowledge 1 Understanding notices, messages, timetables, adverts, leaflets, graphs, etc 7
Reading and Language Knowledge 2 Grammar and Vocabulary. Gapped sentences with multiple choice task. 6
Reading and Language Knowledge 3 Long text. Newspaper or magazine articles, adverts, leaflets, etc. 6
Reading and Language Knowledge 4 Grammar. Medium length text open cloze 5
25
Standard Test Format
Skill Pt Type of task
Reading and Language Knowledge 5 Reading for specific information. Four short texts with matching tasks. 7
Reading and Language Knowledge 6 Grammar and Vocabulary. Medium length text with multiple choice cloze. 5
Reading and Language Knowledge 7 Grammar. Medium length text open cloze. 5
Reading and Language Knowledge 8 Grammar and Vocabulary. Gapped sentences with multiple choice task. 6
26
Standard Test Format
Skill Pt Type of task
Reading and Language Knowledge 9 Reading for gist and specific information. Long text. Newspaper or magazine article, report, etc. 7
Reading and Language Knowledge 10 Medium length text, error correction task. 6
Reading and Language Knowledge
Reading and Language Knowledge
27
Web site

• http//www.bulats.org/