About us


About us ...
ECL, a long story
The test from the European Consortium for the Certificate of Knowledge of Modern Languages (ECL) is a gateway to a world of opportunities for language learners. Designed to assess proficiency in various European languages, the ECL test serves as a benchmark for individuals seeking to demonstrate their language skills for academic, professional, or personal purposes. Passing the ECL test can open doors to higher education, enhance career prospects, and facilitate international mobility. It is a recognized certification that signifies language proficiency and cultural awareness, making it an invaluable asset in today’s globalized world.
The Creation of ECL Exam
After many years of professional preparatory work, the member states of the European Union created a consortium in 1992, with its center located in London. With the assistance of the ERASMUS and later LINGUA programs, their task was to develop a standardised language test across the languages of the EU member states. In line with the EU’s unification policy, the member states forming the consortium aimed to ensure equivalence and recognition of certificates in each language without requiring national validation (nostrification).
This initiative aimed to establish a common framework for assessing language proficiency across Europe, facilitating mobility and promoting linguistic diversity


Skills & languages
The professional responsibility for the ECL language tests is assumed by a prestigious university from the country of origin for each language. This university designs the tests and evaluates the answer sheets. Based on uniform criteria established during the initial standardisation phase, ECL exams can be taken in English, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Polish, Romanian, Bulgarian, Serbian, Slovak, Russian, Spanish, Croatian, Czech, and Hebrew
Test specifications
The content and overall validity of the tests have been established following extensive specialist research and pilot testing on specific target groups. ECL exams test the oral and written ability to use the language in everyday situations on practical, professional and personal subjects of varying degrees of complexity.


Comparability
Comparability is an important feature of ECL tests. To ensure comparability, examinations, examination materials and certificates are constructed on the basis of uniform principles. According to these uniform principles, the assessment parameters and criteria as well as the types of tasks are the same in each language.
Reliability
Each specialist member of the consortium is responsible for developing and marking the tests in their own language. To ensure maximum reliability of the ECL tests, all items are pre-tested, test constructors and markers are trained before each session and a double marking system is used. A committee of specialists in each of the languages examined checks the standards of question wording, marking and scoring to ensure equivalence between pass levels in the different languages.
