Traveling to a foreign country is always at the hearts of people especially those seeking greener pastures abroad like in the case of Nigerians, Beninese, Ghanians, among others. It is always like an opportunity to start afresh, live a better life and make a meaning for oneself in a foreign land where there is usually no much limitations in power supply, access to proper education, health benefits, quality standard of living or even job opportunities.
Traveling to a foreign country is always at the hearts of people especially those seeking greener pastures abroad like in the case of Nigerians, Beninese, Ghanians, among others. It is always like an opportunity to start afresh, live a better life and make a meaning for oneself in a foreign land where there is usually no much limitations in power supply, access to proper education, health benefits, quality standard of living or even job opportunities. Countries like Canada, Spain, Italy, Australia, France, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Germany,United states now are the major attractions with Canada topping as pointed out in Top 10 Best Countries To Immigrate To By 2020.
Language Tests for Migration
Many of these destinations accomodate these willing migrants provided that they legally fulfill their set criteria for immigration into their countries among which is the language factor. Unarguably, they set these requirements for relevance and survivability of the intending migrants in their communities. As you can also agree with, when language is a barrier between people, communication is impaired and it becomes rather tough to get by. Thus, in order to verify the linguistic competence of the migrants, they also set thresholds in form of marks, grades and points to attain in a language test. This article will focus on giving introductory explanations of the Top English and French-based Internationally Recognised Tests like IELTS, TOEFL, DELF-DALF, TCF and TEF Canada approved by these countries especially Canada.
IELTS (International English Language Testing System)
The IELTS (fully known as International English Language Testing System) is an international standardised test of English language proficiency for non-native English language speakers including the Anglophones (the English second language learners). It is jointly managed by the British Council, IDP: IELTS Australia and Cambridge Assessment English and was established in 1989. As of 2020, IELTS is one of the major English Language tests in the world, others being the TOEFL, TOEIC, PTE:A, and OPI/OPIc.
IELTS is accepted by most Australian, British, Canadian, Irish and New Zealand academic institutions, by over 9,000 academic institutions in Canada, The United Kingdom, the United States, and by various professional organisations across the world.
IELTS is the only Secure English Language Test approved by UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) for visa customers applying both outside and inside the UK. It also meets requirements for immigration to Australia, where TOEFL and Pearson Test of English Academic are also accepted, and New Zealand. In Canada, IELTS, TEF or CELPIP are accepted by the immigration authority.
IELTS test structure (Modules)There are two modules of the IELTS:
Academic Module and
General Training Module
IELTS Academic and IELTS General Training are designed to cover the full range of ability from non-user to expert user. The Academic version is for test takers who want to study at tertiary level in an English-speaking country or seek professional registration. The General Training version is for test takers who want to work, train, study at a secondary school or migrate to an English-speaking country.
The difference between the Academic and General Training versions is the content, context and purpose of the tasks. In the General training, the 4 modules relates to more of everyday social context, conversations and discussions while the academic training includes more of educational based questions and passages. All other features, such as timing allocation, length of written responses and reporting of scores, are the same.
An IELTS result or Test Report Form is issued to all test takers with a score from “band 1” (“non-user”) to “band 9” (“expert user”) and each institution sets a different threshold. There is also a “band 0” score for those who did not attempt the test. Institutions are advised not to consider a report older than two years to be valid, unless the user proves that they have worked to maintain their level.
The four parts of the IELTS test
Listening: 30 minutes (plus 10 minutes’ transfer time) – This part consists of 4 recordings – 2 set in everyday social context and other two in eductaional scenario, and it features multiple choice questions, matching diagram, labeling,sentence completeion and short answers.
Reading: 60 minutes – This skill tests using 3 passages including 10-15 questions each. The questions asked through the passages to be read are gotten from journals, books, magazines,newspapers – narrative,descriptive and argumentative essays logical talks.
Writing: 60 minutes – This aspect evaluates the student ability to describe visual information in graphs, tables, charts or diagrams for the first part and to give his own viewpoint in an argument or discussion in the second part while paying attention to the vocabulary range, spellings and grammar.
Speaking: 11–14 minutes – here, an examiner conduts an oral interview with the student while recording his responses. He first asks familiar questions relating to work, family, studies and interests of the test taker, after he gives follow up questions and then enters into a two-way discussion with the student.
The test total time is: 2 hours and 45 minutes.
Listening, Reading and Writing are completed in one sitting. The Speaking test may be taken on the same day or up to seven days before or after the other tests.TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language)
TOEFL (fully known as Test of English as a Foreign Language®) is a standardized test to measure the English language ability of non-native speakers as well wishing to enroll in English-speaking universities. The test is accepted by many English-speaking academic and professional institutions. TOEFL is one of the two major English-language tests in the world, the other being the IELTS.
TOEFL is a trademark of the Educational Testing Service (ETS), a private non-profit organization, which designs and administers the tests like GRE, etc. ETS issues official score reports, sent independently to institutions, for two years following the test.
Since its introduction in late 2005, the TOEFL Internet-based Test (iBT) format has progressively replaced the computer-based tests (CBT) and paper-based tests (PBT), although paper-based testing is still used in select areas.
The four-hour test consists of four sections, each measuring one of the basic language skills (while some tasks require integrating multiple skills), and all tasks focus on language used in an academic, higher-education environment. Note-taking is allowed during the TOEFL iBT test. The test cannot be taken more than once every 12 days.
The TOEFL iBT test is scored on a scale of 0 to 120 points.
Each of the four sections (Reading, Listening, Speaking, and Writing) receives a scaled score from 0 to 30. The scaled scores from the four sections are added together to determine the total score.
The reading and listening sections are tested first, followed by a ten-minute break. The speaking and writing sections are then completed following the break. A maximum amount of 250 minutes is allowed to complete the whole exam process.
Each speaking question is initially given a score of 0 to 4, and each writing question is initially given a score of 0 to 5. These scores are converted to scaled scores of 0 to 30.Reading has 36-56 questions range which consists of 3-4 passages from academic (university level) textbooks with multiple questions, chart or summary table, and it lasts for 60-80 minutesListening has 34-51 questions consisting of 4-6 recordings to be listened to from daily academic life, classroomlecture and discussion which takes 60-90 minutes to completeSpeaking has 6 tasks comprising of some tasks where the students brings up ideas while reading, listening and speaking and others allowing him to just listen and speak in a conversation which takes 20 minutesWriting has just 2 tasks of integrated and independent writings with summary and opinion from reading a passage or listening to a short recording and takes 50 minutes.
DELF-DALF (Diplôme d’Evaluation/d’Approfondi de la Langue Française)
DELF (Diplôme d’Etudes en Langue Française) and DALF (Diplôme Approfondi de Langue Française) are official qualifications delivered by the French Ministry of Education to certify competencies of international standard in the French language. They were designed to accompany the teaching and learning of French, by proposing the validation and certification of an internationally recognized level of competence, at the end of training. DELF and DALF are lifetime certificates.
DELF and DALF are composed of 6 levels, each independently recognized as a diploma. Candidates can take the examination of their choice, according to their level. These diplomas are awarded by the French Ministry of Education in 154 countries. For adults, professionals, teenagers and kids!
At each level, 4 skills are evaluated: listening, speaking, reading and writing. Each part is on 25 points (the total mark is on 100 points). A mark of at least 50/100 is required in order to be awarded the certificate.
People who have passed the DELF B2 are exempt from taking language tests for entrance into French universities. The diploma can help them find a job around the world and let them enrol in French universities (B2, C1 diplomas) and prestigious universities (engineering, business, political science). They are often required for enrolment in other Francophone universities (Switzerland, Belgium, Canada).On a time range basis, the skills tested on all the levels have the following timings;Listening takes 20-30 minutesReading takes 30-60 minutesWriting takes 30-60 minutesSpeaking takes 5-20 minutes with 10-15 minutes prep.TCF (Teste de Connaissance du Français
The TCF (fully known as Test de connaissance du français) is a language placement test for non-native speakers of French. It is administered by the Centre international d’études pédagogiques (CIEP) for the French Ministry of Education. It fulfils French language entry requirements, can be used to demonstrate language ability for job applications or for personal use, and is used by Québec for immigration procedures.
The TCF follows the European standards for language tests as set forward in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages and is equal to DALF, also offered by the CIEP.
Lowest level is A1 indicating beginner, top fluency levels are C1 and C2.
Level C1 and C2 indicate advanced mastery of French. French university Sciences-Po uses TCF level C1 as the primary language prerequisite for evaluating the abilities of non-native speakers to follow academic discussions and carry out academic research in the French language.
The test is made up of compulsory and optional sections. The reading, listening and language structures sections are mandatory while the writing and speaking sections are optional.
TEF (Teste d’Evaluation de Français)
The TEF Canada (fully known as Test d’Évaluation de Français pour le Canada is a test of general French which assesses the level of proficiency in French of francophones and non-francophones alike.
The TEF Canada is recognised as official proof of language proficiency by Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) as well as the Ministère de l’Immigration et des Communautés Culturelles du Québec (MICC) for permanent residency applications, certificat de sélection du Québec applications and Canadian citizenship applications. TEF is used to gain admittance to French Universities or for Canadian Immigration, or for work. TCF is administered by the CCIP (Paris Chamber of Commerce and Industry).
Level of proficiency
The TEF Canada assesses the candidate’s proficiency in French using a 7 level scale based on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFRL) and the Canadian Language Benchmarks (CLB).
The TEF Canada consists of 4 modules: listening, speaking, reading and/or writing.
Compréhension écrite (reading): 60 minutes – 50 questions – 300 points
Compréhension orale (listening): 40 minutes – 60 questions – 360 points
Expression écrite (writing): 60 minutes – 2 topics – 450 points
Expression orale (speaking): 15 minutes – 2 topics – 450 points
Results
An official certificate of results will be delivered to each candidate. Each certificate is detailed and personalised. For each module, the certificate will show the score obtained, the level of proficiency reached as well as a commentary of the skills in general French.
The results will be sent 6 to 8 weeks after the exam date. Academic degrees are not required to take the TEF Canada. Candidates may take the test several times, allowing a minimum of 60 days between two exam sessions.Introductory FTC Online Course
Now that you know the 5 best language tests you should consider taking for migration, study, living, and even working abroad, I want to inform you that A.O.S Academy runs various preparatory classes for those who want to take any of these exams. We have certified language coaches who have also taken and excelled in these exams with exceptional band scores. They are willing to coach you to also pass the test with resounding success provided you also work alongside with them. Our exam preparation classes are run both offline at our institute and Online via our website: aosacademy.com and our French online school @ frenchTEFcanada.com. For those of you who are interested in learning French fast for preparation of language tests like TEF Canada, TCF Canada and DELF-DALF, you can enrol to our free upcoming introductory French for TEF Canada online course. It will start from the very beginning taking you through the rudiments of learning French, I’m hat you need to know to pass the test, the reasons why you need to take the test, the benefits of the test, common errors to watch out for when learning French fast and even taking the test. Subscribe now below this blog by putting your name and email address in the STAY UPDATED footer section of the website.And please don’t forget to rate, comment on and share this video to your colleagues and followers on social media platforms via their respective icons below. Remember, sharing is caring. I hope to talk to you soon.