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Level 1, 185 Faraday Street, Carlton, Victoria 3053, Australia

Australian Language Certificates (ALC)

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Australian Language Certificates (ALC)

Introduction

The Australian Language Certificates (ALC) program offers students national recognition for levels of achievement in their studies of Languages Other Than English (LOTE). The program was an initiative of the Australian Multicultural Foundation, in collaboration with the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER). It is supported by national and international organisations.

The ALC has been offered to students in a range of languages at a range of levels since 1990.   In 2004, there were over 44,000 registrations.  In 2005, we expanded the program to include Chinese Beginners’ Listening.  We also offered the program further afield in the South Pacific.

The ALC is a language skills testing program in which students respond to realistic texts and situations, with questions in a multiple-choice format. The materials are designed to be both challenging and to enable all students to experience success.

What is available for students?

LanguageReadingListeningYear levels /
hours of learning
First Certificate JapaneseN/A20-25 minutesUpper Primary,
Lower Secondary
80-100 hours
Beginners’Chinese
French, German, Italian, Indonesian, Japanese
 N/A
30 minutes
 25-30 minutes
25-30 minutes
 Secondary
100-200 hoursSecondary
100-200 hours
Intermediate
French, Japanese
30 minutes25-30 minutesSecondary
200-300 hours

Benefits

The ALC offers a full testing service comprising

  • Tests in five languages for students ranging from upper primary to late secondary
  • A choice of tests in Listening and Reading in three levels of language learning experiences
  • Carefully designed and pre-trialled materials developed by experienced language teachers
  • Scoring and analysis of all tests at ACER
  • Certificates of students achievement that describes the skills demonstrated, endorsed by national and international organisations
  • Detailed school reports that enable teachers to identify strengths and weaknesses, and to compare the achievement levels of their students with all participating students in the given language.

For further information please contact:

Dr Anna Filipi
Project Director ALC
Australian Council for Educational Research
Tel: (03) 9277 5596
Fax: (03) 9277 5500
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.acer.edu.auAustralian Language Certificates (ALC)