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BILC Secretariat

International seminar on standardizing language training and testing, hosted by BILC, NATO's language coordination bureau. Explore lessons learned, updates on STANAG 6001, policy recommendations, collaborative initiatives, and more.

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BILC Secretariat

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  1. Tbilisi, 2-5 Oct. 2017BILC Professional SeminarPaving the Road to the Standardization of Training and Testing: Lessons LearnedBILC Update BILC Secretariat

  2. Bureau for International Language Co-ordination • Mission: To promote and foster interoperability among NATO and Partner nations by furthering standardization of language training and testing. To support the Alliance's operations through the exchange of knowledge and best practices, IAW established procedures and agreements. • Vision: To achieve levels of excellence where progress made by one is shared by all.

  3. Bureau for International Language Co-ordination NATO’s consultative and advisory body for language training and testing issues • NATO’s consultative and advisory body for language training and testing issues • Community of language teaching/testing professionals from MoDs and defense-sponsored organizations • Purpose: To foster cooperative professional support among BILC member nations and to extend support to NATO within the field of language training and education and language assessment. • Active members from 23 NATO nations and 10+ Partner nations10+ Partner nations

  4. BILC Steering Committee Chair Col. (ret.) Trayko Stoykov GBR (1966-1981) DEU (1982-1996) USA (1997-2008) CAN (2008-2014) USA (2014-2016) BGR (26 May 2016 - … ) Senior Advisor Dr. Ray Clifford Secretary Emilia Nesheva Secretary Col. Petko Petkov Associate Secretaries Jana Vasilj-Begovic Julie Dubeau Keith Wert Peggy Garza

  5. BILC Activities Language proficiency descriptions developed by BILC • BILC is custodian for STANAG 6001 • SLPs in job descriptions, prerequisites for training, Force Goals, Partnership Targets Language Needs Analyses • “ACT is requested to conduct an assessment of the language requirements for collective groups, NATO posts, along with the review of Job Descriptions” SACEUR SAGE 2014 • BILC Team cooperating with NATO ACT/JFT, IMS, ACO/SHAPE reviewed position descriptions against actual critical language skills required.

  6. Two ongoing BILC Working Groups Level 4 Working Group Portability and Recognition of STANAG 6001 certificates - Improving recognition of STANAG 6001 certificates both within the militaries as well as by civilian institutions - Exploring more standardization of STANAG 6001 certificates across nations - Rendering to non-specialists the complexities of comparing the STANAG 6001 criterion referenced tests to other types of language tests - Three BILC policy recommendations on the BILC website - - BILC Policy Recommendation on Acceptance of Commercial STANAG 6001 certificates; - BILC Policy Recommendation on Longevity of STANAG 6001 Language Certificates - BILC Policy Recommendation on STANAG Certificate Information - New: BILC Language Policy Considerations on the Portability of STANAG 6001 Language Certifications • - Paper: “NATO STANAG 6001 Level 4 Language Proficiency – A Conceptual Model and Implications for Testing” (April 2013) • - Article “Defining and Assessing STANAG 6001 Level 4 Language Proficiency” (Chapter 10, Language in Uniform, Cambridge Scholars, 2015) • - Level 4 Reading Test Specifications • - Tutorial (principles of text rating, differences btw Level 3 and Level 4 texts, sample texts, sample test development procedure, etc.) • - Level 4 Test Prototype (Tester and Examinee Booklets for speaking/writing modality; administration and rating procedure) • - Test Familiarization Guide • Feedback Questionnaire • L4 Reading Familiarization Workshop

  7. New Benchmark Advisory Test (BAT) Initiative • Proposed a possible resurrection of the BAT • Evidence for the Validity Roadmap (Brno, Sept 2017) • Discussed by the WG on Portability and Recognition of STANAG 6001 Certificates (Bled, Sept 2017) • Survey of interest by BILC Secretary (fall 2017) • 21 nations responded favorably • History of BAT • Purpose: to provide an external measure against which nations can compare their national STANAG 6001 test results and to standardize testing across the nations • 8 nations collaborated on the BAT development • Contract awarded by NATO for the BAT delivery • 11 NATO nations participated, up to 20 tests each

  8. BILC Cooperative Visits (October 2016- Oct 2017) • Azerbaijan, October 2016 • Georgia, October 2016 • Ukraine, November 2016 • Tunisia, March 2017

  9. Major BILC Events • BILC Annual Conference in May; • BILC STANAG 6001 Testing Workshop in September; • BILC Professional Seminar in October.

  10. Who attends BILC events? • Ministry level policy people • Commandants • School Directors • Directors of Studies • Department Chairs • Testing experts • Curriculum developers • Classroom teachers

  11. 2016 BILC Professional Seminar, Budapest, Hungary, 24-27 October Theme: Authenticity in training and testing: making it real • Sub-topics • Linking training and testing to real-world target language use • Traditional textbooks versus authentic materials • Co-operating/partnering with local universities • Attaining concordance between linguistic objectives and training outcomes • Benefitting from tele-collaboration between training establishments • Using social media in training • Teaching and learning as two sides of the same coin • Language maintenance • Workshops • Designing L2 reading to write tasks for Student Military Staff Officers • Education programmes for Communicatively and Culturally Literate Military Personnel • Using Social Media Effectively for Language Students

  12. 2017 BILC ConferenceVienna, Austria, 14-19 May Theme: Recognizing and Navigating the Specific Dynamics of Military Language Training Sub-topics: - Classroom behavior in the context of military culture - Navigating between mixed cultures in the classroom - Different profiles of language learners and their impact on learning success - Classroom culture - turning over-achievers into role-models - Fostering foreign culture acquisition - Accommodating students with special needs (i.e., learning disabilities, service related injuries, PTSD) - Enhancing student success in mastering higher proficiency levels - Pedagogy employed in building student autonomy - English for Specific Purposes in a military environment Study Groups Topics: - Activities for building cultural mastery blocks - Best practices and challenges in teaching security and military related terminology - Military assistance with the language problems related to the migrant crisis - Best practices in STANAG 6001 testing - Harmonizing the dynamics of military leadership and civilian faculty in language programs

  13. 2017 STANAG 6001 Testing WorkshopSkopje, 5-7 September SETTING THE STAGE FOR TESTER SUCCESS Sub-themes: - Selecting and training new testers - Determining job qualifications for new testers - Norming and re-norming testers to limit “drift” - Integrating new testers into test development teams - Improving testing team dynamics - Designing training for speaking test interviewers and raters - Training proctors and invigilators for standardized test administration - Defining and observing best practices in testing - Improving inter/intra-reliability - Familiarizing teachers and students with the testing policy/directive/test format - Managing stakeholders’ expectations - Developing and documenting professional development plans for testers

  14. BILC’s Professional Development Programme in Partnership Cooperation Menu (PCM. i. e. ACT-sponsoured BILC courses) • Language Testing Seminars: • Language Testing Seminar, ACT.647, 2 weeks; • Advanced Language Testing Seminar, ACT.658, 3 weeks; • Language Standards and Assessment, ACT.648, 2 weeks

  15. IRT Workshop • 11 nations attended • Objectives • Introduction to IRT concepts and the advantages of using Rasch IRT analysis • Using jMetrik for RaschIRT analysis • Interpretation of the data for informed decisions about tests and items • Individualized consultation on national test datasets • Is your nation interested? • ALTS graduate

  16. BILC’s Professional Development Programme in Partnership Cooperation Menu (PCM. i. e. ACT-sponsoured BILC courses)continued • BILC Methodology Workshops - English Teaching Faculty Development Workshops, ACT.659 Teaching Speaking and Writing for Military Purposes, 2 weeks Conducted at 3 PTECs Bulgaria Slovenia PLTCE Facilitators: BILC teaching & testing experts from 24 nations (Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, United Kingdom, USA, etc.).

  17. BILC SharP

  18. Successful work during the seminar!!!!

  19. BILC site • From 20+ year old HTTP to HTTPS • Confidentiality • Integrity • Identity • Google will not index old protocol

  20. BILC site

  21. Questions? BILC site: www.natobilc.org BILC e-mail address: chairman@natobilc.org

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