Calibrating tests to the CEFR

The European Association for Quality Language Servicesdemonstrated above. And the extent to which two different measures correlate will always belimited. Correlations of 0.7-0.8 between two good, validated tests or examinations are normal.The equivalences published by Educational Testing Services on the equivalent scores for TOEFLand TOEIC were long based on a study showing a correlation of only 0.75 between the twotests. TOEFL and TOEIC have different styles and test language in different domains. Otherpairs of tests will use different item types. Performance tests (teacher rating of a sample)assess something different to knowledge tests (teacher marking of language items). Teachers –over a period of time – will see things that tests – taken one morning - do not.Apart from such “legitimate” reasons why results from different tests will only relate in a limitedfashion, there are all sorts of other reasons. Testing is an imperfect science. Learners are notinvariable objects: atmosphere, emotional mood, amount of sleep, digestion – all contextualfactors affect assessment results.Therefore, if one can achieve a modest success in independently proving a statisticalrelationship between an assessment and the CEFR levels by following logical steps in aprincipled manner as suggested, then one should be more than satisfied.© EAQUALS: The European Association for Quality Language Services:EAQUALS SECRETARIAT: P.O. Box 95, Budapest, H-1301 HungaryEmail: info@eaquals.org Internet: www.eaquals.orgRegistered Office: Via Torrebianca 18 34132 Trieste, Italy12