Test of Business Bulgarian

The Department of Language Learning at Sofia University "St Kliment Ohridski" was voted an ALTE Associate member at the end of 2003 following a presentation on the Threshold tests and Tests of Bulgarian as a Foreign Language (TBFL).

The set of examinations has been expanded to include another exam, namely the Test of Business Bulgarian (TBB).

Target group:

The exam level in question is intended for adult foreign learners, who have completed the course book Bulgarian for Business Partners at the Department, or done language courses at some other institutions.

Description of the course book:

As the title of the course book suggests, an integral part of the profile of the intended learner is business. Hence the syllabus has been specifically designed to suit the needs of the business environment.

The textbook comprises 15 units. The nature of the business discourse has made it necessary to include an introductory section handling a number of topics, each of which is thought to be a warmer to the separate lesson.

Each unit consists of two parts. The first part focuses on a text whose topic is related to aspects of the business relations. Its aim is to supply the survival business vocabulary. The second part focuses on a set of dialogues that are supposed to encourage business communication. Provided that the topic requires it, social expressions are introduced to make the learner aware of the conventions of the social etiquette.

The grammatical syllabus is basically the same as that of the Threshold and TBFL Tests because the requirements of lower level learners are more predictable than at later levels. The key point is to reinforce the grammatical categories, their structure and use by means of charts, tables and a variety of practice activities.

The team who designed the course book:

Prof. Dr Stefka Petrova
Assoc. Prof. Valentina Venkova PhD
Assoc. Prof. Maria Grigorova PhD
Ass. Prof. Pravda Tsankova

The team who designed the Business Bulgarian Test

Ass. Prof. Aspazia Borisova
Assoc. Prof. Maria Grigorova PhD
Ass. Prof. Savina Savova-Vacheva PhD

A2 Level of the Business Bulgarian Test

	A1	A2	B1	B2	C1	C2
Listening	Entry	Exit
Reading	Entry	Exit
Spoken interaction	Entry	Exit
Spoken production	Entry	Exit
Writing	Entry	Exit

A1 Entry-level language skills of the target group:

Listening:

The candidate can understand simple phrases and sentences as well as conversations related to their everyday and professional life.

Reading :

The candidate can understand simple public notices, personal identification forms and short simple notes and memos.

Speaking:

The candidate can communicate on familiar topics drawing on a set of general social expressions and is aware of the conventions of the established social etiquette. The candidate can use survival words, expressions and simple sentences to communicate basic information related to everyday life. Cohesion constitutes a major problem at this level. Hence, misunderstanding in dialogues is a common occurrence.

Writing:

The candidate can fill in forms of personal relevance and write short texts such as personal letters and postcards, as well as copy general instructions, e.g. addresses, times and dates.

General description of the A2 TBB Basic Level:

The candidate's linguistic competence at this level broadly corresponds to level A2 of the CEF table.

Listening

The candidate should be able to understand phrases, questions, short dialogues and commands in a familiar professional context. They should be able to match information with its graphic representation and extract specific information while listening to larger texts on business topics.

Reading

The candidate should be able to identify and understand simple texts related to their professional domain. They can extract the necessary information from short reports, proposals, advertisements, forms and business correspondence.

Writing

The candidate should be able to write short messages and notes and fill in standard forms such as job applications. They should be able to describe people, places, events and objects within their professional environment.

Speaking

The candidate should be able to take part in conversations on familiar business topics. They should be able to state details about their professional life, for example an outline of their job responsibilities or routine activities. They may need some assistance to ensure effective communication.

Exam Section	Text/Task type	Time for Execution	Assessment (points)	Minimum (points)
Listening	5 tasks to listen to : sentences and a short dialogue and to choose and mark the correct answers; to take notes Text types Sentences with cardinal numbers; sentences which require spontaneous response on the part of the candidate; sentences which have to be paraphrased; short story containing facts about several people; situational dialogue.	40 min	55	28
Reading	3 tasks to read : texts and to choose and mark the correct answers. Text types short informal texts; short story; authentic advertisements and notices.	20 min	35	18
Writing	7 tasks gap-filling tasks; filling in forms, requests, offers, comparison, orders; story-writing; descriptive text; situational dialogue; essay.	100 min	135	68
Speaking	Tasks general interview : warm-up questions, personal identification questions, 1 or 2 situational dialogues on business topics, a monologue in which candidates describe in simple terms their professional background (responsibilities, services and products, marketing and advertising etc.) in the course of the interview the candidates can swap roles and become interviewers themselves.	20 min	60	30
Total		180 min	285	144