Certificat de nivell intermedi de català
The purpose of the test is to evaluate candidates' ability to deal with a wide range of communicative situations with a certain degree of linguistic independence —need not rely on fixed structures and formulas and limit to brief intervention shifts. They should demonstrate a sufficient level of linguistic resources allowing themselves to express with adequate fluency, correctness and accurateness.
It corresponds to level B2 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) of the Council of Europe.
There are five components:
Reading
Candidates must be able to understand a wide range of non-specialised informative o argumentative texts, on current or personal topics. Can understand the information content and structure, distinguishing the main ideas of the secondary, locating the information needed to perform a task and identify the intention and attitude of the implied author, using different reading strategies according to the target.
There are three tasks with a total of 21 items of following types: matching, multiple choice and true/false.
Writing
Candidates are expected to be able to write texts of a descriptive, narrative, discursive or argumentative nature on current or personal topics. They can give or ask for information, describe subjectively, narrate, argue their opinions, comment on others’ opinions and express varying degrees of emotion. They are expected to produce written texts with a reasonable organisation and cohesion of ideas, an appropriate register and satisfactory language accuracy. Candidates show a reasonable range of structures and vocabulary allowing them to express fluently and with an acceptable orthographic correctness.
Candidates must complete two tasks: a compulsory one, in an informal register, and one from a choice of three, in a semi-formal register. The texts to produce may be a letter, a composition, a simple report…, and must be addressed to a specific audience and with a clear purpose.
Listening
Candidates are expected to be able to understand texts of varying length, in an informal o semi-formal register, such as dialogues, news commentaries, talks on a controversial issue, conferences… Candidates are expected to show understanding of gist, main points and specific information and to deduce meaning (attitudes, feelings, roles of speakers…).
There are three sections with a total of fifteen items. The first section consists on five short texts, with one multiple-choice item for each of them. The second is an informal conversation between two or three speakers with four multiple-choice items. The third consists on short written answers.
Speaking
The standard test format is two candidates and two examiners (speaker and consultant). Prompt materials are used to stimulate and guide the interaction (photographs, texts, drawings…).
Candidates are expected to show evidence of an ability to organise their speech with coherence, to interact to fulfil the task requirements and talk on a topic of general interest. Should present their views and argue them clearly with examples and relevant details, make suggestions, express opinions contrary to the speaker and try to convince him with sufficient fluency and acceptable correction.
The paper is divided into three sections, each one focuses on a different purpose: First candidates must talk on their own on a topic for about one minute; Second candidates are asked to agree on a decision or conclusion about a question. Finally the examiner directs the conversation by encouraging the candidates to broaden and discuss further topics.
Vocabulary and Structural Competence
Candidates are expected to demonstrate their knowledge and control of the language system by completing a number of tasks, most of which are based on authentic or on specially written texts.
There are six tasks which require the candidates to demonstrate their ability to perform the following requirements: apply the general spelling conventions, generating structures in Catalan (indirect discourse, verbal correlations, periphrasis, impersonal sentences…); word selection according to semantic or grammatical context; word formation applying the main mechanisms of derivation and word meaning selection.
The items consist on the following task types: gap filling (spelling), multiple-choice cloze, sentence transformation and word formation.
Weighting of Components
Each component is equally weighted at 20% of the total marks.
Results
There are four pass grades: excel·lent (very good), notable (good), bé (satisfactory), suficient (pass).
Candidates are considered to have passed if they obtain at least 60% in the speaking component and 60% in the rest of the examination.
Certificates are awarded to all successful candidates.