Certificato di Conoscenza della Lingua Italiana, Livello 3 (CELI 3)

This is an examination at an intermediate level, which tests the language skills necessary to deal with simple tasks and social situations in everyday life.

There are five components:

Reading

Candidates must be able to understand authentic written texts, showing comprehension of the gist as well as specific details. Texts are taken from the press and from books on topics of contemporary interest.

There are three texts with twenty-three items of the following task types: four-option multiple-choice, open-ended questions, matching.

Writing

Candidates have to write a short composition on one of a variety of topics of general interest. They must also be able to write descriptions of their personal experiences, situations, people and aspects of modern society. Candidates are also expected to respond appropriately to some communicative tasks related to everyday life.

There is a choice of five writing tasks from which the candidate must choose two. Two of these are short compositions requiring responses of between 120 and 180 words in length. The other three are communicative tasks requiring responses of between 80 and 100 words in length.

Listening

Texts are spoken by one or two native speakers and are often taken from broadcasts, news items, interviews, documentaries, etc. Candidates must be able to understand the text as a whole, as well as distinguishing specific details, identifying true and false information and interpreting the attitude of the speakers.

There are two texts lasting about twenty-five minutes with twenty items. The items are of the following task types: four-option multiple-choice, gap-filling.

Speaking

Candidates are tested individually, and are expected to be able to tell a story, relate facts and describe a situation or person. They must be able to do this in some detail and in a logical and structured way.

The first task involves describing and commenting on a picture or some other visual prompt. This is followed by summarising and discussion of a text. Finally, candidates complete a communicative task which may involve problem-solving, making a proposal, expressing a point of view, etc.

Structural Competence

Candidates must be able to apply their knowledge and control of the language system. They are expected to do this by completing a number of tasks based on authentic texts.

There are three tasks. The first is a gap-filling task with twenty-three items. The second is a task which involves constructing seven short texts from given sentences. The third is a gap-filling task with five items aimed to test the lexical competence of the candidate.

Weighting of components

The Speaking component carries 30% of the total marks, Writing 20%, Listening and Reading 20% each and Structural Competence 10%.

Results

There are three Pass grades (A, B and C), and all successful candidates are awarded certificates.