Analysis of B1 Listening Tasks in UPV CertAcles Certification Exams

[EN] Test tasks development needs to take into consideration not only the process from the point of view of applied linguistics but also the basis principles of language assessment and the framing of such principles within a model of linguistic competence. University-based language centres have made a great contribution to the development of language learning since their emergence and have played a major role in the development and implementation of language policies and language education. The function of language centres can be defined as the need for the development of more reliable systems for the accreditation or certification of language competence which will provide a basis for comparability of levels of assessment at European level. ACLES (The Spanish Association of Higher Education Language Centres) has recently launched a certification, called CertAcles based on a consensus among Spanish universities. The Language Centre (CDL) of the Universidad Politécnica de Valencia (UPV) has been closely involved and actively collaborating in the development of CertAcles certification scheme. In this paper I describe and analyse the different tasks developed for the CertAcles B1 listening paper as I have checked that it is the weakest skill for Spanish students. The results will be used for the design of more specific courses for the preparation of this kind of papers and as feedback for the exam developers