EALTA is a professional association for language testers in Europe. EALTA’s interests are independent of those of any other organization.

Mission StatementThe purpose of EALTA is to promote the understanding of theoretical principles of language testing and assessment, and the improvement and sharing of testing and assessment practices throughout Europe.

EALTA was set up (2004) with financial support from the European Community. It obtained Participatory Status with the Council of Europe in 2008.

The EALTA Constitution stipulates that ”EALTA is an international, non-political and independent association of professionals which aims to cover and represent the interests of those who work in language testing and assessment or associated areas of language education and applied linguistics in Europe”.

• The Governing Body of the Association is a General Meeting of Members in good standing.• There is an Annual General Meeting once every Association year.

Administration

The Executive of the Association is an Executive Committee normally consisting of: • a President (elected for one term of 3 years)• a Secretary • a Treasurer • the Chair of the Membership Committee, and • one or more Conference Representatives• possibility of supplementary members for specific tasks

Membership categories (+ membership statistics, end of 2009)

•Individual Membership (free): 963/ 41 countries (increase of c. 20% in 2009)

•Associate Membership (free; intended for Non- Europeans): 108, 29 countries, 5 continents

• Institutional Membership (Fee: 150€ per annum): 55

• Expert Membership (fee: 30€ per annum): 15

• SIGS: 7

Past and Present officials

• First President: Neus Figueras, Spain• Current President: Sauli Takala, Finland• First Secretary/Treasurer: Jayanti Banerjee, UK•Second (Current) Secretary (+Treasurer): Gudrun Erickson, Sweden• First (Current) Treasurer: Nigel Downey, Greece• First Chair of the Membership Committee: Sauli Takala, Finland• Second Chair of the Membership Committee: Felianka Kaftandjieva, Bulgaria• Current/Temporary Chair of the Membership Committee : Sauli Takala, Finland

Annual Conferences:1)Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, 14-16.5. 2004: ”Relating Examinations to CEFR”2)Voss, Norway, 2-5. 6. 2005: ” Professionalism in Language Assessment”3)Krakow, Poland, 19-21.5.2006: ”Bridging the Gap between Theory and Practice”4)Sitges, Barcelona, Spain, 15-17.6.2006: ”Good Practice in Language Testing and Assessment: Challenges and Praxis”5)Athens, Greece, 9-11.5.2008: ”Assessment Literacy in Europe and Beyond: Realities and Prospects”6)Turku, Finland, 5-7.6.2009: ”Synergies and Tensions in Language Testing and Assessment”7)The Hague (The Netherlands), May 28-30. 2009 ”Collaboration in language testing and assessment”

Workshops and Colloquia:1)Voss, Norway, 2005: 1) Language Portfolio, 2) Classical test theory2) Krakow, Poland, 2006: 1) Designing and reporting research, 2) Assessing Speaking at B 1 level : Training interlocutors and assessors 3)Sitges, Barcelona, Spain, 2007: 1) Standard Setting, 2) Assessing Writing at B 1 level: Training raters 4)Athens, Greece, 2008: 1) Classroom assessment, 2) Research Colloquium on relating exams to CEFR5)Turku, Finland, 2009: ) Qualitative methods of assessment, 2) Introduction to IRT6)The Hague, The Netherlands, 2010:1) Assessing listening, 2) Classical test theory

Resources and Tools:

Check under EALTA Archives and Resources for several valuable and unique souces for developing assessment literacy, eg.

• Guidelines for Good Practice – adopted in 2006 (currently in 35 languages)/Archives

• All conference presentations /Resources

• Several Reports of the ENLTA network.which explored the need for and possible forms of enhanced co-operationj in llanguage testing and assessment in Europe/Resources

• Publication of a Research Colloquium on relating examinations to CEFR/Resource arranged jointly by EALTA and the Council of Europe/Resources (see next slide)

• Bibliograhies /Resources

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