OVERVIEW

This is not a course, but a B2 level test, which must be taken after attending at least 3 years of laboratory. It is worth 2 credits.

AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

The 'Prova di Idoneità' assesses the skills acquired by the students in English language: recognition and use of lexico-grammatical forms and oral and written text comprehension.

PREREQUISITES

Attendance of lab 3 must have been approved for the students to be admitted to the test.

TEACHING METHODS

The teaching relative to the 'Prova di Idoneità' takes place in the English language laboratories 1-2-3-4-5 (v.)

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

The test is made up of several different parts: 

1. A reading-comprehension with multiple choice questions

2. Two Use-of-English multiple-choice and/ or gap-filling excercises, testing the student's lexico-grammatical skills 

3. A writing excercise, which requires the student to produce a brief written text (letter, essay...)

4. Two multiple-choice and/ or gap-filling listening comprehensions

5. A speaking test including conversation on personal and current topics, picture description, role-play

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

see laboratories

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

Exam Board

NICOLE BOSISIO (President)

ELIZABETH HELEN COTTON

LESSONS

Class schedule

ENGLISH LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY TEST

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

As stated abouve, the exam is made up of a written test (in 4 parts), of a listening test with written answers and of an oral test. Successful candidates are not assigned numerical marks, but a simple pass.

ASSESSMENT METHODS

The different tests are aimed at assessing both oral and written, both receptive (comprehension, analysis, elaboration, conceptualization) and productive (text construction and organization, appropriacy, cohesion, fluency) skills. By means especially (but not only) of the Use of English exercises, the students' lexical and grammatical skills are also assessed, which are transversal to and integrated in the 4 skills of reading, writing, listening and speaking.

In particular, the examination is articulated into:

1. A structured written test including: a. detailed reading of one or more passages, with multiple choice questions or sentence insertion; b. filling in two exercises of different types (cloze test, sentence transformation, word transformation), testing accuracy and appropriacy of use. 
2. A semi-structured written test, in which the students have to produce a shot text (a letter, e-mail, essay or article) on a specific topic, carefully following the instructions given.
3. Two structured listening comprehensions of different types (multiple choice, gap-filling, matching), where detailed understanding of the texts is required.
4. A semi-structured oral test, in which the students must show grammatical accuracy, fluency and lexical skills in a variety of situations. The first two questions pertain to the personal sphere, moving from the here and now to more complex conceptual and grammatical constructions. The third question deals with current events or topics of general interest (e.g. education, pollution, the latest news). The candidates must then describe a complex picture with great lexical accuracy, while the final part is a role-play involving 2 or 3 candidates and testing their interpersonal and communicative use of the language. 

Exam schedule

FURTHER INFORMATION

The English language 'Prova di Idoneità' (B2) can be taken from the end of the third year, i.e. after having attended - and obtained approval of - laboratory 3.

The students who do not pass the test can try it again, but only twice in year 3 (June and September), 3 times in year 4 (once per session) and 6 times in year 5 (twice per session), provided they are not consecutive.

An internationally acknowledged B2 level certificate obtained outside the department can substitute for the Prova only if it was obtained in the last 2 years.