Austrian University ELTT

The Austrian University ELTT Group is a working group consisting of applied linguists and university language teaching staff of the Universities of Graz, Klagenfurt, Salzburg and Vienna.

We have set ourselves the task of professionalising assessment practices for high-stakes examinations in Austrian university English language programmes. Thus, our focus is primarily on the certification of language proficiency in the four skills of Reading, Listening, Writing and Speaking at the end of the B.A. programmes. However, since our work is guided by the conviction that assessment and teaching are mutually dependent, we have a strong interest in the impact of assessment practices on teaching and learning in university language programmes.

As a result of our work we have established an analytic rating scale for Writing as well as a set of benchmarked performances, all of which are available on this website. This material should be useful for teaching staff and students in university English language programmes alike. It can be used as the basis for regional rater training but also as points of reference for students wishing to become familiar with expected levels of performance at the end of their university English language studies.

Our work in the areas of Speaking, Listening and Reading is also informed by PhD research carried out by members of our group at the Universities of Klagenfurt and Vienna.