RLC Level Guide
The definition of language proficiency is a notoriously subjective area, further complicated when different systems and terminology are used: one person’s ‘elementary’ may be another’s ‘intermediate’.Â
At RLC we divide our groups into seven levels from ‘beginner’ to ‘advanced’. Groups may spend several terms getting from one level to the next: for example, we expect a group to spend three terms at elementary level before progressing to pre-intermediate.
The table below shows the name of each level, a brief description of what we think a student can do at that level, and the approximate number of hours or terms we expect a group to spend to complete the level. For the first three levels you can also see where we expect you to reach in our core textbooks Russian Made Clear.
If you click on ‘equivalence’ you will see how RLC compares to a range of other recognised language proficiency descriptions. We encourage you to view this information with scepticism! There is considerable scope for variation within a given system, which is only multiplied when different systems are compared.
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†Lesson in Russian Made Clear
* The CEFR is the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, published in 2001 with the aim of establishing common levels of language proficiency across European languages.
** The UNLF is the United Nations Language Framework.
*** The ILR is the Interagency Language Roundtable, a scale established in the 1950s by the American Foreign Service Institute.
Other recognized language proficiency frameworks include:
- NATO
- ACTFL, the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages. Their website also has some interesting information specific to Russian.
- The Chartered Institute of Linguists [CIOL Language Level Frameworks | CIOL (Chartered Institute of Linguists)]. Their framework is closely aligned with the CEFR.