1. Tbilisi 2013 1. NATO SPEAK 2. TESTING SYSTEM UPDATE
3. NATIONAL LANGUAGE POLICY
Presentación.
Agradecimiento a las autoridades Georgianas por su hospitalidad.

2. 1. NATO SPEAK
Jargon:
"the technical terminology or characteristic idiom of a special activity or group”
In earlier times, the term jargon would refer to trade languages used by people who spoke different native tongues to communicate. Nowadays its meaning is associated with those words or expressions used by a particular profession or group of people that are difficult for others to understand.
EMID

3. EAPC COS SHAPE DSACEUR …
1. NATO SPEAK
WMD NAC IMS FM SOF
AWACS NRF ISR C4ISR
CIS C-17 ISAF DCI CPG
CFE MD ICI PfP
EAPC COS SHAPE DSACEUR …
NATO speak, the jargon of those who work for or collaborate with NATO, has its specific terminology and it also attributes specific meanings to general terms, showing perhaps the love we, the military, have for the use, and maybe abuse, of acronyms (such as IED, UAV, WMD,...)
EMID

4. “... In the different pillars of the EU, of the ESDP instruments ...
1. NATO SPEAK
“...the DSACEUR, wearing his hat as the EU Op Commander of the EU operation in Bosnia, is briefing a joint session of the PSC and the NAC. ”
“At the higher staff levels, DIMS and I, the COS at SHAPE, the DSACEUR, the two military committee chairmen are in regular contact ...”
“... In the different pillars of the EU, of the ESDP instruments ...
*NATO-EU Relations and Expectations on Security Issues
Lt Gen AD Leakey CMG CBE
This makes understanding difficult or even impossible for the uninitiated, specially in forms of oral communication, where words flow fast and there is no additional information, as it happens in written documents.
EMID

5. 1. NATO SPEAK
Although it may sound strange, there are rules for war. Rules of engagement (ROE) are established to give the soldier a set of regulations with regards to the use of force for different military missions. These rules do not normally dictate how a result is to be achieved but will indicate what measures may be acceptable or unacceptable. Write a short article for a group of military cadets explaining what factors determine the ROE and why they are important for soldiers to adhere to in military operations. What might be the consequences if ROE didn’t exist?
It has been one of our concerns to gradually increase the percentage of items related to the field of security and defense in our tests with the aim of promoting the familiarization of our candidates with the topics and terminology more broadly used in NATO. This is a typical level 3 prompt from a written expression test, where we give the candidates the option to choose between a military topic, like this one, and a “civilian” topic.
Many of the examinees perceive defense related items as more useful and amiable than those related to daily life, even though these usually correspond to lower levels and should therefore be easier to deal with.
I would like to talk to you a little bit more about our tests, or more specifically, about our testing system.
EMID

6. 2. TESTING SYSTEM UPDATE
2008
COMPUTER SYSTEM IMPLEMENTATION
BOARDS INTERNAL ANALYSIS
As many of you already know, we did a review of our testing system back in Our main goal was to improve both the management and the exams. Two steps were taken, the realization of an internal analysis of the functioning of the EMID’s language tribunals and the implantation of a computerized testing system.
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7. LTS ALTS 2009 BAT BILC ASSESMENT VISIT 2008 2. TESTING SYSTEM UPDATE
COMPUTER SYSTEM
INTERNAL ANALYSIS
2009
BILC ASSESMENT VISIT
BAT
LTS ALTS
Once that was done, an analysis of our tests was carried out. In this regard, we were fortunate enough to receive the support and counseling of BILC, which materialized in the assessment visit of Mrs. Julie Dubeau to the EMID in February of She was kind enough to come back in February 2012 to see what changes we had made and give us some more advice. The evaluations made by Mrs. Dubeau after her visits have served us to identify deficiencies and to improve our quality standards.
Probably one of the most useful and significant steps we took at that time was to participate in the Benchmark Advisory Test (BAT), in May The information obtained from the experience has been extremely valuable for us, not only for having received feedback about the validity of our exams but also because it has provided us with justification for making the changes that we esteemed to be necessary.
The results were very enlightening. We had for the very first time reliable data from an external, independent source. The BAT also gave us a valuable reference in order to modify our test specifications. In fact, we believe that, although testing is a national responsibility, test specifications should be the same for all countries.
We have also greatly benefitted from the attendance of our testing staff to the Language Testing Seminar (LTS) and the Advanced Language Testing Seminar (ALTS) in Garmisch-Partenkirchen and in Madrid. This basic training course, imparted by the Foreign Language Partner Center, gives our staff the opportunity to share experiences and knowledge with other NATO/PfP participants, something we believe to be essential for a shared, common understanding of the STANAG. That is why, regardless the economic restraints we all are facing, we have decided to continue attending the BILC seminars and have started, since November 2010 to organize our own seminars to train both teachers and testers from the Army, the Navy and the Air Force.
EMID

8. 2011 NEW TESTING SYSTEM NEW REGULATIONS 2008 2009
2. TESTING SYSTEM UPDATE
2008
COMPUTER SYSTEM
INTERNAL ANALYSIS
2009
BILC ASSESMENT
BAT
LTS ALTS
2011
NEW REGULATIONS
NEW TESTING SYSTEM
We have developed new standard operating procedures and promulgated new regulations.
The Ministerial Order 64/2010, which came into effect in January 2011, establishes the procedures for the measuring and recording of language proficiency levels for the Armed Forces. It represents a step forward in the standardization and improvement of the procedures of language tribunals in Spain. This norm and the ones of inferior order related to it are the consequence of the process initiated in 2008 and the evolution of language training and testing techniques. They reflect the latest modifications introduced to the STANAG 6001 in editions 3 and 4. Their development and promulgation shows the commitment on the part of the MoD authorities, to move forward in a definite way and the importance they give to the standardization of language proficiency levels between NATO countries.
EMID

9. 2. TESTING SYSTEM UPDATE 12 examinees 12 examinees 12 examinees
The present state of the Spanish testing framework is therefore quite different. Although we have not been able to apply all the changes we wished for and our exams are far from being perfect, we can presume of having an effective, cost-saving, computerized testing system.
Linguistic proficiency levels serve to assign both national and international positions but they are also a requirement to be promoted in some cases. The importance thus given to this matter requires the testing system to be in constant evolution. The system must ensure that the proficiency of our personnel is rightly assessed and that they are able to perform in an international environment.
We use plus levels, what we believed from the very beginning was the most sensible thing to do. In our opinion, the accuracy of the evaluation process has been thus enhanced (testers, in case of doubt, where inclined to assign level 3 to candidates who performed really at level 2 +)
12 examinees
12 examinees

10. 3. NATIONAL LANGUAGE POLICY
This chart shows the evolution in the results over the last five years. The steps we have taken in order to improve our testing system have resulted in a considerable decrease in the number of examinees who obtain or accredit levels equal or superior to SLP 3333.
EMID

11. 3. NATIONAL LANGUAGE POLICY
“We explained to Defence Planning that our delegates had expressed both apprehension and dismay over the rise in SLP from 2 to 2+ for NCOs, and that we were concerned that these levels are too ambitious for anyone's language training programme and will not be achieved by most, much in the same way that 3s across the officer corps is not a realistic and viable target. Therefore, we recommended that Targets reflect SLPs as both OPTIMUM and MINIMUM levels. This may be a departure from previous approaches, but it could be an important compromise. For example:
Officers: Optimum SLP 3333, Minimum SLP
NCOs : Optimum SLP , Minimum SLP 2222.”
BILC Secretariat message to national delegates.
Dec. 2011
At the same time, the requirements to cover many NATO posts remain overestimated and BILC reports and recommendations on the matter seem to have had no visible effect on NATO policies. On December 2011 we were informed that the BILC’s secretariat had made a proposal to ACT Defence Planning for the draft English language proficiency "Targets":
“We explained to Defence Planning that our delegates had expressed both apprehension and dismay over the rise in SLP from 2 to 2+ for NCOs, and that we were concerned that these levels are too ambitious for anyone's language training programme and will not be achieved by most, much in the same way that 3s across the officer corps is not a realistic and viable target. Therefore, we recommended that Targets reflect SLPs as both OPTIMUM and MINIMUM levels. This may be a departure from previous approaches, but it could be an important compromise.
For example:
a. Officers: Optimum SLP 3333, Minimum SLP
b. NCOs : Optimum SLP , Minimum SLP 2222.”
EMID

12. Valid candidates are rejected
3. NATIONAL LANGUAGE POLICY
lower scores
higher requirements
Valid candidates are rejected
We could not agree more with the arguments given by BILC. These targets are far from being realistic. If we are to persevere in our efforts to apply improvements to our testing without a parallel rationalization of the requirements for certain posts, the only thing we will achieve is to prevent personnel perfectly capacitated linguistically from access to these posts. What is more, this could lead to a situation in which we will be unable to provide enough personnel to meet our commitments.
EMID

13. New requirements: 2+2+2+2+ 2.5 + 2.5 + 2.5 + 2.5 = 10
3. NATIONAL LANGUAGE POLICY
New requirements:
= 10
= 10
It was evident that something had to be done. Therefore, following BILC suggestions and starting on February this year, our national policy regarding linguistic requirements has changed. The optimum requirement for Officers is an SLP 3333, but the minimum requirement is to have an SLP whose four-digit numbers must be 2 or higher, being the sum of them 10 or higher. For this purpose, a plus indicator will have a value of 0.5.
The Defense Chief of Staff, with the agreement of his counterparts in the Army, the Navy and the Air Force, has ordered those requirements to be used for all positions. Applicants whose proficiency levels were recorded before 2011 may be required to be retested.
EMID

14. 3. NATIONAL LANGUAGE POLICY
This are again the results over the last five years. We can compare the number of examinees who have reached the new minimum requirements whit the number of those who have reached an SLP 3333 or higher.
With this new approach we have not only found a solution to our personnel problems, but also given new expectations to good professionals who found reaching a 3333 profile as something impossible to achieve.
Now our goal is to increase gradually the number of examinees that reach a 3333 profile. We are looking for new ways to improve our language training programs. But it will take years before we are able to raise our actual requirements.
EMID

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