DIALANG subject-specific linguistic proficiency versus general proficiency + benchmark qualifications
alexanderv...@gmail.com
My name is Alexander Van der Biest. I am writing to you on behalf of SEBECO, a leading Belgian contact center and chair of the corresponding national professional federation.
As part of our commitment to quality and due to the multilingual nature of our services, we have greatly benefitted from the usage of DIALANG software to regularly test our staff’s proficiency in English, Dutch, and French. Like Lancaster University, we are convinced it is an excellent tool for such a purpose, and as such, we communicate about its usage openly to our potential and existing customers as we participate in contractual negotiations and joint project meetings. We would hereby like to request the University’s assistance in that regard.
During a recent discussion with one of those customers, a discussion arose on the subject of the test’s ability to measure subject-specific linguistic proficiency versus general proficiency. Do you think you could shed light on the subject? Are there sources that we can access to help us build a suitable argument? Although we are a private company and not a research agency we take a keen interest in science given our corporate philosophy based on social innovation. However, as such, we regrettably do not have an Athens account to help us access academic journals. Any assistance Lancaster could therefore give us, be it relevant contacts, research papers in .pdf format, or advice would be most welcome.
We were also wondering whether it might be possible for us to access the benchmark qualifications and/or results that were used to program the application. Having access to these parameters would allow us not only to better handle such debates, but also help us address potential knowledge gaps and identify needs and opportunities for the internal training of our employees. We realize, of course, that such an access might be subject to specific conditions. Please do also enlighten us on this subject.
