Cambridge Assessment English

[5] Each Cambridge English Qualifications focuses on a level of the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR).

[citation needed] These qualifications are designed for adult learners learning English for use in a business context.

Without support from the state, it was logical to seek help from universities that were long established and widely admired.

"[48] UCLES was invited to set exams and inspect schools with the aim of raising educational standards.

The exams were designed to test for university selection and were taken by 370 candidates in British schools, churches and village halls.

Candidates were required to "satisfy the examiners" in the analysis and parsing of a Shakespeare text; reading aloud; dictation; and composition (on either the recently deceased Duke of Wellington; a well-known book or a letter of application).

[51] In the mid to late 19th century, UCLES exams were taken by candidates based overseas – in Trinidad and Tobago (from 1863), South Africa (from 1869), Guyana and New Zealand (from 1874), Jamaica (from 1882) and Malaysia (from 1891).

Many of these candidates were children of officers of the British colonial service and exams were not yet designed for non-native speakers of English.

Here is a short segment from one of the passages candidates were asked to translate from English into German: The sentiments which animated Schiller's poetry were converted into principles of conduct; his actions were as blameless as his writings were pure.

With his simple and high predilections, with his strong devotedness to a noble cause, he contrived to steer through life, unsullied by its meanness, unsubdued by any of its difficulties or allurements ...

In the English Essay paper, candidates were asked to write an essay for two hours, on one of the following subjects: the effect of political movements upon nineteenth-century literature in England; English Pre-Raphaelitism; Elizabethan travel and discovery; the Indian Mutiny; the development of local self-government; or Matthew Arnold.

Here are two example questions: explain the terms: "glide", "narrow vowel", "semi-vowel" and give two examples of each in both phonetic and ordinary spelling and how would you teach a pupil the correct pronunciation of the vowel sounds in: fare, fate, fat, fall, far?

[60] Jack Roach, Assistant Secretary to the Syndicate from 1925 to 1945, decided to "save it from the scrapheap" and introduced a number of changes.

Questions such as "The best month of the year" were preferred to the more culture-bound topics set in 1913, such as "Elizabethan travel and discovery.

"[53] The target candidature was broadened beyond teachers, to "all foreign students who desire to obtain evidence of their practical knowledge of the languages, both written and spoken, as of their ability to read with comprehension standard works of English literature."

Following these changes CPE candidate numbers instantly began to rise, reaching 752 by the outbreak of World War II.

A Preliminary exam, at a lower level than LCE, was also offered in 1944 as a special test to meet the contingencies of war.

In Germany, the War Organisation of the British Red Cross and Order of St John of Jerusalem made arrangements for UCLES examinations to be offered at prisoner-of-war camps with many Indian prisoners of war, in particular, taking LCE or School Certificate exams.

However, UCLES was unable to fund and support the growing international network of English language examination centres around the world.

In March 1941 a formal 'Joint Agreement' was signed between the two organisations to collaborate on the distribution of UCLES exams around the world.

Exam centres had been set up in Europe (17), Latin America (9), the Middle East (8), Africa (4) and the USA (1).

This set the scene for the Council of Europe and the development of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), which was initiated in 1971.

After the war, a new three-level system was introduced: LCE, CPE and DES (The Diploma of English Studies).

These revisions included improving the authenticity of texts and tasks; increasing the weight on Listening and Speaking; improving the balance between grammar and vocabulary items in the Reading paper; and adding a broader range of texts in the Composition and Use of English papers, (e.g. letter-writing, dialogues, speeches, note-taking, and discursive and descriptive compositions).

It was finally agreed that at least 35% of listening tests would comprise an original BBC recording, largely made up of programmes from World Service and Woman's Hour broadcasts.

[52] With learners increasingly requiring English language certification for their studies, UCLES, along with the British Council and the Australian International Development Programme (IDP), developed a test in the 1980s which focused specifically on English for academic purposes.

[64] In 1988, the EFL exams developed by The Royal Society of Arts (RSA) Examination Board were merged with those of UCLES.

The RSA Examination Board had been established in 1754, long before UCLES, and by taking over the RSA TEFL schemes UCLES became responsible for "the running of the world's most respected and widely recognised schemes for validating training courses for teachers of English as a Foreign Language.

At the start of the 21st century, there was growing demand from government ministries and schools for a professional qualification without any in-service (teaching practice) component.

[67] In the 1990s, there was growing demand from Cambridge English centres in the Far East, Latin America and Europe for assessments designed specifically for younger learners.