The UAB to offer online exams of Spanish as a Foreign Language (SIELE)

17/06/2016

The UAB is now one of the centres which next year will organise the SIELE exams, the first online certificate students can obtain to demonstrate their mastery of Spanish as a foreign language. The network is growing and adding leading institutions in this field. Students will be able to take the exam at the Faculty of Philosophy and Arts.

Lecturers from the Department of Spanish Studies will participate in the organisation of the exam. On 16 June, Guillermo García, Director of Telefónica Educación Digital, presented the exam to the lecturing staff of the Department of Spanish Studies, after he was welcomed by the dean of the faculty, Joan Carbonell and the director of the department, Juan Rodríguez. García explained the technical characteristics of the exams and presented the software needed to guarantee the security of the exam.

The SIELE exams are an initiative by the Instituto Cervantes, the National Autonomous University of Mexico, the University of Salamanca and the University of Buenos Aires. The UAB signed an agreement with these institutions this past May to become a project associate. Telefónica Educación Digital will be in charge of the technological development and the commercialisation of the service.

The International Spanish Language Evaluation Service (SIELE in Spanish) is an evaluation and certification service which assesses the level of Spanish of a specific student through online means and is addressed to students and professionals all over the world. The SIELE offers an exam which determines and certifies the level of Spanish a student has. The exam uses a 1,000 points scale and the tasks are equivalent to levels A1, A2, B1, B2, and C1 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. It is more accessible than the DELE (Spanish as a Foreign Language) exam and is internationally recognised.

The exam includes four tasks: reading comprehension, listening comprehension, written expression and oral expression. Those interested can register at the SIELE website take the exam online at authorised centres, which will provide candidates with the necessary computer tools and supervise that the exam be taken correctly.

The SIELE exam is flexible and versatile, allowing the organising centres and those taking the exam to decide on when to take it (a minimum of one person is needed and the request to take the exam can be made at least 48 hours before). There is a SIELE global modality, in which all four competences are tested, and other modalities in which only some of the competences can be taken.

More information: SIELE