Italian Learning Levels

Level	Description of Competency	Test scores

Beginner	A student with no knowledge of Italian or a limited understanding of a few everyday expressions. (S)he may be able to produce some single words and set phrases. Little structural grasp of the language. The course for this level would concentrate on basic social language: in a shop, restaurant, station, airport, introductions, asking for information and directions, simple descriptions. The following grammatical concepts may be covered: articles and nouns (masculine, feminine, singular, plural), adjectives, prepositions, the present tense, reflexive verbs, the near past "passato prossimo".	0-10

Elementary	The student can understand simple conversations on familiar topics. (S)he can ask questions, and survive in everyday situations such as ordering and buying food, going to the doctor etc., although structures often go wrong and words are not known. In reading (s)he can grasp general meaning and recognises basic grammatical structures. Writing skills are limited and may contain a high degree of structural error. The course for this level would include functions such as: describing oneself (life, work, interests), polite forms, offering, suggesting, refusing, future plans. Grammar which may be included: direct and indirect pronouns, past ("passato prossimo"), imperfect, future, simple conditional.	11-20

Intermediate 1	The student can understand the gist of commonplace conversation in Italian and can produce the language well enough to answer relevantly if spoken to carefully. (S)he can initiate conversations by asking questions on a range of everyday topics (e.g. sport, food) and can perform everyday social and practical functions quite comfortably unless unpredictable situations occur. In reading the student can understand the full meaning of simple texts including recognition of the main grammatical structures. (S)he can write short compositions using simple but varied structures correctly on a variety of non-specialist topics (eg. telling a story, personal letters). The course for this level would develop the student's conversational skills in a variety of different situations: at work, formal and informal, persuading, expressing opinions, planning. The student will be encouraged to broaden his/her lexicon to talk about subjects such as society, news and current events, politics. Authentic texts and listening material (conversations by native speakers) would be used in the classroom. Grammar may include: past perfect, combined pronouns, relative pronouns, past conditional, simple subjunctive.	21-30

Intermediate 2	The student can understand well enough to hold a continuous conversation with a native speaker. (S)he can produce Italian in order to initiate new topics, change the subject and generally take part in the conversation rather than merely responding. The student can manage all normal life situations with ease and can cope with unpredictable events (eg. a negotiation in a shop not going as planned). In reading, (s)he can understand the majority of authentic non-specialist text and can produce fluent writing although some errors may still occur with complex sentence structures. During a typical course, a student would learn negotiation techniques, supporting his/her own opinions, talking about secialised topics, commenting news and current affairs. A great deal of authentic written, listening and visual material would be used in class. Grammar may include: complex subjunctives, indirect speech, hypothetical grammatical structures, "consecutio temporum", linking words and conjunctions.	31-40

Advanced*	The student can understand native speakers of everyday Italian spoken at normal speed and can interact easily with a native Italian speaker. (S)he can produce speech to convey feeling, argue a point of view effectively and convey complex information. In reading the student can understand specialist books to acquire new knowledge, even technical terminology, and can recognise different styles of writing. (S)he can write fluently and with relatively few errors using a range of styles (eg. narrative, presentations, formal letters). The course would concentrate on specific topics of interest. The teacher will identify any functional and grammatical weaknesses and reinforce the language in these areas. A wide range of authentic material will be used to broaden the student's vocabulary, idiomatic expressions and recognition of colloquialisms and regional accents.	41-50


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