The Business Language Testing Service (BULATS) is a language assessment service. By testing a number of linguistic skills, BULATS produces accurate language profiles of candidates in English, French, German and Spanish. BULATS create reports which will benefit your organisation by giving you a clear, accurate insight into your employees' or trainees' language ability in their day-to-day work transactions.
BULATS is a collaborative venture between the University of Cambridge ESOL Examinations and three leading European language institutes, ensuring the rigour of the tests, the accuracy of each language version and the reliability of the results. BULATS is available in 4 languages: English, German Spanish and French.
Results are based on the internationally recognised and standardised level framework of ALTE (Association of Language Testers in Europe) which is directly linked to the levels of CEFR (Council of Europe’s Common European Framework of Reference for Languages).
There are 3 distinct audiences for the BULATS test
Companies and organisation primarily use BULATS in a human resources context for the assessment of language skills of job applicants and existing staff. Additionally, it is increasingly being used for the monitoring and support of language training in companies. For example, it may be used to track language gain over an extended training period. Companies and organisations also use BULATS for benchmarking purposes, setting linguistic goals and assessing employees’ achievements against these criteria.
They use BULATS predominantly for course placement purposes, general language assessment as well as for recommendations to candidates in regard to the preparation for standard exams that lead to a certificated language qualification. Some schools require their students to prove their language abilities before obtaining their degree. For example, in France, Bulats is one of the tests recommended by the des Commission des Titres d’Ingénieurs to obtain the degree of Engineer.
Individuals can make use of BULATS in a number of ways. On the one hand, they can use BULATS as an indicator of language ability in a CV. Alternatively, individuals can use BULATS to confirm the assessment of a standard certificate which may have been obtained sometime in the past. It can also serve as a recommendation to an individual as to which standard exam he or she should prepare for.
The tests are designed to test the language of employees who need to use a foreign language in their work. They cover areas such as descriptions of jobs, companies and products, travel, management and marketing, customer service, planning, reports, phone messages, business correspondence and presentations. This principle of flexibility allows BULATS to customise the service for different situations.
The tasks are generally practical ones, e.g. taking a phone message, checking a letter, giving a presentation, understanding an article, writing a report.
The BULATS service provides:
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Relevant, useful and reliable language tests in work contexts |
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Test administration to suit the client / company's individual requirements |
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Rapid turn around of test results |
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Information to help the interpretation of test results |
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Advice to companies on appropriate strategies for language testing |
The British Council in France administers mostly the ‘Standard’ type of BULATS test, which can be taken in three different ways
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Online Test (via internet) NEW! |
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Computer Test (by CD-ROM) network or single station |
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On paper |
Each test is available in the four languages
The BULATS Computer Test produces a report with the candidate's overall score (on a scale of 0 - 100) and level (on the ALTE level system of 0 – 5 and on the CEFR level system of A1- C2), and their score on each section of the test. The Test Report Form can be printed from the administrator's Supervisor programme. Reports can be printed onto specially prepared BULATS report paper in any of the four test languages. On the reverse of the report there is a summary of the ALTE Can Do statements.
The BULATS test can be taken any time throughout the year either at the British Council premises on appointment or in your school / company.
Individuals that want to take the test at the British Council should fill in the application form  and send it back to us with their payment. You will have to take the test at the British Council in Paris.
Please note that we offer only computer-based test to individual candidates..
If you want to organize the BULATS test in your premises for your students or employees, please contact us to find out about our prices and conditions.
You will be able then to offer the three types of BULATs: pen&paper, computer-based and online.
For more details on the BULATS test, please contact us at exams@britishcouncil.fr
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