Assess Your Level

The Virtual Language Centre is hosted on Canvas, the University of Oxford's Virtual Learning Environment. Here, you can do an online test for all our languages (excluding Korean and Greek*). The tests include an assessment of all language skills and you will be asked to write and to record yourself speaking in the target language.

*If you wish to study Korean there is no need to asses your level as we are currently only offering a beginner stage. If you wish to study Greek please contact the tutors directly to discuss assessing your level.

Please be aware that tests will not begin to be marked until 1 October. 

Please note that if you are a complete beginner you should enrol on a Stage 1 Part 1 course or on Fast Track 1+2 (Michaelmas term only) - you do not need to take a language level evaluation test.

How to access the language level evaluation tests:

• If you have a Single Sign On (SSO) with the University please click on the 'Assess my level' button below to enrol on the Virtual Language Centre Canvas course where you can take the test

• If you don't have an Oxford SSO then please email our admin team who will give you access to the Virtual Language Centre on Canvas where you can take the test via the link below

ASSESS MY LEVEL

General information about language level evaluation tests

The Language Centre language level evaluation tests have been designed by our tutors to enable us to help you identify which course best suits your needs.

The tests include items that test your listening and reading comprehension, your knowledge of linguistic structures as well as your spoken and written production.

Before you take a test:

• Make sure that you are able to hear sound and that you can record your voice by performing the recommended sound check
• Make sure you have sufficient time available to do the test in one sitting
• The test items increase in difficulty - if you find something too hard just skip it
• Do not use any dictionaries - do the test as spontaneously as possible, for the speaking part do not prepare a text to read out, just talk as naturally as you can, use English words if you are stuck as this helps us understand what you can do.

After the test:

• One of our tutors will review your spoken and written production and will let you know what course they recommend you enrol for.
• You will receive this as a notification via Canvas so please make sure that your settings send you push notifications
• Please allow 24 hours for our tutors to have the time to review your test.
• If you have not received any feedback after 48 hours, do contact our admin team

CEFR information

The stages of our course pathways are calibrated on the levels of the Common European Framework of Reference for languages (CEFR). Please also use the below table as a guide for the CEFR requirements for French, German, Italian, and Spanish Fast Track courses. 

Please note that for Fast Track courses in Arabic, Japanese, Mandarin and Russian, the entry requirements are: 

View the CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference) graph.