The Ilà-A2 certificate aims at establishing whether achievers’ competence in MSA matches A2 level of CEFR, certifying that such a competence enables them:

• To understand sentences and frequently-used expressions related to areas of most immediate relevance;
• To handle with very short social exchanges about familiar topics linked with their own habits;
• To describe their own background and environment as well as their immediate needs in simple terms.

The linguistic variety of reference for Ilà-A2 is then MSA, meaning the language of the Arabic education system, largely used in modern and contemporary literature, by the press, mass media and in oral productions characterized by a certain formal level. Moreover, MSA is the variety of Arabic language generally mastered by non-speaking Arabic users, who have attended school, academic or permanent learning courses. Nonetheless, thanks to the cultural and linguistic range and richness of the Arab world, MSA used for Ilà-A2 can echo some regional varieties especially in terms of lexis and syntax.

The skills Ilà-A2 certifies specifically include the oral and aural ones, being represented by production, interaction and comprehension.

The exam tests the following specific speaking skills of the achievers – each one by means of a dedicated paper: introducing themselves and their family; describing familiar and routine matters in a very simple way (residence, study place and workplace, local geography, highlights and shopping); describing aspects of their background and immediate environment, both their habits and other people’s contextualizing the actions in a time frame; expressing their interests and other people’s in simple terms.

The exam consists of 3 papers:

1. Presentation
2. Interaction
3. Listening

The speaking papers are carried out before two examiners. One is connected with the academic world of an Arab country and is called expressly for the exam session. The other one is a native speaker professional, who uses Modern Standard Arabic for work on a regular basis. These experts, whose names are notified at the beginning of each session, represent two complementary perspectives on language, both theoretical and practical. Such feature improves the quality of the assessment process and, consequently, of the certificate itself.

The examiner can’t see the flash cards before the speaking test.

The instructions for the exam are given in Arabic.

After the speaking paper, achievers must leave the exam venue and cannot speak with those who have not taken the speaking test yet.