Ilà Certificate is developed in compliance with the suggestions provided by CEFR adjusted to the Arabic Language.

The aim has been to create certifying training instruments based upon standards and criteria established and recognized by the EC, which has identified CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching and Assessment) as a suitable means to certify languages on their territory. That is the reason why adjusting the certificate levels – testing the skills in the Arabic language by means of Ilà – to all the abilities expressed by the equivalent level of CEFR has turned out to be fundamental.
With this broad notion, our interest has focused on Modern Standard Arabic (MSA), first of all because it is the language used within any international assembly, such as the United Nations, secondly because it is the language with which Arabic-speaking users identify themselves from a cultural point of view. We are aware of the existence of local linguistic variations; however, the Research Group maintains that such variations should be certified separately, both because such variations are deeply different the ones from the others – each one having equal dignity and because no variation belonging to any language is the one used and evaluated in the international certificates.

A further characterizing option has been the one of working out an exam certifying oral skills at an early stage.

This choice, too, has developed from some current considerations together with the spread of the Arabic language in the international context. Moreover, the study of the Arabic language has been marked by an interest in the comprehension and writing production for a long time and, this way, instead, Ilà develops fully in line with the principles of the other international certificates. It is well-known that the oral skills in any language imply the ability of organizing linguistic means at a higher level compared to the ones needed for writing skills.