Vår HISTORIA

The History of ALTE

The Association of Language Testers in Europe: The first 30 years

Published in 2020, this book charts the story of ALTE through its first thirty years, using the voices of the people involved. It describes the birth, growth and development of the association, emphasising its roles in connecting practitioners, policy-makers, academics and other stakeholders, before setting a course for the future.

You might also like to view this introductory video from Secretary-General, Dr Nick Saville.

List of ALTE Meetings and Conferences

This list shows the numbered biannual ALTE meetings and conferences and the theme. International Conferences are marked IC. Digital Symposia are marked DS. SIG meetings are not shown.

IC8	Apr 2023	Madrid, Spain	Language Assessment Fit for the Future
58	Nov 2022	Prague, Czech Republic	The Less Widely Spoken Languages from the Perspective of Plurilingualism
57	Apr 2022	Paris, France	The Future Place of Humans in Language Assessment
56	Nov 2021	Perugia, Italy (online only)	Respecting Diversity and Bridging Distances: Teaching and assessment of multi-profiles - from literacy to plurilingualism
DS1	Apr 2021	Digital Symposium	Safeguarding the Future of Multilingual Assessment in the Covid World
55	Nov 2020	Istanbul, Turkey (online only)	Pluriculturalism: Implications for language learning and assessment
IC7	Apr 2020	Madrid, Spain (cancelled)	Safeguarding the Future of Multilingual Assessment
54	Nov 2019	Ljubljana, Slovenia	Monolingual Testing in a Multilingual Reality? Language Ideologies and their Influence on Language Testing
53	Apr 2019	Ghent, Belgium	Multilingual Access to Education
52	Nov 2018	Salamanca, Spain	The Roles of Test Takers and Users in Striving for Fariness
51	Apr 2018	Cluj-Napoca, Romania	Multilingualism and Using Language for Specific Purposes - The Role of Assessment
50	Nov 2017	Leuven, Belgium	The Impact of Language Tests on Education, Migration and Society
IC6	May 2017	Bologna, Italy	Learning and Assessment: Making the connections
49	Nov 2016	Helsinki, Finland	The Future of Digital Assessment
48	Apr 2016	Stockholm, Sweden	Language Assessment: Purpose and usefulness
47	Nov 2015	Perugia, Italy	The Concept of Quality in Language Assessment
46	May 2015	Bergen, Norway	The B2/C1 Levels and Language Tests for Academic Purposes
45	Nov 2014	London, UK	Innovation in Language Testing
IC5	May 2014	Paris, France	Language Assessment for Multilingualism
44	Nov 2013	Barcelona, Spain	Language Assessment to Support Migration and Integration: Different approaches to a common issue
43	Apr 2013	Salamanca, Spain	Language Assessment for Adults in the Context of Lifelong Learning
42	Nov 2012	Munich, Germany	Developing and Implementing Language Tests for Younger Learners
41	Apr 2012	Lisbon, Portugal	The Impact of Language Testing on Learning and Teaching
40	Nov 2011	Bochum, Germany	Achieving Context Validity
IC4	May 2011	Kraków, Poland	Exploring Language Frameworks
39	Nov 2010	Prague, Czech Republic	Fairness and Quality Management in Language Testing
38	May 2010	Rome, Italy	Reference Level Descriptions and Assessment
37	Nov 2009	Maynooth, Ireland	Testing Less Widely Spoken Languages in a Multilingual Context
36	Apr 2009	Santiago de Compostela, Spain	Providing Standards, Sustaining Diversity
35	Nov 2008	Lisbon, Portugal	Quality and Assessment for Language Learning (joint with Eaquals)
IC3	Apr 2008	Cambridge, UK	Language Testing Matters: Investigating the wider social and educational impact of assessment
34	Nov 2007	Vilnius, Lithuania	Language Testing in National Educational Systems: Communicating the code of practice to stakeholder groups
33	Apr 2007	Sèvres, France	The CEFR: from Plurilingualism to Intercultural Competences
32	Nov 2006	Sofia, Bulgaria	Codes of Practice in Language Testing
31	Apr 2006	Copenhagen, Denmark	Aligning Examinations to the CEFR
30	Nov 2005	Cardiff, UK	Language Assessment for Lifelong Learning
IC2	May 2005	Berlin, Germany	Multilingualism and Assessment: Achieving transparency, assuring quality, sustaining diversity
29	Nov 2004	Bilbao, Spain	Testing the Less Widely Spoken Languages
28	Apr 2004	Kraków, Poland	Quality and Language Testing in Europe - Between Standardisation and Diversity
27	Nov 2003	Athens, Greece	(no themes for biannual conferences before 2004)
26	Apr 2003	Ljubljana, Slovenia
25	Nov 2002	Salamanca, Spain
24	Apr 2002	St Petersburg, Russia
23	Nov 2001	Budapest, Hungary
IC1	July 2001	Barcelona, Spain	European Language Testing in a Global Context
22	Apr 2001	Perugia, Italy
21	Nov 2000	Lisbon, Portugal
20	May 2000	Paris, France	(First Conference Day)
19	Nov 1999	Barcelona, Spain
18	Apr 1999	Jyväskylä, Finland
17	Nov 1998	Leuven, Belgium
16	Apr 1998	Bergen, Norway
15	Nov 1997	Athens, Greece
14	Apr 1997	Stockholm, Sweden
13	Nov 1996	Luxembourg, Luxembourg
12	Apr 1996	Frankfurt, Germany
11	Nov 1995	Dublin, Ireland
10	Apr 1995	Copenhagen, Denmark
9	Nov 1994	Salamanca, Spain
8	Apr 1994	Arnhem, Netherlands
7	Nov 1993	Munich, Germany
6	Apr 1993	Paris, France
5	Nov 1992	Alcalá de Henares, Spain
4	Apr 1992	Lisbon, Portugal
3	Nov 1991	Cambridge, UK
2	Apr 1991	Perugia, Italy
1	Nov 1990	Barcelona, Spain

Historical list of roles

Manager/Secretary-General

1990-2013	Mike Milanovic, UK
2013-present	Nick Saville, UK

Chair of Executive Committee/Board of Trustees

2009-2010	Berit Halvorsen, Norway
2010-2017	Emyr Davies, Wales
2018-present	Waldemar Martyniuk, Poland

Chair of Standing Committee

2008-2020	Michaela Perlmann-Balme, Germany
2021-present	Vincent Folny, France

Secretariat Manager

1992-1993	Patrick Cronin
1993-1997	Rosalie Kerr
1997-2002	Marianne Hirtzel
2002-2008	Barbara Stevens
2008-2014	Martin Nuttall
2014-2017	Esther Gutierrez Eugenio
2017-present	Graham Seed

ALTE - the Association of Language Testers in Europe is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO), registered in England, charity number 1184799.

Spanish Translation © Instituto Cervantes and University of Salamanca 2023 | French Translation © France Éducation International 2023 | Italian Translation © University for Foreigners, Perugia 2023 | Dutch Translation © CNaVT 2023 | Romanian Translation © Babeş-Bolyai University 2023 | | Portuguese Translation © CAPLE-University of Lisbon 2023 | Swedish Translation © Stockholm University 2023 | Catalan Translation © Generalitat de Cataluyna 2023 | German Translation © Goethe Institut and ÖSD 2023