GEPT-CEFR Alignment

The MOE adopted the CEFR in 2005 and required all major tests in Taiwan to be mapped onto the CEFR for test-users’ reference. The LTTC officially registered with the Council of Europe to participate in their project for piloting the preliminary version of the Manual for Relating Language Examinations to the CEFR (2003) in July 2005. The results were submitted to the Council of Europe in September 2006 to provide feedback and suggestions for revisions to the Manual. To follow up on the piloting study, the LTTC conducted the LTTC GEPT-CEFR Alignment Project in 2007. A paper on the project was presented at the Fourth EALTA Conference and was published in Studies in Language Testing (Wu & Wu 2010¹).

To obtain further information for interpreting GEPT scores, which serve as validation evidence for the GEPT level framework, follow-up CEFR linking studies on GEPT listening (Brunfaut & Harding 2014²), reading (Weir et al 2013³, Wu 2014⁴), writing (Weir et al 2013, Knoch 2016⁵, Fan et al 2016⁶), and speaking (Green et al 2017⁷) have been conducted. According to the results of the specification procedure, the GEPT conforms to internationally accepted standards, involving development, item compiling, and rating processes.

The results of the aforementioned research also showed that the English proficiency of individuals who pass the GEPT speaking and writing tests is higher than that of those who pass the listening and reading tests. Consequently, in order to more accurately reflect GEPT examinees’ proficiency, a “+” sign has been added to the corresponding CEFR levels that are included on score reports as deemed appropriate.

GEPT		CEFR	IELTS	TOEFL iBT
Advanced	speaking and writing	C1+	7.5	110
	listening and reading	C1	7.0	100
High-Intermediate	speaking and writing	B2+	6.5	92
	listening and reading	B2	6.0	79
Intermediate	speaking and writing	B1+	5.5	Below 79
	listening and reading	B1	5.0

GEPT	CEFR	IELTS	TOEFL iBT
Advanced
speaking and writing	C1+	7.5	110
listening and reading	C1	7.0	100
High-Intermediate
speaking and writing	B2+	6.5	92
listening and reading	B2	6.0	79
Intermediate
speaking and writing	B1+	5.5	Below 79
listening and reading	B1	5.0

Notes:

• The chart above is an estimate of the concordance between GEPT, IELTS, and TOEFL iBT. It may serve as a reference for educational institutions in evaluating the English language proficiency of their prospective students. However, it should be used with caution, as the tests in the concordance table are designed for different purposes and populations, and they may assess language proficiency differently.
• The IELTS and CEFR alignment listed above is based on “Figure 1: The mapping of the IELTS scale to the Common European Framework,” retrieved from the IELTS website, and on test result explanations retrievedfrom the British Council website.
• The IELTS and the TOEFL iBT score concordance listed above is based on a survey of entry requirements for academic programs at universities in the U.S., U.K., and Australia.

• ¹Wu, J. R. W. and Wu, R. Y. F. (2010). Relating the GEPT reading comprehension tests to the CEFR. In W. Martyniuk, (Ed.) Aligning Tests with the CEFR, Studies in Language Testing 33. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 204-224.
• ²Brunfaut, T. and Harding, L. (2014). Linking the GEPT Listening Test to the Common European Framework of Reference, LTTC-GEPT Research Report No. RG-05. Taipei: LTTC.
• ³Weir, C., Chan, S. H., & Nakatsuhara, F. (2013). Examining the criterion-related validity of the GEPT advanced reading and writing tests: Comparing GEPT with IELTS and real-life academic performance, LTTC-GEPT Research Report No. RG-01. Taipei: LTTC.
• ⁴Wu, R. Y. F. (2014). Validating Second Language Reading Examinations: Establishing the Validity of the GEPT through Alignment with the Common European Framework of Reference, Studies in Language Testing 41. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• ⁵Knoch, U (2016). Linking the GEPT Writing Sub-test to the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR), LTTC-GEPT Research Report No. RG-08. Taipei: LTTC.
• ⁶Fan, J., Knoch, U., & Chen, I. (2021). Linking the GEPT writing subtest (Part 1) to the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR). Taipei: LTTC.
• ⁷Green, A., Inoue, C., & Nakatsuhara, F. (2017). Relating GEPT speaking tests to the CEFR (LTTC–GEPT Research Report No. RG-09). Taipei: LTTC.