Language Testing
The ALTA Seal of Biliteracy
ALTA Language Services provides language proficiency testing to High School students in more than 90 languages, including low-density languages that are often unavailable from other providers. This testing is done in conjunction with school districts throughout the United States to recognize the achievements of students who are fluent in more than one language.
The Seal of Biliteracy is a credential awarded to students who demonstrate, through a variety of requirements, including language testing, proficiency in two or more languages by the time of high school graduation. So far 36 states have adopted the Seal of Biliteracy since its inception in 2011, and that number continues to increase each year. The Seal of Biliteracy may help students obtain college credit in the tested language and may also be used as evidence of a language skill for potential employers after graduation. The credential typically appears as a seal on the diploma or transcript of the graduating student.
ALTA’s Tests
ALTA partners with hundreds of school districts across the country to verify language skills of students seeking the Seal of Biliteracy.
Results for these tests are provided on the Interagency Language Roundtable (ILR) Scale. ALTA provides two types of tests:
Oral Proficiency
This test is designed to assess a student’s speaking and listening skills. The test is conducted over the phone between an evaluator and student, wherein the evaluator will ask a variety of open-ended questions designed to prompt the student to use the language in a variety of ways. This test lasts approximately 15 – 25 minutes. Practice questions are available to familiarize yourself with the test.
Writing Proficiency
This test is designed to assess a student’s ability to write in a given language. The student must also demonstrate the necessary reading skills to process and respond to written questions. Students must answer five questions, typically with at least 100 words per answer, and the test will take up to one hour to complete. This is a paper test, typically administered directly by the school. Practice questions are available to familiarize yourself with the test.
What if my state does not offer the Seal of Biliteracy?
ALTA tests qualify for the Global Seal of Biliteracy and provide opportunities to award meaningful language credentials to deserving language learners. The Global Seal is an independent and separate program from state Seal of Biliteracy programs that certifies the language skills for all qualifying applicants, including those who have already graduated from high school, but would like to document their language skills for academic or work purposes. The Global Seal offers a transferable college credit option and can be used in partnership with state Seals to provide benchmark awards or an alternative award to language learners above or below state Seal criteria. For more information, contact us today. Please note that ALTA only works with school districts and educational organizations to set up tests and provide test results.
Languages Offered
- Afrikaans
- Albanian
- Amharic
- Arabic (MSA and dialects: Egypt, Iraq, Yemen, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Morocco, Sudan)
- Armenian Eastern
- Azerbajani (Azeri)
- Baluchi (Western)
- Bambara
- Bangla (Bengali)
- Bosnian
- Bulgarian
- Burmese
- Cambodian
- Cape Verdean Barlavento
- Cape Verdean Sotavento
- Chinese Cantonese
- Chinese Mandarin
- Chuukese
- Croatian
- Czech
- Danish
- Dari
- Dutch
- Ewe
- Fante (Akan)
- Farsi
- Finnish
- French
- French (Canadian)
- Fulani
- Ga
- Georgian
- German
- Greek
- Gujarati
- Haitian Creole
- Hausa
- Hebrew
- Hindi
- Hmong
- Hungarian
- Igbo
- Ilocano
- Indonesian
- Italian
- Jamaican Patois
- Japanese
- Kannada
- Kazakh
- Kinyarwanda
- Korean
- Kurdish Kurmanji
- Kurdish Sorani
- Lao
- Latvian
- Lithuanian
- Macedonian
- Malay
- Malayalam
- Marathi
- Mongolian
- Nepali
- Norwegian
- Oromo
- Pashto
- Polish
- Portuguese (Brazil)
- Portuguese (Portugal)
- Punjabi (Eastern)
- Punjabi (Western)
- Romanian
- Russian
- Samoan
- Serbian
- Serbo-Croatian
- Sinhala
- Slovak
- Somali
- Sorani
- Spanish
- Swahili
- Swedish
- Tagalog
- Tajik
- Tamil (India)
- Telugu
- Thai
- Tibetan
- Tigrinya
- Turkish
- Turkmen
- Turkmen (Iraqi)
- Twi (Akan)
- Ukrainian
- Urdu
- Uzbek
- Vietnamese
- Wolof
- Yoruba
Contact Us
Contact Language Testing
To see if your state participates in the Seal of Biliteracy, along with the specific requirements of your state, check here. If your state participates in the Seal of Biliteracy and you are interested in working with ALTA to provide language proficiency testing for your school district, please contact us today by calling 1-888-624-6165 or emailing: [email protected].