Test Content
The Test assesses your level of competence in the LOTE, through the following activities:

Competency 1: Can conduct complex routine workplace oral communication in the LOTE, regarding tour guiding matters . (2 Role plays)
In the role plays the examiner plays the customer and you perform the role of the Tour Guide involved in interacting in a workplace scenario. You are given a role card and are required to interact with the examiner in the other language. Paraphrasing is acceptable if the message is clear and accurate.

Competency 2: Can read aloud printed workplace documents in the LOTE.
You are given a text in the LOTE to read aloud. The text is taken from a tourist information brochure or other article of a non-technical nature (approximately 100 words).

Competency 3: Can sight interpret workplace documents (descriptive or informal text), from English into the LOTE.
You have 2 minutes to study a brief text in English, taken from a tourist brochure. You then sight interpret the message in the other language.

Test Duration
Approx. 30 minutes.

Accents and Regional Variations
In the Test, you must demonstrate your ability to use the standard variety of the language. Any accent or idioms that a standard speaker of the language understands are acceptable.

Dialects
If you speak a dialect not generally understood by a speaker of the LOTE, you are unlikely to be suitable to work as a tour guide.

Levels of Formality and Politeness (Register)
You must also demonstrate proficiency in using the appropriate forms of address for the service industry. If you use informal language during the test, the examiner will assume that you are unable to use the appropriate language for the service industry.

Tourism Terminology
The Test focuses on typical situations encountered by tour guides while working with customers. You should make sure that you can use terms likely to be needed in such situations. These are everyday terms for native speakers who operate daily in LOTE, but may be unfamiliar to second language learners or advanced speakers who are out of touch with the LOTE. Learning these terms will give you more confidence under test conditions.

Description of typical language background of unsuccessful candidates
Following is a description of the typical background of candidates who may be unsuccessful.

SECOND GENERATION SPEAKERS
If you have learned your LOTE from your parents in Australia you may find the following areas of difficulty:

• Your language is limited to everyday informal conversation with parents, friends or relatives, resulting in a lack of familiarity with "polite forms", or appropriate register for dealing with clients in the service industry.
• You have been exposed to informal conversational use of the language resulting in problems when faced with a larger range of situations, vocabulary etc… If you are unused to operating in a large range of situations in the LOTE, you are unlikely to be successful. If you have done all your schooling in English and you have not lived for an extended period in the country of origin as an adult (eg 1 year) you may have a limited range of language.
• Your language may not be of a modern generally accepted variety of speech, particularly if your family migrated many years ago. Languages change over time, and regional dialects change and disappear.

AUSTRALIANS WHO HAVE STUDIED THE LANGUAGE
If you have studied the language at school and/or university but have never visited the country for an extended period of time (eg several years) you may not have reached a sufficient level of functional fluency in the language. Whilst you may have an extensive formal knowledge of the language, you need to be able to communicate fluently in all situations you may encounter.

Functional fluency is obtained by operating on a daily basis in the language over an extended period of time. Some people living overseas in an Anglophone environment (ie who speak English at home or at work) may not reach the required standard.

What Level of Proficiency is required for tour guides?
To be suitable to work as a tour guide you need to achieve a Level 4 Advanced Pass.

What are the Language Proficiency Levels?
Level 1 Elementary Pass
Level 2 Elementary Credit
Level 3 Elementary Distinction

Level 4 Advanced Pass
Level 5 Advanced Credit
Level 6 Advanced Distinction

Note: If you do not achieve a Level 4, you will be graded at one of the elementary levels.

ELEMENTARY LEVELS 1 – 3
Level 1 is achievable with one to two year’s part time study.
Levels 2–3 are achievable with substantial school and/or university study. Levels 2 and 3 are also achieved by those who are from a LOTE background who communicate daily with friends and relatives in everyday situations.

ADVANCED LEVELS 4 – 6
Normally achieved by candidates who have studied the language over a number of years, who are native speakers of the language, who regularly speak the language at home with relatives, or friends, and who have lived in the country concerned, and have maintained their proficiency.

How can I prepare for the Test?

• Imagine different types of situations encountered by Tour Guides during their work with customers. Imagine you are guiding and interacting with customer.
• Practice reading aloud from the newspaper and practise interpreting newspaper articles by reading a paragraph silently in English, then saying it in the LOTE.
• Listen to programs in English, take notes and deliver the message in the LOTE.
• Make sure you are using the polite forms of address when talking with them. Use the practice situations in the Handbook with a native speaker of the LOTE. Consider topics such as:
  • Accommodation, entertainment, the weather, clothes, activities, money and banking, food and beverages, safety issues, anticipating needs and ensuring the comfort of customers, including unaccompanied children, the elderly, parents with young children and people who may be ill or nervous about travelling.

   

What if I disagree with my Test results?
Please note that the examiner’s decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into.

Diagnostic workshop
Candidates wishing to prepare for the test and interested in assessing their areas of strength and weakness may apply for a special two–hour private workshop. A specialist will suggest strategies to assist in preparing for the test. Cost is $187.00

The time is to be agreed with the tutor. Please purchase the Handbook for Language Proficiency Test for Tour Guides before the workshop (see below). Those wishing to take the test following the workshop will be assessed independently by an external assessor.

Handbook for Language Proficiency Test for Tour Guides
A Handbook containing further information regarding content, a sample test, practice materials and a list of airline terminology in the LOTE is available from the University of New South Wales, Institute of Languages. The cost is $18.70

How to Enrol
There are 4 ways to enrol:

CONTACT DETAILS
For further information:

Phone: 02 9385 0374/9385 0375
Fax: 02 9399 5420
Email: modern.languages@unsw.edu.au
Internet: www.lang.unsw.edu.au/languages

|BACK TO TOP|