QUALIFICATION DETAILS
Qualification Title
New Zealand Certificate in English Language
(General/Workplace/Academic) (Level 3)
Version
1
Qualification type
Certificate
Level
3
Credits
60
NZSCED
091506
Strategic purpose
statement
This qualification is intended for learners of English as an additional
language, attending NZQA approved programmes delivered in Aotearoa
New Zealand or off-shore.
Graduates will have the language skills required to communicate in most
situations with some independence and fluency in order to participate in
everyday/social/community, workplace and/or academic English language
contexts. This qualification is at a level comparable to the Common
European Framework of Reference (CEFR) B1.
This qualification allows Aotearoa New Zealand community, employers and
educational institutions to recognise the level at which the graduate can use
English for general, workplace, or academic purposes.
Graduate
profile
Graduates of this qualification will have the English language skills to:
- understand the main points and key supporting detail in extended oral
interaction and factual information in familiar contexts
- speak with some coherence, fluency and spontaneity to express personal
ideas and sustain interaction in familiar contexts
- read and understand a range of texts on familiar topics; scan, locate and
gather information to fulfil a specific task
- write comprehensible, connected texts on familiar topics with reasonable
linguistic accuracy, using a range of text types.
Outcome Statement
General qualifier:
To achieve the New Zealand Certificate in English Language (General)
(Level 3), graduates must be able to use English relevant to
everyday/social/community contexts to meet the outcomes.
Workplace qualifier:
To achieve the New Zealand Certificate in English Language (Workplace)
(Level 3), graduates must be able to use English relevant to a workplace
context to meet the outcomes.
Academic qualifier:
To achieve the New Zealand Certificate in English Language (Academic)
(Level 3), graduates must be able to use English relevant to an academic
context to meet the outcomes.
Education
pathway
This certificate builds on the New Zealand Certificate in English Language
(Level 2) and can lead to:
- New Zealand Certificate in English Language
(General/Workplace/Academic) (Level 4) [Ref: 1883]
and facilitates meeting the language requirements for:
- other study or training programmes/courses at NZQF level 4 or below.
Employment
Holders of this certificate will have the English language skills to wor k in
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pathway
Qualification
Developer
positions that require:
- face to face interpersonal communication
- understanding of basic, context-specific texts
- simple, context-specific record-keeping
- interaction in a supervised team.
NZQA National Qualification Services
Qualification Specification
Qualification award
This qualification will be awarded to people who have met the requirements
of the outcomes.
Credit gained for an outcome may be used only once to meet the
requirements of this qualification.
Awarding bodies for this qualification will be any education organisation
accredited under section 38 of the Education Amendment Act 2011 to
deliver a programme leading to the qualification.
The certificate will display the NZQF logo and the name and logo of the
awarding body.
Review period
3 years (36 months)
Evidence
requirements for
managing
consistency
Consistency events
Each education organisation must nominate a representative to attend a
scheduled consistency event. The consistency event will enable education
organisations to:
 share information regarding how well their graduates match the graduate
profile outcomes
 ensure that their graduates are comparable with graduates from other
education organisations.
Consistency events are scheduled by NZQA and facilitated by an
independent consistency reviewer. The schedule is available on the NZQA
website.
Education organisations must participate fully and constructively in the
consistency forum and meet the costs associated with participation, including
any time and travel costs.
Evidence for consistency
Each education organisation is responsible for deciding what evidence it will
provide to demonstrate how well its graduates meet the graduate profile
outcomes.
Portfolios of evidence are expected to be based on self-assessment
activities, for example:
 graduate destination data
 graduate surveys or evaluations of the programme
 stakeholder or ‘next-user’ surveys and feedback
 evidence of any bench-marking activities with other education
organisations (e.g. benchmarks relating to graduate employment
outcomes, assessment practice, other benchmarks)
 graduates’ assessment evidence (e.g. completed assessment activities,
naturally occurring evidence)
 national external moderation results
 NZCEL programme evaluation reports, containing some or all of the
above self-assessment activities
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Credit transfer and
recognition of prior
learning
arrangements
Education organisations must have policies and procedures in place for
managing credit transfer, and assessing recognition of prior learning and
recognition of current competency. These policies and procedures, and
associated fees must be available to the candidates prior to enrolment.
Where recognition of existing skills and knowledge is required by the
candidate, this will be arranged by the education organisation, delivering
the programme leading to the qualification.
To facilitate credit transfer, education organisations must clearly
demonstrate the equivalency between each of the outcomes in the graduate
profile, and the assessment components of their programmes.
Unit standards already achieved by the candidate, which are specified in this
qualification, may be credited to the qualification.
Minimum standard
of achievement and
standards for grade
endorsements
(where applicable)
The minimum standard of achievement required for the award of the
qualification will be the achievement of all the graduate outcomes in the
graduate profile.
There are no grade endorsements for this qualification.
Prerequisites to
meet regulatory
body or legislative
requirements
(where applicable)
There are no mandatory prerequisites to meet regulatory body, or legislative
requirements for this qualification.
Other conditions
for qualification
There is no required sequence of the assessment of graduate outcomes.
Graduate outcomes must be assessed in tasks, which may include real or
simulated situations, relevant to the context of the candidate.
Assessment of outcomes must clearly reflect the qualifier being studied.
All assessment activities, including instructions, must be conducted in
English only.
Responses may contain minor phonological, textual or linguistic
inaccuracies, but errors must not obscure meaning.
An English dictionary may be used, but not electronic devices, other than
for word processing.
Sufficiency of evidence indicators
Listening skills:
- Assessment should be at least two spoken texts on different topics, on
two separate occasions. Each occasion should include at least one
monologue and one dialogue.
- Text length: at least 300 words and five main points.
- Listening skills may be assessed as part of the oral exchanges, or as
separate assessments.
Speaking skills:
- Assessment should be at least two extended oral exchanges of different
types, on two separate occasions. Each occasion should include at least
ten turns by the candidate.
Reading skills:
- Assessment should be at least three texts on different topics, and of
different text types. Each should be assessed on a separate occasion.
- Text length: approximately 1500 words over three texts.
- Vocabulary level: 90% of the text within the first 2000 words (General
Service List).
- Responses can be verbal, written, or non-verbal.
Writing skills:
- Assessment should be at least three texts on different topics, and of
different text types. Each text should be assessed on a separate
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occasion.
- Text length and structure: appropriate to writing purpose but normally
each text at least 200 words.
Conditions relating to specific outcomes
Qualification Outcomes
(including indicative
credit values for each
outcome)
Conditions
Mandatory
or Optional
Understand the main points
and key supporting detail in
extended oral interaction
and factual information in
familiar contexts.
15 credits
The following unit standards may be used to assess
aspects of this outcome:
Unit standard 15009: Understand spoken information
in different contexts (ESOL)
Unit standard 15010: Understand spoken instructions
in different contexts (ESOL)
Optional
In place of the ESOL unit standards listed above, the
following new English Language unit standards may be
used to assess this outcome:
Unit standard 28050: Demonstrate understanding of
spoken information on familiar topics (EL) – 5 credits
Unit standard 28051: Demonstrate understanding of
spoken interaction on familiar topics (EL) – 5 credits
Unit standard 28052: Demonstrate understanding of
detailed spoken instructions (EL) – 5 credits
Speak with some
coherence, fluency and
spontaneity to express
personal ideas and sustain
interaction in familiar
contexts.
15 credits
The following unit standards may be used to assess
aspects of this outcome:
Unit standard 17359: Talk about self in a formal
interview (ESOL)
Unit standard 17140: Complete spoken exchanges to
obtain information, goods and services (ESOL)
Unit standard 17142: Participate in a discussion
(ESOL)
Optional
In place of the ESOL unit standards listed above, the
following new suite of English Language unit standards
may be used to assess aspects of this outcome:
Unit standard 28062: Participate in a formal interview
(EL) – 5 credits
Unit standard 28063: Participate in spoken transactions
(EL) – 5 credits
Unit standard 28064: Present information on a familiar
topic (EL) – 5 credits
Read and understand a
range of texts on familiar
topics; scan, locate and
gather information to fulfil a
specific task.
15 credits
The following unit standards may be used to assess
the outcomes:
Unit standard 17361: Read recounts (ESOL)
Unit standard 17362: Read texts giving instructions
(ESOL)
Unit standard 17363: Read information texts (ESOL)
Unit standard 17364: Read persuasive texts (ESOL)
Optional
In place of the ESOL unit standards listed above, the
following new English Language unit standards may be
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used to assess this outcome:
Unit standard 28056: Read and understand texts on
familiar topics (EL) – 5 credits
Unit standard 28057: Read and understand texts for
practical purposes (EL) – 5 credits
Unit standard 28058: Read and demonstrate
understanding of a range of written texts independently
(EL) – 5 credits
Write comprehensible,
connected texts on familiar
topics with reasonable
linguistic accuracy, using a
range of text types.
15 credits
The following unit standards may be used to assess
the outcomes:
Unit standard 17144: Write information texts (ESOL)
Unit standard 17372: Write recounts (ESOL)
Unit standard 17370: Write expressing a viewpoint
(ESOL)
Unit standard 17371: Write formal letters (ESOL)
Optional
In place of the ESOL unit standards listed above, the
following new English Language unit standards may be
used to assess this outcome:
Unit standard 28068: Write texts on familiar topics
(EL) – 5 credits
Unit standard 28069: Write texts for practical
purposes (EL) – 5 credits
Unit standard 28070: Write a response for a specific
purpose (EL) – 5 credits
Republication information
Version 1 of this qualification was republished in December 2014 to update the Evidence requirements
for managing consistency.
Version 1 of this qualification was republished in December 2013 to include in the Conditions relating to
specific outcomes the new suite of English Language standards, which replaced the ESOL standards.
The last date for assessments to take place for the replaced ESOL standards is 31 December 2015.
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