In literature the concept second language usually has two different meanings. The first general denotation of this concept is: every language that is taught after the mother tongue. The second meaning of this concept concerns the situation in which the new language is to be acquired, namely a community in which the second language is the everyday language. On the other hand there is 'foreign language acquisition': learning a language that is not daily speech in the community that the student is learning the language in.

Yes:

Het Steunpunt NT2
Blijde-Inkomststraat 7
3000 Leuven
Belgium
Tel.:  + 32 (0)16 32 53 67
Fax: + 32 (0)16 32 53 60

The Steunpunt values receiving teachers of Dutch as a foreign language at their office. It is best if you make an appointment at forehand by telephone or email, that way one of our employees can make some time free for you. Complicated questions or requests are best emailed to us in advance: info@snvt.org

An overview of materials that are suitable for self-study can be found in the Bibliografie voor het Nederlands als vreemde taal.

An overview of Learning materials for Dutch as a foreign language, that have been published in the last ten years, can be found in the Bibliografie voor het Nederlands als vreemde taal, with a brief description of the material.

www.boekweb.nl is a portal for several online orderingservices.

You can find the adresses of publishers in the Gids voor het Nederlands als vreemde taal.

Every summer the Nederlandse Taalunie organizes summer courses in Zeist, Hasselt and Gent. For more information please see: Zomercursussen van de Nederlandse Taalunie

Besides this there are also intense summer courses available in Amsterdam that have been organized by the Amsterdam/ Maastricht Summer University. Please see: www.amsu.edu for more information.

A complete overview of the courses offered can be found under: Universitaire cursussen Nederlands.

The overview of the several academic institutions that offer a diversity of courses can be found in the Agenda voor het Nederlands als vreemde taal.

Information on refresher courses for teachers can be found in the Agenda voor het Nederlands als vreemde taal. Please contact the Steunpunt when you have specific questions: info@snvt.org.

The Steunpunt helps with the organization of regional courses and workshops for teachers and in some cases it can even assist with some things itself. Please contact one of our employees to discuss your plans. info@snvt.org

Yes. One of the aspects of the assisting tasks of the Steunpunt is to give advise when the curriculum for courses Dutch as a foreign language are being shaped.
The Steunpunt can also give advise on the quality improvements in education.

The European Framework of Reference is an instrument that can be used to describe the achieved levels language skills of every language within the European Union. The complete text A Common European Framework of Reference and a Dutch translation of chapter 8 (on levels and scales of language skills) can be ordered from:

Instituut voor Leerplanontwikkeling
Postbus 2041
7500 CA Enschede
Tel.: +31 (0)53 4840294

You can find more information on: culture.coe.fr/lang/index.html.

The certificate Dutch as a foreign language is meant for students that are studying Dutch abroad. In fairly every county where Dutch is taught, students can take the exams for this certificate once per year. From 2003 onwards there will be subject specific exams (Profielexamen) that can be taken (touristic and informative skills, community applicable language skills, professional language skills and academical language skills). The four skills (reading, writing, listening and speaking) are tested for each profile.

Please check: www.taalunie.org/_/werkt/default.html for more information.

The coordination and organizational support of the exams Certificate Dutch as a foreign language have been handed over to the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven and the Universiteit van Amsterdam.

For more information you can turn to : Certificaat Dutch as a foreign language http://www.cnavt.org or mail to: cnavt@arts.kuleuven.ac.be

The NT2-exam is a state-exam that is examined three times per year on two different levels. Examprogram 1 is meant for people that are looking for a job with low responsibility and that want to take a job training to achieve that. Examprogram 2 is meant for people looking for a medium to high profile job and that want to take higher education to achieve that.

Please check www.ib-groep.nl/studiepunt for more information.

People that want to take the State-exam Dutch as a Second Language have to apply three months in advance. For application forms and information:

Informatie Beheer Groep
NT2 administratie
Postbus 30158
9700 LK Groningen
Tel.: +31 (0)50 599 88 41 of 599 88 42
Fax: +31 (0)50 599 88 99

More information can also be found on: www.ib-groep.nl

The DIALANG project is a partnership-project between different European universities that is financed by the European Committee and has been developed with the goal to develop a test for fourteen different European languages, that also connects to the levels of the European Framework of Reference.

DIALANG tests are examined by computer in one of the fourteen languages with one of these fourteen as the supportlanguage. This means that the test for Dutch can be supported by for instance German or English. The test is buildt up out of four parts: reading, listening, grammar and vocabulary.

Before the candidate takes the test his her level will first be determined by a pre-test. The level that has been determined through the pre-test is the level on which the candidate will be taking the actual test. At the end of each part there is feedback on the candidates level and on the errors made. The levels that are tested have to do with the language levels that have been described in the European Framework of Reference. And they can vary from absolute beginners to very advanced (A1 to C2).

The DIALANG tests are diagnostic tests. At this moment there is a Beta version of the test that can be tried out (Dutch, English, Spanish and Finnish). Hopefully the final version of the program will be ready at the end of April 2003.

Please see: http://www.dialang.org/ for detailed information on the DIALANG test.

European language certificates consist of a integrated learning plan and a test-format. When the test got developed they took the Common European Framework of Reference into account.

Please see the WBT-website for more information. There is a description available of the learning goals for Dutch in our Bibliography.

With the European language certificate students can prove that they possess the knowledge and skills to take part in common communicative situations, in daily life as well as at work. This level of language comprehension is equal to the “Threshold”-level of the Common European Framework of Reference.

You can send a letter to the:

WBT Weiterbildungs-Testsysteme GmbH
Wächtersbacher Str. 83
D-60386 Frankfurt
Germany
Fax: +49 69 956246 62
Tel.: +49 69 956246 0
E-mail: info@WBTests.de