What are the Canadian Language Benchmarks (CLBs)?
The CLBs are a nation-wide standard used for assessing and describing the English language proficiency of adults who are newcomers to Canada, or who wish to immigrate to Canada. The CLBs were designed to be a fair, reliable, and practical standard of English proficiency in workplace, community, educational, and training settings. The CLBs are organized as a set of benchmarks that describe the ability of a non-native English speaker to read, write, speak, and understand English. They provide educators with a consistent national standard by which to assess English language learners, and they use real and practical language tasks to gauge a learner’s progress. The CLBs also assist educators in developing their teaching and assessment strategies. You can learn more about the CLBs at the Centre for Canadian Language Benchmarks’ website, where you can also download a copy of the benchmarks.
