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What is ELSA

ELSA, short for English Literacy Skills Assessment, is a language-based assessment that also incorporates basic numeracy.
ELSA measures a person's ability to integrate listening, speaking, reading and writing skills in English. The assessment benchmarks the candidate's current skills level against the expected competency level of an English mother tongue speaker.  Results are expressed in formal learning years in English. It is also equated to NQF levels, equivalent school grades and the CEF (Common European Framework) outcomes. The individual report maps the language strengths and weaknesses of the candidate.

What we Tell Our ELSA Candidates

Zanele makes sense of her ELSA experience in this short three-part video series.​
Why the ELSA assessment - Part 1
What did ELSA measure - Part 2
The ELSA Report - Part 3

ELSA Options

​Paper & Pen assessment
SUPERVISED
An in-house supervised assessment of English skills. 
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ELSA Elementary
  • Measures foundational (social) skills from 0 to 9 (fine-tuned)
  • Blue Collar workers (non-office settings)
  • Placement in foundational learning
ELSA Intermediate
  • Measures from 0 to 12+
  • White Collar workers (office settings)
  • Claims a matric qualification
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e-ELSA
An online assessment for computer-literate candidates or employees.​

What's your comfort zone?

English Comfort Zones Measured in formal education years 

01.

The Base Survivor
You find it hard to cope in situations where you need to use English.

02.

The Survivor
​You have some basic skills to survive in situations where you need to use English, but you don't feel comfortable and often doubt yourself.

03.

The Social Navigator
You have the skills to cope in situations where you need to use English among friends and people that you are comfortable with.

04.

The Workplace Survivor
You cope in English in a casual work environment doing routine tasks in a familiar setting. You feel stressed or worried when dealing with change.

05.

The Workplace Navigator
You manage in English in a familiar work setting. You can discuss professional matters, but sometimes feel frustrated when your fluency stops you from sharing your ideas.

06.

The Workplace Operator
You mostly communicate in English with ease. When you come across unfamiliar words, you have enough context to "fake it till you make it".

07.

The Professional
You mostly communicate in English with ease. When you come across unfamiliar words, you have enough context to "fake it till you make it".

08.

The Native
Congratulations! You are a Master of English! Native speaker proficiency is a very high level of competence for a non-native speaker.

English Literacy Statistics

What We've Learned From
ELSAs in 13 years
The average South African: 
Functions at English skills level expected after  7 years of formal learning by mother tongue users.
36% of South Africans are Functionally Literate 
Basic literacy and numeracy skills in tact to cope with life and work in English
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64% of South Africans are not Functionally literate 
Threshold at 8 years of language exposure competence

The average South-African is NOT Functionally Literate in English!

Why Should I Care?

ENGLISH is the language of the work, study and training environment, but it is not necessarily the language of the people. Whether you are a student, CEO, leader, employee, employer or entrepreneur, we tend to agree with Stephen Wang:
 "Your success will be determined 5% by your academic credentials, 15% by your professional experiences, and 80% by your communication skills."

ELSA is used for different purposes

Consult with Us

Find out how to use and select the correct ELSA, learn more about reports and sign up as an ELSA user.