About Us

The Canadian English Language Benchmark Assessment for Nurses (CELBAN) is a high-stakes English language proficiency exam for internationally educated nurses (IENs) recognized by Canadian nursing regulators. Assessment tasks in CELBAN replicate authentic, routine communications in a nursing environment. CELBAN is both relevant and engaging for IENs who must demonstrate their English language proficiency as part of their licensing process.
 
Four language-skill areas are assessed in CELBAN: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Test results include a proficiency report for regulators and a feedback report for examinees outlining linguistic strengths and weaknesses related to the productive skills (speaking and writing). The minimum CELBAN scores required for registration are set by Canadian Nursing Regulators and are as follows:
 

• Listening: CLB 9
• Speaking: CLB 8
• Reading: CLB 8
• Writing: CLB 7

 
CELBAN results are referenced to the Canadian Language Benchmarks (CLB), the national standard used to describe, measure, and recognize adult English as a second language (ESL) ability in Canada. The CLB are a descriptive scale of communicative abilities, expressed as 12 benchmarks or reference points, within three stages of ability: basic, intermediate and advanced. The ability to communicate effectively in a nursing environment requires proficiency in the high intermediate to advanced range. For this reason, CELBAN was designed to evaluate how IENs perform on communication tasks in the CLB 6-10 range of proficiency.
 
Ongoing research and development are important to the quality of assessments to ensure reliability, validity, fairness, and integrity. CELBAN content and procedures are under routine analysis, indicating constant renewal so that it retains its alignment with changes in the nursing profession and in language testing practices. For information on CELBAN related research, click here.