Dr. John H.A.L. de Jong graduated in General Linguistics, French and English languages from Leiden University and obtained a Ph.D. in Educational Measurement from Twente University. He has published numerous articles and books on language acquisition and assessment and on educational measurement. He is specialised in the empirical scaling of language proficiency and promotes the development of internationally standardised reporting scales of language proficiency. He was involved from the start in developing the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. After teaching French for seven years John continued his career at CITO, the Dutch National Institute for Educational Management. In 2000 he set up a company, "Language Testing Services" (LTS), to provide advice and services in the areas of language curriculum development, language testing and assessment in general to national and international educational authorities, educational institutions and international business corporations. In September 2006 he joined Pearson Language Assessments as Director Test Development.
