It is a description of a person's ability to use the English language to accomplish a set of tasks. Classes may be full or part time, days, evenings or weekends.
Learners come from all over the world with a huge variety of languages and educational backgrounds.
With all these differences, it is not surprising that there has been no common set of standards for measuring language learning among adult ESL learners. No, they are neither. The Peel Board of Education has already developed test instruments which place learners on Benchmarks 1 to 8. There are three types of benchmarks and each describes ability within a specific area of language skill or combination of skills. There are twelve Benchmarks in each of the three areas, making thirty-six in all.