Abstract
The present review looks into the purpose, historical background of the Diplomas de Español como Lengua Extranjera (DELE) as well as its construct and content validity, reliability and limitations. The DELE are considered the most important tests on Spanish language competency as they are recognized in many countries to gain access to educational and professional institutions. Its purpose and history can be easily obtained from Instituto Cervantes (IC), Spain’s Ministry of Education and University of Salamanca’s websites. However, published empirical studies on its validity and reliability are still scarce despite of almost two decades of existence.
