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CHAPTER 2
Principles and theoretical issues of CEFR
2.1 " Can do " descriptors
A1 learners
Can recognize simply vocabulary and basic expressions concerning themselves or their family. Can understand and reply to simply expressions spoken very clearly and slowly
A2 learners
Can use basic sentence patterns and groups of phrases to communicate and describe personal information, routine activities and requests
B1 learners
Can understand the main points of clear speech on familiar topics. Can work out the main points they want to communicate in a range of contexts.
B2 learners
Can understand the main ideas of complex speech on concrete and abstract topics, including technical discussions in their field of specialization.
C1 learners
Have a good command of vocabulary including some idiomatic expressions and speaks fluently
C2 learners
Have no difficulty in understanding any kind of spoken language, whether live or broadcast. Can express thoughts fluently and effectively. Can use a variety of cohesive devices in written language to produce a coherent and cohesive text.
2.2 Using the CEFR to choose or commission appropriate assessments
•Using the CEFR in the development of assessments
The CEFR was designed to be applicable to many contexts, and it does not contain information specific to any single context. However, in order to use the CEFR in a meaningful way, developers must elaborate the contents of the CEFR. This may include, for example, establishing which vocabulary and structures occur at a particular proficiency level in a given language, writing and validating further Can Do statements for a specific purpose or developing a set of Reference Level Descriptions . Defining the context and purpose of the test The first step for test developers in adapting the CEFR to their needs is to clearly define the context(s) and specify the purpose(s) of the test. The examples in Figure 2 show that there is a very wide range of contexts and purposes for assessments. Some cover small, probably homogeneous, groups (e.g. 2), other groups are large and diverse (e.g. 4). Likewise, the purpose of an assessment can be very specific (e.g. 3), or quite general and applicable to many contexts of use (e.g. 4). If the context and purpose of the test is decided by someone else, such as a government agency, you must help them to specify the context and purpose as clearly as possible so that the task of developing the test can be completed successfully.
Figure 3. Examples of contexts and purposes for assessment Once the context and purpose are established, it is possible to delineate the target language use (TLU) situations. For example, for the university applicants, several TLUs can be imagined: attending lectures, participating in seminars, giving presentations, reading books and papers, writing reports and essays; and each TLU may suggest a different combination of skills and language exponents. Furthermore, demands may vary on different courses: those such as law may require higher levels of ability in literacy-related areas than others, such as engineering. The CEFR can help in defining TLUs with its descriptive scheme. It divides language use into four separate, wide-ranging domains (2001a:45):
• personal • public
• occupational • educational.
Situations occurring within one or more of these domains can be described by variables such as the people involved, the things they do in the situation, and objects and texts found in the situation (2001a:46). Depending on the TLU situations considered most important, the examples of contexts and purposes in Figure 6 may relate to these domains like this:
• university
– educational
• school
– personal, public and educational
• migration
– personal, public, educational and possibly occupational
• work
– occupational.
Table 5 of the CEFR provides examples for each category within each domain. Further schemes of classification are provided to describe a number of characteristics in Chapter 4, such as the relative (mental) contexts of learners and interlocutors (2001a:51), communicative themes (2001a:51–3), tasks and purposes (2001a:53–6), language activities and strategies (2001a:57–90).These categories are illustrated with Can Do descriptors arranged on scales corresponding to ability level. The descriptive scheme will help, therefore, not only in describing the TLU situation but also in determining the minimal acceptable level for your context. Users need to be aware, however, that although the descriptive scheme is illustrated, the CEFR does not contain an exhaustive catalogue of all possible TLU situations, or descriptions of minimal acceptable ability levels. Assessment developers will need to determine what is required for your situation based on the guidance set out within the CEFR. The CEFR considers some types of potential candidates, but other groups – notably young learners – are not very well covered in the descriptive scales, as they were developed with adults in mind and do not take into account the cognitive stages before adulthood. If your target group of candidates consists of young learners, you may need to construct your own series of scales along the lines of those to be found in the CEFR. The CEFR is accompanied by a growing ‘toolkit’ which is designed to help users exploit the CEFR. The Manual for Language Test Development and Examining. For use with the CEFR (Council of Europe/ ALTE 2011) provides further guidance on this. Reference Level Descriptions are available in several languages (see Appendix A), and validated Can Do statements are available from organisations like the Association of Language Testers in Europe (ALTE). Linking tests to the CEFR At this point in the process of developing the test, substantial work towards establishing a link to the CEFR will already have been done. However, the test provider often needs to show more evidence about how a test is linked to the CEFR and to argue convincingly for the interpretations that they recommend for the test results based on the CEFR levels. This leaves the test provider in the position of designing a research and evidence gathering programme to meet these needs. For this reason, the Council of Europe published Relating Language Examinations to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment (CEFR), A Manual (Council of Europe 2009a), which contains a range of procedures to help test providers begin to build their argument. This Manual suggests a programme with five main elements:
• familiarisation
• specification
• standardisation training and benchmarking
• standard setting procedures
• validation.
The programme of linking suggested by this Manual, and the procedures it contains are by no means the only way such work can be done, and they are not necessarily appropriate in every context. It is important for test providers to reflect carefully on whatever work they undertake, as it is their responsibility to show that this work supports the interpretations of test results that they recommend to test users. The applicability of the procedures in the Manual will differ according to context and aims. It is also important to note that linking work should not be seen as a oneoff project that never needs to be revisited; it must be included in the ongoing development and management of the test. This is elaborated in North and Jones (2009) and in the following sections of the current document. Test production Tests may be used more than once, or made in several different versions for security reasons. It is important to maintain the links to the CEFR throughout each cycle of test development, construction and use. The best way to do this is to make sure the experts involved in these tasks know the CEFR
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