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The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment (CEFR) Companion Volume is an extension and update of the original CEFR, first published in 2001. The CEFR provides a standardized way of describing language proficiency levels. It is widely used in language education and assessment globally.
Updates and Enhancements
The CEFR Companion Volume includes several key updates and enhancements. It provides new and extended illustrative descriptors covering a wider range of communicative activities, including online interaction, mediation, plurilingual/pluricultural competence, and sign language competencies. It also introduces various communicative language activities and strategies. Additionally, existing descriptors have been refined to more accurately reflect the nuances of language use and to address any identified gaps since the original CEFR publication. The Companion Volume also emphasizes inclusivity, giving more attention to the needs of all language learners, including those with disabilities. Also, it includes descriptors for online interaction.
CEFR Proficiency Levels
The CEFR (2001) describes language proficiency across six levels
- A1 (Beginner)
- A2 (Elementary)
- B1 (Intermediate)
- B2 (Upper Intermediate)
- C1 (Advanced)
- C2 (Proficiency)
In the CEFR Companion Volume (2020), these are complemented by a Pre-A1 level.
Key Components
Communicative activities are divided into four main types: reception (listening and reading), production (spoken and written), interaction (spoken and written), and mediation (congnitive and relational). The framework details various competences necessary for communication, such as linguistic (vocabulary, grammar), sociolinguistic (socio-cultural context), and pragmatic (functional use of language). Detailed descriptors provide specific skills and competencies at each level for each type of communicative activity and competence.
Applications
The CEFR Companion Volume can be used in various contexts. In language teaching, it helps in designing curricula and course content to meet specific needs of learners at different proficiency levels. In assessment, it aids in developing assessments that accurately measure language proficiency according to CEFR standards. For self-assessment, it assists learners in understanding their language proficiency and setting realistic learning goals. The CEFR Companion Volume is an essential tool for educators, learners, and policymakers in the field of language education. It ensures a comprehensive, consistent, and flexible approach to language learning and assessment across different languages and cultural contexts.
History
The Council of Europe's stated aim has been to promote the rule of law, human rights and democracy in its member states. It aims at supporting European linguistic diversity. The Council of Europe has focused on languages spoken by minorities in Europe. The original CEFR was published by the Council of Europe in 2001. One component of the CEFR 2001 are the competence levels A1-A2-B1-B2-C1-C2. The CEFR was created to make curricula, textbooks, tests, etc. comparable with each other.
The Council of Europe's authoring team emphasized that the CEFR was not written primarily as a framework for assessment and test development. Similarly, linguists such as Alderson, Quetz and others criticized the lack of system in the descriptors and the context-free nature of these. Other critics invoked the danger of a rigid "pan-European" language testing system. Brian North, one of the authors of the CEFR team, addressed such criticisms in a Guardian article in 2004:
The Council of Europe (COE) fully respects the diversity of educational and assessment systems in its 45 member states. It does not and could not promote "a shared language testing system", as one misguided commentator was cited as claiming in Dr Fulcher's article.
— The Guardian, 15 April 2004
The Council of Europe gave the new version of the CEFR (published in 2020) the title "Companion Volume", as it quotes central passages from the original CEFR and explains them. At the same time, it redefines the underlying construct (i.e. "language as social action"). The Companion Volume takes into consideration the discussions that have taken place since 2001.
Macro-functions
The concept of macro-functions is Reception, Production, Interaction, and Mediation (instead of Reading, Writing, Speaking, and Listening). The CEFR-CV is based on a social constructivist approach: language is seen as the social action of several language users who jointly co-construct meaning.
"Mediation"
In the 2001 edition, "mediation" meant translating, interpreting, summarizing, reporting, etc. As such, it had become part of the foreign language curricula of secondary schools in Germany, Austria and other European states. In the CEFR-CV, however, mediation now refers to processes employed by multiple language users when jointly constructing meaning.
A distinction is made between "Cognitive Mediation" and "Relational Mediation". The scales on Cognitive Mediation describe the process of facilitating access to knowledge and concepts. In contrast, the scales under Relational Mediation focus on the processes of establishing and maintaining interpersonal relationships to create a cooperative environment.
No native speaker standards
Unlike in 2001, all references to a native speaker standard have disappeared in the CEFR-CV. In the 2001 edition, the use of 'native speaker' sometimes led to misunderstandings. In the CEFR-CV, pronunciation at C2, for example, is described as follows:
Can employ the full range of phonological features in the target language with a high level of control – including prosodic features such as word and sentence stress, rhythm and intonation – so that the finer points of their message are clear and precise. Intelligibility and effective conveyance and enhancement of meaning are not affected in any way by features of accent that may be retained from other language(s).
Contexts
The CEFR's 54 descriptor scales had been reduced to a single scale, i.e. the "Global Scale". This misunderstanding is documented by the use of a six-step staircase to illustrate the competence model suggested by the CEFR. In the CEFR-CV, the descriptor scales are intended to describe context-specific, differentiated competence profiles.
The illustrative descriptors are one source for the development of standards appropriate to the context concerned; they are not in themselves offered as standards. They are a basis for reflection, discussion and further action. The aim is to open new possibilities, not to pre-empt decisions. The CEFR itself makes this point very clearly, stating that the descriptors are presented as recommendations and are not in any way mandatory.
— Council of Europe
Online communication: Appendix 5
The CEFR-CV's Appendix 5 contains examples of the use of the descriptors for online interaction and mediation activities in different domains. The examples were created in a series of online workshops during development phase 3. They are intended to help educators select activities for each descriptor that are appropriate for their learners. All appendices are included in the CEFR-CV volume.
Sign language
The inclusion of scales on "signing skills" is based on a project of the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) and aims for inclusion promoted by UNESCO.
Further reception
The CEFR-CV repeats a passage with which the goal of language teaching had already been redefined in 2001:
The aim of language education is profoundly modified. It is no longer seen as simply to achieve 'mastery' of one or two, or even three languages, each taken in isolation, with the 'ideal native speaker' as the ultimate model. Instead, the aim is to develop a linguistic repertory, in which all linguistic abilities have a place.
— Council of Europe
As of 2024, "localized" versions of the CEFR exist in Japan, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Mexico and Canada. "CEFR is a suitable and credible benchmark for English standards in Malaysia." This is how, for example, the Malaysian government wrote about it.
Literature
- Alderson, J. C., Figueras, N., Kuijper, H., Nold, G. Takala, S., Tardieu, C. (2004): The development of specifications for item development and classification within The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment: Reading and Listening: Final report of The Dutch CEF Construct Project. Lancaster University (unpublished).
- Council of Europe (ed.) (2001): A Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment. Strasbourg. Deutsch: Goethe-Institut, et al. (Hg.) (2001): Gemeinsamer europäischer Referenzrahmen für Sprachen: Lernen, lehren, beurteilen. Munich, Berlin. J. Trim, B. North, D. Coste, J. Sheils. Translated by J. Quetz, et al.
- Debray, C.; Spencer-Oatey; H. (2022): Co-constructing good relations through troubles talk in diverse teams. Journal of Pragmatics (2022), 85–97.
- Vogt, K. and Quetz, J. (2021): Der neue Begleitband zum Gemeinsamen europäischen Referenzrahmen für Sprachen. Berlin, Germany.
References
- "As the subtitle 'learning, teaching, assessment' makes clear, the CEFR is not just an assessment project. CEFR 2001 Chapter 9 outlines many different approaches to assessment, most of which are alternatives to standardised tests. It explains ways in which the CEFR in general, and its illustrative descriptors in particular, can be helpful to the teacher in the assessment process, but there is no focus on language testing and no mention at all of test items." (Council of Europe 2020: 289).
- The CEFR-CV contains an illustration on mediation which does not take the social constructivist approach into account. (Council of Europe 2020: 35).
- "What The Cefr Is And Isn't". Free Malaysia Today. 27 May 2019. Archived from the original on 24 September 2020. Retrieved 18 July 2024.