While travelling around the world and especially while living in China, I discovered that many people have never heard of the Common European Framework Reference of Languages (CEFR), even though they were sometimes taught according to it in English or other languages.
History of CEFR
First published in 2001, the CEFR was supposed to be a guideline for learning and assessing European Languages and creating equal assessment standards to study and learn different European languages and make it possible to compare certain language level achievements.
Even though it was never seen as a compulsory framework, many schools, university, and learning institutions started seeing the benefits of such a framework and used loosely, later extensively for the implementation of language courses and their respective assessment in reflective academic, inclusive, and gender-neutral way.
What are language standards in the framework?
The best known part of the CEFR might be the classification of every European language into three language categories and six levels: A, B, and C with each of them having a level 1 and a level 2. The describe the users of the language as Basic user (A), Independent User (B), and Proficient User (C).
The distinction is based on a variety of descriptors that are outlined in the descriptor table.
In the following grid, the respective descriptors are outline according to the respective language level (A1 to C2) and according to the respective skills (Reading, Listening, Speaking, Writing). Another interesting observation of the descriptors is that they are categories according to passive language reception such as Listening and Speaking (Understanding) and active language production (Speaking and Writing).
For further information and news on the development of the European Framework of Languages, please visit the website of the CEFR: https://www.coe.int/en/web/common-european-framework-reference-languages.
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