The CEFR/CV: Reinforcing the CEFR Message – Learning, Teaching, Assessment

Rosanna Margonis-Pasinetti (HEP Vaud), Member of the Core Group

Congreso Escuelas Oficiales de Idiomas de Canarias22-23 de febrero de 2019

Santa Cruz de Tenerife27/02/2019 1

CEFR Aims

Common European Framework of Reference for languages: • learning • teaching• assessment

CEFR Companion Volume:• Key aspects of the CEFR for teaching & learning• Updated and new illustrative descriptor scales

CEFR Aims

Common European Framework of Reference for languages: • learning • teaching • assessment

CEFR Companion Volume:• Key aspects of the CEFR for teaching & learning• Updated and new illustrative descriptor scales

Contents of the CEFR/CV

• The context • Key aspects of the CEFR for teaching and learning• Updated 2001 descriptor scales – including some

new scales

• Descriptor scales for new areas: - online interaction- mediation (including reactions to creative text) - plurilingual and pluricultural competence

• Outline of the research and development project

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Context of the CEFR/CV

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Context of the CEFR/CV

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Context of the CEFR/CV

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Context of the CEFR/CV

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Context of the CEFR/CV

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Context of the CEFR/CV

Other policy documents that further develop the educational principles and objectives of the CEFR: • a Guide for the development and implementation of curricula for plurilingual

and intercultural education);

• a Handbook for curriculum development and teacher education concerning the language dimension in all subjects.

• a Guide for the development of language education policies in Europe – from linguistic diversity to plurilingual education;

• policy guidelines and resources for the linguistic integration of adult migrants;

• guidelines for intercultural education and an Autobiography of Intercultural Encounters;

• the framework of competences for democratic culture.• education, mobility, otherness: the role of mediation in schools

Context of the CEFR/CV

Contents of the CEFR/CV

• The context • Key aspects of the CEFR for teaching and learning• Updated 2001 descriptor scales – including some

new scales

• Descriptor scales for new areas: - online interaction- mediation (including reactions to creative text) - plurilingual and pluricultural competence

• Outline of the research and development project

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Communicative language proficiency

General competences

Declarative knowledge

Savoir

Skills and know-how

Savoir-faire

Existential competenceSavoir-être

Ability to learnSavoir apprendre

Communicative language

competences

Linguistic

Sociolinguistic

Pragmatic

Communicative language activities

Reception

Production

Interaction

Mediation

Communicative language strategies

Reception

Production

Interaction

Mediation

CEFR descriptive scheme

• “Communication is an integral part of tasks where participants engage in

• interaction,• production, • reception,• mediation, or a combination of two or more of these”

(CEFR, p. 157)

Four modes not Four skills

Profiling not

Levelling

Proficiency Profile

Needs Profile

CEFR illustrative descriptors

• independent, stand-alone descriptors• not primarily intended for assessment.• do not attempt to cover each relevant aspect at

every level • are presented as non-mandatory examples• provide only illustrations of competence at the

different levels. • focus on aspects that are new and salient – not

comprehensive• open-ended and incomplete

Uses of the descriptors

• relating learning aims to real world language use, thus giving a framework to action-oriented learning

• providing transparent ‘signposting’ to learners, parents, sponsors

• offering a ‘menu’ to negotiate priorities with adult learners in a process of ongoing needs analysis

• suggesting classroom tasks to teachers, usually tasks that will involve activities described in several descriptors

• introducing criterion-referenced assessment with the criteria relating to an external framework (CEFR)

• teacher assessment / self-assessment

Contents of the CEFR/CV

• Foreword: the context of the work• Key aspects of the CEFR for teaching and learning• Updated 2001 descriptor scales – including some

new scales• Rationale for each scale

• Descriptor scales for new areas: - online interaction- mediation (including reactions to creative text) - plurilingual and pluricultural competence

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2001 scales – new ones

RECEPTION:• Reading as a leisure activity

PRODUCTION:• Sustained monologue: Giving information

INTERACTION:• Using telecommunications

LINGUISTIC COMPETENCE:• Phonological control (2001 scale replaced)

2001 scales – RationalesReading as a leisure activity involves fiction and nonfiction, literature, magazine and newspaper articles, blogs, biographies, etc. Key concepts operationalized:•length, variety of texts and whether there are illustrations;•type of texts, from simple descriptions to contemporary and classical writings in different genres;

•topics, from everyday topics to a full range of abstract and literary topics;

•type of language: from simple to stylistically complex;•ease of reading: from guessing with the help of images, to appreciating the full variety of texts;

•depth of understanding: from understanding in outline to understanding implicit meaning.

Contents of the CEFR/CV

• Foreword: the context of the work• Key aspects of the CEFR for teaching and learning• Updated 2001 descriptor scales – including some

new scales

• Descriptor scales for new areas: - online interaction- mediation (including reactions to creative text) - plurilingual and pluricultural competence

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Page 80 ► CEFR Companion Volume with New Descriptors (Provisional Edition)

InteractionActivities

Overall SpokenInteraction

Understanding theinterlocutor

Conversation

Informaldiscussion

Formal discussion(meetings)

Goal-orientedco-operation

Obtaining goods & services

Informationexchange

Interviewing &being interviewed

Usingtelecommunications

Overall WrittenInteraction

Correcpondence

Notes, messages &forms

Overall OnlineInteraction

Multimodal conversation &

discussion

Goal-oriented onlinetransactions & colloboration

InteractionStrategies

Taking the floor(Turntaking)

Cooperating

Asking forclarification

Category overviews

Mediating a text Relaying specific informationExplaining data (e.g. in graphs)Processing textTranslating written textListening & note-takingExpressing a personal response to creative text

(including literature)Analysis and criticism of creative text

(including literature)Mediation strategies Linking to previous knowledge Breaking down complicated

information Adapting language Elaborating a dense text Streamlining a text

Mediating concepts Facilitating collaborative interaction

with peers Collaborating to construct meaning Managing interaction Encouraging conceptual

thoughtMediating communication Facilitating pluricultural space

Acting as an intermediary Facilitating communication in delicate

situations / disputesPlurilingual/cultural competence Building on pluricultural repertoire Plurilingual comprehension Building on plurilingual repertoire

Category overviews

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The CEFR Illustrative Descriptor Scales ►Page 143

Plurilingual and pluricultural competence

The notions of plurilingualism and pluriculturalism presented in the CEFR Sections 1.3, 1.4, and 6.1.3) were the starting point for the development of descriptors in this area. The plurilingual vision associated with the CEFR gives value to cultural and linguistic diversity at the level of the individual. It promotes the need for learners as ‘social agents’ to draw upon all of their linguistic and cultural resources and experiences in order to fully participate in social and educational contexts, achieving mutual understanding, gaining access to knowledge and in turn further developing their linguistic and cultural repertoire. As the CEFR states:

‘… the plurilingual approach emphasises the fact that as an individual person’s experience of language in its cultural contexts expands, from the language of the home to that of society at large and then to the languages of other peoples (whether learnt at school or college, or by direct experience), he or she does not keep these languages and cultures in strictly separated mental compartments, but rather builds up a communicative competence to which all knowledge and experience of language contributes and in which languages interrelate and interact’. (CEFR Section 1.3)

Plurilingual and pluriculturalCompetence

Building on pluriculturalrepertoire

Plurilingualcomprehension

Building on plurilingualrepertoire

The vision of the learner as a social agent in the action-oriented approach takes these concepts further in relation to language education, considering that: ‘… 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’. (CEFR Section 1.3)

In the development of descriptors, the following points mentioned specifically in the CEFR were given particular attention:

► languages are interrelated and interconnected especially at the level of the individual;

► languages and cultures are not kept in separated mental compartments;

► all knowledge and experience of languages contribute to building up communicative competence;

► balanced mastery of different languages is not the goal, but rather the ability (and willingness) to modulate their usage according to the social and communicative situation;

► barriers between languages can be overcome in communication and different languages can be used purposefully for conveying messages in the same situation.

Other concepts were also taken into consideration after analysing recent literature:

► the capacity to deal with ‘otherness’ to identify similarities and differences to build on known and unknown cultural features, etc., in order to enable communication and collaboration;

► the willingness to act as an intercultural mediator;

► the proactive capacity to use knowledge of familiar languages to understand new languages, looking for cognates and internationalisms in order to make sense of texts in unknown languages – whilst being aware of the danger of ‘false friends;’

► the capacity to respond in a sociolinguistically appropriate way by incorporating elements of

Category overviews

Mediating concepts – collaborative group work

• Can use questions, comments and simple reformulations to maintain the focus of a discussion.

• Can ask questions to invite people to clarify their reasoning.

Facilitating pluricultural space

• Can support an intercultural exchange using a limited repertoire to introduce people from different cultures and to ask and answer questions, showing awareness that some questions may be perceived differently in the cultures concerned.

Plurilingual

• Can exploit creatively his/her limited repertoire in different languages for everyday contexts, in order to cope with an unexpected situation.

Descriptors (B1)

Contents of the CEFR/CV

• Foreword: the context of the work• Key aspects of the CEFR for teaching and learning• Updated 2001 descriptor scales – including some new

scales

• Descriptor scales for new areas: - online interaction- mediation (including reactions to creative text) - plurilingual and pluricultural competence

• Rationale for each scale

• Examples for each descriptor for the four domains personal, public, occupational, educational

Examples for domainsONLINE CONVERSATION & DISCUSSION

SITUATION (& ROLES)

PERSONAL PUBLIC OCCUPATIONAL EDUCATIONAL

A1

Can write very simple messages and personal online postings as a series of very short sentences about hobbies, likes/dislikes, etc., relying on the aid of a translation tool.

making contact online with remote friends and / or family - also as a possible language classroom simulation

public postings to a festival / event website - also as a possible language classroom simulation

as a contributor to a simple departmental social feed - also as a possible language classroom simulation

in a Q&A section of a school learning platform - also as a possible language classroom simulation

Can use formulaic expressions and combinations of simple words to post short positive and negative reactions to simple online postings and their embedded links and media, and can respond to further comments with standard expressions of thanks and apology.

making contact online with remote friends and / or family - also as a possible language classroom simulation

in a Q&A section of a school learning platform - also as a possible language classroom simulation

Conclusions:The CEFR/CV:• underlines core messages of the CEFR for teaching

and learning• provides descriptors that can inspire more

integrated, richer, collaborative classroom tasks • encourages the promotion of cross-linguistic

mediation and the plurilingual/pluricultural competence it requires

Place of new descriptors

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merci grazie gracias tesçekkurlerdanke faleminderit obrigado

thank you efcharisto