European Language Policy: Assessment, Learning, and the Cefr

Abstract

This article describes how language policy is formed at a European level, focusing on the Common European Framework of Reference for Language (CEFR). The CEFR's prominent role in assessment has led to criticisms of its adequacy as a model for learning and fears that it is being used as an instrument of centralization and harmonization. First, we argue for studying the CEFR's effect on language policy as a case of impact, as this concept is understood within language assessment. We refer to experience with Asset Languages, developed as part of the United Kingdom's national languages strategy. Second, we agree with many commentators who insist on the framework's “flexible and context-amenable” nature. If use of the CEFR is made prescriptive and closed, it indeed becomes a straitjacket. What is needed is engagement with the complexity of specific contexts. We introduce the European Survey on Language Competences, a European Union (EU) initiative scheduled for 2011, which will further raise the profile of the CEFR as an assessment framework. This project should contribute to achieving comparability of measures and standards across languages. At the same time it underlines the need to develop contextualized, practical ways of realizing the CEFR's potential as a framework for teaching and learning.

In-house Placement of Freshman Students for the EAP Program in a Hospitality-Specialized Institution

“…Based on previous years' data analyses, learners' proficiency levels should be in the range of Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) Levels A2 to B1 (Jones & Saville, 2009). The new placement testing results should be able to identify the students' proficiency levels by comparing them with the CEFR.…”

AssessingEnglishinEurope

“…That is to say, language syllabi and tests would reflect certain standards, and when necessary (e.g., a student moving to another country) the CEFR could be used as a reference (e.g., to select a suitable course to take next). However, the transitivity has been reversed in many contexts, with the CEFR becoming the standard, and with language syllabi and tests having to conform to it instead (Jones & Saville, 2009). Its being used out of context is also reflected in the framework being adopted in non-European contexts as far afield as Japan, Taiwan, the Middle East, and Latin America, regions whose linguistic realities and requirements may be quite different from those in Europe (e.g., learners may be lower-level and need a framework with finer gradations of those levels).…”

“…The European Commission, for example, has sponsored the European Survey of Language Competences, which assessed a sample of 1,500 students in each participating country on reading, writing, and listening (Jones & Saville, 2009). The aim is to provide information about foreign language learning in those countries, and the extent to which they are reaching their goals of citizens becoming plurilingual.…”

“…Also quite unfortunately, many people have reduced the CEFR to the illustrative descriptors, forgetting other aspects and features of the framework, such as approach to language learning (Jones & Saville, 2009).…”

Comparative Study of Two Foreign Language Examinations for University Entry in England and Spain

“…Surprisingly, the English curriculum makes no direct reference to the CEFR, however, the British educational authorities commissioned a project with the explicit intention to map the various existing language qualifications to particular levels of the CEFR (Jones & Saville, 2009 great deal of imbalance between the two examination systems. Whereas the English Alevel was found to have a high degree of all three elements and therefore it can be regarded as a useful assessment tool, the same, unfortunately, cannot be said about the Spanish PAU.…”