Waldek Martyniuk Jos

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Waldek Martyniuk José NoijonsLanguage Policy
Forum 2007
The use of the CEFR at national level
in the member states
of the Council of Europe
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1. Introduction

• Purpose of the surveys
• Preliminary survey use of the CEFR at
  institutional level
• Main survey use of the CEFR at national level

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2. Survey on the use of the CEFR at institutional
level

• May 2005 111 respondents from 37 European
  states, Egypt and Mexico
• Types of institutions Higher education (39)
  Central authority (29) Teacher training centre
  (18) Teacher education/Teacher college (18)
  Examination provider (16) Language school/centre
  (14) Adult education (12) Other Further
  education, publisher, primary or secondary
  school, cultural agency/centre (28)

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3. 2005 Survey results

• Best known/most frequently used the common
  reference levels - the scales of illustrative
  descriptors, the global scale and the self
  assessment grid
• The usefulness of the CEFR rated at 2,44 on a 0-3
  scale
• The CEFR most useful in the domains of testing
  /assessment /certification (2,70 on a 0-3 scale)
  and curriculum/ syllabus development (2,66 on a
  0-3 scale)
• Institutionally, the CEFR most useful for
  examination providers (2,88 on a 0-3 scale)

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4. Survey on the use of the CEFR at national
level (2006) Questionnaire (1)

• Translations
• Reference in official documents
• Usefulness in the context of
• Curriculum development
• Teacher education/training
• Testing and assessment

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5. Questionnaire (2)

• Examples of use
• Problems encountered
• Solutions adopted
• Future plans
• Needs for further developments

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6. Questionnaire (3)

• Ranking of needs
• Summary of impact
• Usefulness of related documents

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7. General outcomes

• Responses from 30 member states
• 36 language versions of the CEFR
• Frequent reference to the CEFR in a wide variety
  of national documents
• High usefulness in all the contexts
• ELP related documents most useful
• Significant impact on language education

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8. Specific use of the CEFR (1) Curriculum
development

• Varying impact
• Need for further dissemination, guidance and
  training
• Need to develop additional level specifications,
  descriptors and scales
• Need or plans to relate curricula and/or
  textbooks to the CEFR

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9. Specific use of the CEFR (2) Teacher
education/training

• Wide spectrum of use
• Useful for defining proficiency of teachers
• Need for more dissemination, guidance and
  training
• Need for co-operation at international level

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10. Specific use of the CEFR (3) Testing and
assessment

• Support for a common reference
• CEFR-based examinations attempted in most
  countries
• Complexity of relating tests to the CEFR levels
• Need for more guidance and training

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11. Specific use of the CEFR (4) Other contexts

• Development of CEFR-based course books and
  materials

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12. Summary

• Useful reference tool
• Significant impact
• Need for a reader-friendly summary
• Full potential not yet realised - need for
  further dissemination, mediation, guidance and
  training

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13. Group Work I needs related to the use of
the CEFR (1)

• Using the list of needs derived mostly from
  the responses to the survey please discuss and
  state
• which of the needs you can identify with
• which other needs you would wish to be added to
  the list
• how you would prioritise the needs, ranking them
  from 3 most urgent, to 1 less urgent

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14. Group Work I needs related to the use of
the CEFR (2)

• Development of
• additional elements of the CEFR No. 1,2
• tools for mediating the CEFR No. 3, 4(7), 5, 6,
  8, 9(8), 12(11), 13(18)
• CEFR-based materials No. 5, 15(10)
• Training No. 10(9), 14
• Planning and decision making No. 11(14), (15)
• Action No. 7, 16(12), 17(13)
• International co-operation No. 7, 18(16),
  19(17), 20(19), (20)