The Common European Framework in its political and educational context What is the Common European Framework?

Participants
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Support:
The provision of adequate information concerning contextual features and the availabil-
ity of language assistance can help reduce task difficulty.
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amount of contextualisation provided: task accomplishment may be facilitated by the
provision of sufficient and relevant information about participants, roles, content,
goals, setting (including visuals) and relevant, clear and adequate instructions or
guidelines for carrying out the task;
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extent to which language assistance is provided: in interaction activities, task rehear-
sal or carrying out a parallel task in a preparatory phase, and the provision of lan-
guage support (key words, etc.) helps to create expectations and to activate prior
knowledge or experience and acquired schemata; non-immediate production activ-
Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: learning, teaching, assessment
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ities will obviously be facilitated by the availability of resources such as reference
works, relevant models, and assistance from others.
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Time:
The less time available for task preparation and performance, the more demanding the
task is likely to be. Temporal aspects to be considered include:
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time available for preparation, i.e. the extent to which planning or rehearsal is pos-
sible: in spontaneous communication intentional planning is not possible and con-
sequently a highly developed and subconscious use of strategies is required for
successful task completion; in other instances the learner may be under less severe
time pressure and can exercise relevant strategies at a more conscious level, for
example where communication schemata are fairly predictable or determined in
advance as in routine transactions, or where there is adequate time for planning, exe-
cuting, evaluating, and editing text as is normally the case with interaction tasks
which do not require an immediate response (corresponding by letter) or non-
immediate spoken or written production tasks;
•
time available for execution: the greater the degree of urgency inherent in the com-
municative event, or the shorter the time allowed for learners to complete the task,
the greater the pressure in carrying out the task in spontaneous communication;
however, non-spontaneous interaction or production tasks may also create time pres-
sure, for example, to meet a deadline for completing a text, which in turn reduces
the time available for planning, execution, evaluation and repair; 
•
duration of turns: longer turns in spontaneous interaction (e.g. recounting an anec-
dote) are normally more demanding than short turns;
•
duration of the task: where cognitive factors and performance conditions are constant,
a lengthy spontaneous interaction, a (complex) task with many steps, or the planning
and execution of a lengthy spoken or written text is likely to be more demanding
than a corresponding task of a shorter duration.
•
Goal:
The greater the amount of negotiation required to achieve the task goal(s) the more
demanding the task is likely to be. In addition, the extent to which expectations with
regard to task outcomes are shared by the teacher and learners will facilitate the accep-
tance of diversified but acceptable task accomplishment. 
•
convergence or divergence of task goal(s): in an interaction task a convergent goal nor-
mally involves more ‘communicative stress’ than a divergent goal, i.e. the former
requires participants to arrive at a single, agreed outcome (such as reaching a con-
sensus on a course of action to be followed) which may involve considerable negotia-
tion as specific information which is essential for successful task completion is
exchanged, whereas the latter has no single, specific intended outcome (e.g. a simple
exchange of views);
•
learner and teacher attitudes to goal(s): teacher and learner awareness of the possibility
and acceptability of different outcomes (as opposed to learners’ (perhaps subcon-
scious) striving for a single ‘correct’ outcome) may influence task execution. 
Tasks and their role in language teaching
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