Theme: Accessing learner's writing skills to cefr scales content introduction chapter I. History of cefr

CHAPTER I. HISTORY OF CEFR
Knowledge of a language at a certain level can be quite different for different languages. It is not surprising, because all languages ​​are different - one has a developed system of grammatical tenses, but the words do not change. In the other, there are only three tenses, but you will have to sweat over cases and declensions. In the third, the grammar is primitive, but each word is not a set of letters, but a unique picture (hieroglyph). For each of them, “I know this language at an intermediate level” will mean a completely different set of skills and abilities.
What happened before the CEFR scale appeared? In each country, as a rule, a separate organization (usually the most respected in the field of language learning) was engaged in determining the levels of knowledge of the local language - this is the Cervantes Institute in Spain, the Goethe Institute in Germany, Cambridge in the UK. Textbooks and courses, tests and exams, respectively, were developed for these levels, individual for each country and each language. At the same time, it was almost impossible to compare knowledge of English at the intermediate level, German at the Mittelstufe level and Chinese at the jongden level.
And so, in 1991 in Switzerland (which is not accidental - it is a country with 4 official languages), at a scientific symposium it was decided to develop a universal scale that can be used to assess the levels of knowledge of any language. How long, short (science is a slow business), by 2003 a pilot project of such a scale was launched, and in 2007 the final version of the CEFR scale was officially presented at a conference in Cambridge. In subsequent years, virtually all courses and examinations in all European languages ​​(and some non-European languages) were brought into line with the new scale.

1.1 How CEFR works
The CEFR scale consists of 3 large levels of language proficiency: A, B and C - they are called, respectively:
Basic user (“basic user of the language”, you can understand and use some simple elements of the language)
Independent user (“independent user of the language”, at this level you can communicate “without a dictionary”; good or bad, but you can convey almost any idea)
Proficient user (“free user”, at this level you are already approaching native speakers; you can not only talk about anything, but also do it “beautifully”, it becomes pleasant to listen to you).
Each of these levels is divided into two more, which are already indicated by letters - A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, C2 are obtained - a total of 6 levels. Such a number of levels was not chosen by chance: on the one hand, to be sufficiently detailed and show different gradations in knowledge of the language, on the other hand, the levels should not be too close to be able to distinguish them from each other.
In situations where finer refinement is needed, you may see something like A2.1, A2.2, or B1+. There are no such levels officially in CEFR, but you can see them in the level names of different schools and courses when you need to break one level into several.
How CEFR assesses language proficiency
CEFR uses the so-called action-oriented approach, i.e. "Action-Oriented Approach". To determine the level, not knowledge of some special grammatical structures or words is used, but “what can be done”. Not "learned the present perfect and 100 words from the topic 'my city'", but "can understand the main idea when communicating on familiar topics - work, school, leisure."
Here is how, for example, such a “can do” looks like for level A2:
Can understand single sentences and common expressions related to the main areas of life (for example, basic information about myself and my family members, shopping, applying for a job, etc.). I can perform tasks related to the simple exchange of information on familiar or everyday topics. In simple terms, I can talk about myself, my family and friends, describe the main aspects of everyday life.
You see, “I can tell about myself and loved ones” - and it’s not so important what grammatical tense you use, the main thing is that the interlocutor understands you - after all, this is the ultimate goal of knowing a foreign language - to exchange information, not to learn the rules.