Step by step: Using the CEFR in the classroom

The CEFR’s central aim is to provide a method of learning, teaching and assessing that applies to all European languages. The framework makes evaluating language qualifications easier for educational institutions and employers.

By using clear, internationally recognised benchmarks, educators can help learners progress through language proficiency levels, ensuring they develop the skills to communicate effectively in real-world contexts. Aligning teaching and evaluation with the CEFR framework ensures that language instruction is systematic, transparent and effective.

The CEFR distinguishes four kinds of language activities: reception (listening and reading), production (spoken and written), interaction (spoken and written) and mediation (translating and interpreting). It divides language proficiency into six levels, grouped into three categories:

 In 2020, the Council of Europe released an updated Companion Volume that presents the key aspects of the CEFR for teaching and learning in a user-friendly format, and contains the complete set of extended CEFR descriptors, which replace the original 2001 set. These include descriptors for mediation, online interaction, plurilingual/pluricultural competence and sign language competences. The illustrative descriptors have been adapted for sign languages and all descriptors are now gender-neutral.

Teaching along the CEFR pathways

Teachers can use the CEFR descriptors in everyday education, in a way that scales up to higher  levels and larger systems. The CEFR framework descriptors can be used to select and structure activities, explain objectives to learners and monitor student performance. For assessment, teachers can use standardised tests or create their own tests and exams based on the CEFR descriptors to measure proficiency in a standardised way.

The CEFR recommends an action-oriented approach that encourages pupil autonomy, with a synergy between collaborative work and personal reflective work.

The CEFR structure can be incorporated into language teaching at all levels to set clear objectives and ensure that the curriculum allows for a gradual increase in complexity. The framework emphasises interacting and communicating with real-world language capabilities, and prioritises integrated skills: teaching listening, speaking, reading and writing in a connected way.