CEF - Summary

Using this framework it is possible to build up an accurate profile of competence for any job applicant.

The language skills requirements of the company concerned can then be related to the content of language courses, thus making teaching and learning closely work-related.

If, for instance, a member of staff is to work as a sales representative abroad, then he/she must be able to understand written messages in the foreign language well and be able to respond to what is being said. On the other hand, the rules of business correspondence are less important to him/her than they would be, for instance, to someone working in sales management or marketing.

CEF provides language certificates examining boards and further education institutions with standards for clearly defining their qualifications and making these internationally comparable.

Summary:

CEF

  • Provides the means of distinguishing between different language skills and measuring them objectively.
  • Provides the basis for task-oriented foreign language teaching, so language teaching can be related directly to the work carried out.
  • Validity of the CEF all over Europe means that job applications from different European countries can easily be compared with each other.

The construction of such a comprehensive, transparent and coherent framework for language learning and teaching does not imply the imposition of one single uniform system.

On the contrary, it should be open and flexible so that it is adaptable, user-friendly and non-dogmatic meaning that it is not attached exclusively to one of any number of linguistic or educational theories or practices, for the full variety of purposes involved in the planning of language learning.

The CEF provides the means of distinguishing between these different language skills and measuring them objectively. Thus, the CEF provides the basis for task-oriented foreign language teaching, so language teaching can be related directly to the work carried out. As well as this, the validity of the CEF all over Europe means that job applications from different European countries can easily be compared with each other.

In future it will be possible to provide precise answers to the question:

How well does the applicant really know the language concerned?