British Council-EAQUALS
CEFR Core Inventory (English)
Brian North (EAQUALS)
Susan Sheehan (British Council)
CEFR Core Inventory
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Aims
Development
Sources
Documentation of best practice
Use
Outcomes
Products
Aims
• To make the CEFR tangible and provide
support and guidance for teachers and
syllabus designers
• To make the teaching/planning process
more transparent
• To provide support for self-directed study
Aims
• Document the core of English taught at
CEFR levels A1 to C1
– Functions and notions
– Discourse markers
– Grammar
– Lexis
Aims
• Not intended to guide course developers
or examination bodies
• Waystage (A2)
• Threshold Level (B1)
• Vantage Level (B2)
• English Profile project
Development
• Iterative and collaborative process
• EAQUALS Curriculum & Assessment SIP
Mila Angelova, Rachel Bowden, Peter Brown, Lucy
Chambers, Alistair Fortune, Tim Goodier, Clare Grundy,
Roxane Harrison, Andrew Hart, Neil Hatfield, Sam Hawes,
Nicky Johnson, Nareene Kaloyan, Hanan Khalifa, Maja
Kukoya, Martin Lowder, Brian North, Niamh O’Leary,
Barry O’Sullivan, Angeles Ortega, Susan Sheehan, Jana
Pirkova, Caroline Preston, Richard Simpson, Howard
Smith, Liz Tuck, Marieta Tusheva.
Development
•
•
•
•
•
Stage
Stage
Stage
Stage
Stage
1
2
3
4
5
Data Collection and Analysis
Creation of Inventory
Writing the exponents
Identifying text types
Writing CEFR-based scenarios
Sources
• Analysis of language implied by CEFR
descriptors
• Analysis of content common in EAQUALS
CEFR-based language school syllabi
• Analysis of content of popular coursebooks
• Teacher surveys (BC / EAQUALS)
Documentation
of best practice
•Not what to teach but what is being taught
•Not prescriptive
•Don’t teach everything in the inventory
•Don’t only teach what is in the inventory
Use
• Core inventory has been created with
teachers and learners in mind.
• Each language point appears at the
level(s) at which it is considered of most
relevance to the learner in the class room.
• Decisions on recycling left to
teachers/syllabus writers
• Does not replace needs analysis or
listening to students
a practical reference of
“minimum core content”
not
a specification
meeting needs
of a specific group of learners
CEFR Core Inventory
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Aims
Development
Sources
Documentation of best practice
Use
Outcomes
Products
Outcome
• Relation of publishers levels to CEFR
• Map of language problems across levels
• Map of text types across levels
• Core language points
• Exponents
• Prototype Scenarios
Outcome
• Relation of publishers levels to CEFR
• Map of language problems across levels
• Map of text types across levels
• Core language points
• Exponents
• Prototype Scenarios
Outcome: Coursebooks
Outcome
• Relation of publishers levels to CEFR
• Map of language problems across levels
• Map of text types across levels
• Core language points
• Exponents
• Prototype Scenarios
Outcome: Map -language
Outcome
• Relation of publishers levels to CEFR
• Map of language problems across levels
• Map of text types across levels
• Core language points
• Exponents
• Prototype Scenarios
Outcome: Map -text
Outcome
• Relation of publishers levels to CEFR
• Map of language problems across levels
• Map of text types across levels
• Core language points
• Exponents
• Prototype Scenarios
Outcome
• Relation of publishers levels to CEFR
• Map of language problems across levels
• Map of text types across levels
• Core language points
• Exponents
• Prototype Scenarios
Outcome
• Relation of publishers levels to CEFR
• Map of language problems across levels
• Map of text types across levels
• Core language points
• Exponents
• Prototype Scenarios
CEFR Core Inventory
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Aims
Development
Sources
Documentation of best practice
Use
Outcomes
Products
Summary of Products
• Essential Guide (April)
– Core of key language points for each level
• Today‘s Publication
– CEFR salient features
– Key language points (Core / longer)
– Illustrative exponents
– Text types
– Scenarios
• Poster for each level (January)
• Contact:
–bnorth@eaquals.org
–Susan.Sheehan@britishcouncil.org
• Go to:
–www.teachingenglish.org.uk
–www.eaquals.org