The Significance of the
Common European Framework for
Teaching Modern Languages Today
Jürgen Quetz
Goethe-University
Frankfurt am Main (Germany)
Prof. Dr. Jürgen Quetz (Frankfurt am Main)
Authors:
Daniel Coste
Brian North
Joseph Sheils
John L. M. Trim
Prof. Dr. Jürgen Quetz (Frankfurt am Main)
The Common European Framework is …
 one of the Council of Europe’s statements of language
policy - of worldwide interest and influence
 a model of competence
 a help for planning FLT
 an instrument to compare FLT concepts and
materials, tests and qualifications
Prof. Dr. Jürgen Quetz (Frankfurt am Main)
The CEF is ...
• not a syllabus
• not prescriptive
• no manual for better language teaching
Prof. Dr. Jürgen Quetz (Frankfurt am Main)
© Hans-Jürgen Krumm
Plurilingualism and Intercultural Competences as main
political aims of the CoE
Prof. Dr. Jürgen Quetz (Frankfurt am Main)
plurilingual individuals
multilingual societies
CEF, Chapters 1 & 8
Consequences for FLT:
(1) 1 + 2 (= mother tongue + 2 living modern
languages in the school curriculum)
(2) Intercultural Communicative Competence
Prof. Dr. Jürgen Quetz (Frankfurt am Main)
The CEF as a model of competence
CEF, Chapters 3 - 5
Language use, embracing language learning,
comprises the actions performed by persons who ... develop a
range of competences, both general and in particular
communicative language competences.
They draw on the competences at their disposal in various
contexts under various conditions and under various
constraints to engage in language activities
involving language processes to produce
and/or receive texts ..., activating those strategies which seem
most appropriate for
carrying out the tasks to be accomplished.
Prof. Dr. Jürgen Quetz (Frankfurt am Main)
Is the CEF like a ladder with equidistant steps?
C2
C1
B2
B1
A2
A1
Prof. Dr. Jürgen Quetz (Frankfurt am Main)
B1 (Threshold)
100%
or 340-680 teaching units
A1 (Breakthrough)
25%
or 85-170 teaching units
A2 (Waystage)
50%
or 170 - 340 teaching units
Prof. Dr. Jürgen Quetz (Frankfurt am Main)
This 1st dimension is used
to define levels of
 courses
 course books & materials
 tests and qualifications
Prof. Dr. Jürgen Quetz (Frankfurt am Main)
A
B
C
Basic Language Use
Independent
Language Use
/
\
Competent Language
Use
/
\
/
\
A1
A2
START 1
B1
START 2
B2
C1
C2
Zertifikat
Goethe-
Goethe-
Goethe-
Deutsch
Zertifikat B2
Zertifikat C1
Zertifikat C2
Test for
Key English
Preliminary
First Cam-
Certificate of
Cambridge
Young
Test (KET)
English Test
bridge
Advanced
Proficiency
(PET)
Certificate
English
(CPE)
(FCE)
(CAE)
DELF B2
DALF C1
Learners
DELF A1
DELF A2
DELF B1
Prof. Dr. Jürgen Quetz (Frankfurt am Main)
DALF C2
How the "steps" (reference levels) are defined:
Can deal with most situations likely to arise whilst travelling in an area
where the language is spoken.
Can enter unprepared into conversation on topics that are familiar, of
personal interest or pertinent to everyday life (e.g. family, hobbies, work,
travel and current events).
Prof. Dr. Jürgen Quetz (Frankfurt am Main)
Prof. Dr. Jürgen Quetz (Frankfurt am Main)
Global scale
Interaction
/ / | \ \
/ / | \ \
Listening
Production
Conversation
Informal discussion (with friends)
Formal discussion & meetings
Goal-oriented co-operation
Transaction: Shopping for goods &
services
Information exchange
Interviewing & being interviewed
Prof. Dr. Jürgen Quetz (Frankfurt am Main)
Reading
Overall
Overall Oral
Oral Production
Written
Reception
Production
Prof. Dr. Jürgen Quetz (Frankfurt am Main)
READING (B1)
Look at the sign in each box on the left. Someone asks you what it means. Mark the letter
next to the correct explanation – A, B, C or D – on your answer sheet.
Example
Regency Cameras
Buy two films
and get one FREE
A 
Buy three films for the price of two.
B 
Get a free film with every one you buy.
C 
One film free with each camera.
D 
Films bought here are printed free.
A 
You can buy tickets between 9 and 4 or just before the show begins.
B 
The ticket office remains open for 15minutes during each
performance.
C 
When there is a performance, tickets are not available after 4 o’clock.
D 
Tickets are on sale at the office until 15 minutes before the show
starts.
1.
Theatre Ticket Office
Open every day 9 – 4
and for 15 minutes before
each performance
2.
LEAVE THIS
PARKING SPACE REE
FOR EMERGENCY
VEHICLES
A 
Visitors can park here if the space is empty.
B 
Visitors can park here free in an emergency.
C 
Visitors must not park their vehicles here.
D 
Visitors do not need to pay to park here.
Prof. Dr. Jürgen Quetz (Frankfurt am Main)
Also in Chapter 4 („2nd Dimension“):
Reception Strategies
Planning
Execution
Evaluation
Repair
- Framing (selecting mental set, activating
schemata, setting up expectations).
- Identifying cues and inferring from them.
- Hypothesis testing: matching cues to
schemata.
- Revising hypotheses.
Prof. Dr. Jürgen Quetz (Frankfurt am Main)
This 2nd dimension is used to
 describe communicative activities and strategies
for courses & tests ...
 and the kind of language you need to carry out the
activities;
 it is the basis for test specifications in almost all
modern testing systems.
Prof. Dr. Jürgen Quetz (Frankfurt am Main)
Canale und Swain (1981; 1983)
Communicative Competence =
linguistic competence (lexis, morphology, syntax, pronunciation, …)
sociolinguistic competence (context adequate communication,
awareness of rules of social interaction in a specific culture)
discourse competence (e. g. produce a coherent spoken or written
text)
strategic competence (use of verbal and non-verbal strategies of
communication in order to avoid break-down of communication)
Prof. Dr. Jürgen Quetz (Frankfurt am Main)
Range
Shows great
C2
Accuracy
Fluency
Maintains consis- Can express him- Can interact with
Can create
flexibility reformulat- tent grammatical /herself
ease and skill,
ing ideas in differing control of com-
spontaneously at
picking up and using cohesive dis-
linguistic forms to
plex language,
length with a
non-verbal and
course making
convey finer shades
even while atten- natural colloquial
intonational cues
full and appro-
coherent and
of meaning precisely, tion is otherwise
flow, avoiding or
apparently effort-
priate use of a
to give emphasis, to
engaged (e.g. in
back-tracking
lessly. Can inter-
variety of organi-
differentiate and to
forward planning, around any
weave his/her contri- sational patterns
eliminate ambiguity.
in monitoring
difficulty so
bution into the joint
and a wide range
Also has a good
others' reac-
smoothly that the
discourse with fully
of connectors
command of idioma- tions).
interlocutor is
natural turn-taking,
and other cohe-
tic expressions &
hardly aware of it. referencing, allusion sive devices.
colloquialisms.
A1
Interaction Coherence
making etc.
Has a very basic
Shows only
Can manage very
Can ask and answer Can link words or
repertoire of words
limited control of short, isolated,
questions about
groups of words
and simple phrases
a few simple
mainly pre-pack-
personal details.
with very basic
related to personal
grammatical
aged utterances,
Can interact in a
linear connectors
details and particular structures and
with much
simple way but
like "and" or
concrete situations.
sentence
pausing to search communication is
patterns in a
for expressions,
totally dependent on
memorised
… and to repair
repetition, re-
Quetz (Frankfurt am Main) phrasing and repair.
repertoireProf. Dr. Jürgencommunication.
"then".
Prof. Dr. Jürgen Quetz (Frankfurt am Main)
This 3rd dimension reflects
traditional criteria for assessing
language production
and is also used
to describe the "quality" of
texts and text production
Prof. Dr. Jürgen Quetz (Frankfurt am Main)
Marking Criteria
Oral Examination
Criterion 1: Expression
Assessment is based on the extent to which the language used
(vocabulary and functional exponents) is appropriate to the task and
the role relationship between the two candidates.
Expression is:
A
B
C
D
appropriate in all respects.
appropriate in most respects.
mostly inappropriate.
completely inappropriate.
Prof. Dr. Jürgen Quetz (Frankfurt am Main)
The CEF is used for ...
course
books
National
Language
Standards
course
systems
CEF
European
Language
Portfolio
calibration of
testing
systems
syllabus
design
Prof. Dr. Jürgen Quetz (Frankfurt am Main)
Die Komponenten
Komponenten
Prof. Dr. Jürgen Quetz (Frankfurt am Main)
GeR descriptor

Prof. Dr. Jürgen Quetz (Frankfurt am Main)
• The CEF is by far the most important and most
influential document of language policy in Europe.
• It is used in all member countries of the EU
(and far beyond - even in Asia).
• It has been translated into almost 40 languages
(including Korean & Japanese).
• It serves as a guideline for most innovations in the
field of FLT.
• There is a wealth of teaching material with
transparent levels defined according to the CEF.
• It is used for defining cut-off points for entry
examinations for European countries
(TestDaF, Goethe exams).
• Even ETS has felt it necessary to relate TOEIC /
TOEFL tests to the CEF system (to protect their
chances on the European market).
Prof. Dr. Jürgen Quetz (Frankfurt am Main)
CEF and methodology
task-based approach
focus on language activities (listening, reading, speaking,
writing), not so much on formal knowledge:
"Teach the language, not about the language."
Practice of these activities in classroom tasks, through
project work (e. g. Airport project), use of media to get
authentic texts into the classroom and take learners
beyond the classroom.
Prof. Dr. Jürgen Quetz (Frankfurt am Main)