CEFR Levels- Top Language Proficiency Tests

CEFR is a globally accepted framework of excellence to examine one’s effectiveness in the usage of a language extensively. It is sort of reference guide that can be easily followed by anybody who wishes to educate, evaluate, improve and enhance one’s skills regarding a specific language.When somebody attempts to learn a new language, they first against themselves with it. For someone to master a language/know their level of command over it. They require some basis of comparison or a particular existing bodywork to look up to. The CEFR provides that particular structure needed to judge a person’s ability to express himself through the said language.

The CEFR has not mentioned any distinct rulebook to follow. To make the overall understanding of the structure simple, CERF has specified basic levels. These levels are categorized on basis of acquiring enough knowledge about a language’s grammar and the level of comfort while using it. The CEFR levels are created to determine the stages of one’s learning of a new means of communication.

The CEFR infects a prevalent basis for curriculum design, syllabus approach, specific rules and regulations for a decent communication. CEFR was first founded by the Council of Europe to address the issue of unavailability of any standard to measure one’s proficiency in language usage. The CEFR finds its usage in many ways during the course of learning. As mentioned earlier, this basic framework can be used to highlight the milestones that an aspiring learner should accomplish to achieve a certain level of expertise.

The CEFR can be further used to:

Set goals

Evaluate improvement

Check efficiency

Conduct constant test

Build confidence

Furthermore, CEFR was first developed for European native languages to assess their understanding and generate a standard common to all the Europeans.

Due to its flexible nature, the CEFR began to get recognized all over the world. Hence people of other countries also began to adopt it as the basis for many applications.

The world is totality consists of about 6909 living languages among 195 countries. Hence, in conclusion, we all know that many countries are multilingual in nature. It thus becomes a necessity to learn new languages and be well versed with them. The CEFR not only is adaptive to any language globally but also has the most generalized format. It thus can be easily adopted in courses where language skills have to be assessed.

Consider an example of a man wishing to learn a native language to negotiate a deal with people of a town for his business progress. He thus begins learning and it’s graded at a level. As CEFR has few levels A1 A2 B1 B2 C1 C2, The man is graded from beginner to highly efficient level as and when he shows advancement in his course. This versatile nature of the CEFR makes it easier for usage among all.

CEFR is one such standard that is of major importance in many fields. It finds its approach is highly suited in areas like:

Quality assessment in employment

Admission in educational institutes

Course designing

Evaluation of language learning skills

Formation of blueprint for tests/exams

Many individuals apply for jobs and attend interviews on daily basis. Many companies have a global market and users using their resources all over the world. In such cases, they prefer candidates who are well-versed with more than one language or have the potential to learn new ones. Thus CEFR helps the interviewer understand the candidates’ language proficiency and rate him accordingly to first analyze the communication of an applicant, the recruiter should also have the knowledge of the CEFR and its levels.

Learning or teaching a new language is never an easy task. The CEFR thus makes its simpler by providing a generic framework structure that helps any layman understand the course of learning. Further, a whole syllabus can be mapped for easier implementations.

While designing a curriculum, experts and professionals use the date of previous years as a base to improve the existing programs. The CEFR is thus used as a basis for a new language teaching and course of learning design. The CEFR sets a benchmark for such practices.

Every standard or skill learning is not an easy task. It can be made easier by the kind of approach that is adapted to go ahead with its instructions and scheduling. To make the course easier the CEFR has since embraced the method of division of levels. The CEFR levels are categorized on basis of simplest understanding of a language to the highest level of proficiency attained. The particular scale has got 6 distinct levels. These levels are named as A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, and C2.