The quality or state of being accountable, liable, or answerable; especially an obligation or willingness to accept responsibility or to account for one's actions.
Quality
Research methodology carried out in the course of an activity or occupation, typically in the field of education, employed by teachers who wish to improve their approaches and practices.
Research
An approach to language education focusing on active real-life oriented use of language in learning and teaching as well as in assessment; builds on and goes beyond the communicative approach proposed in the 1970s.
An action-oriented approach also takes into account the cognitive, emotional and volitional resources and the full range of abilities specific to and applied by the individual as a social agent (CEFR, 2001: 9)
Language teaching and learning
Action-oriented tasks are real-life tasks that implies a clear and tangible goal. Learners engaged in an action-oriented task strategically perform actions using their own specific competences to achieve a given result.
Language teaching and learning
To adapt – without changing the core content – the CEFR descriptors to make them appropriate for a particular context.
Curriculum & syllabus
Within the conceptual framework of an action-oriented approach, different aspects of language use need to be defined, taught and analysed, for example fluency, flexibility, coherence, appropriacy, and precision.
Assessment
Assessment in education is the systematic process of documenting and using empirical data on knowledge, skills, attitudes, and beliefs to refine programs and improve students’ learning. Assessment data can be obtained from directly examining student work to assessing the achievement of learning outcomes, or can be based on data from which one can make inferences about learning.
Assessment
The use of a task or an activity to allow students the opportunity to use assessment to further their own learning. Self & peer assessments allow students to reflect on their own learning & identify areas of strength & need. These tasks offer students the chance to set their personal goals & advocate for their own learning.
Assessment
Commonly referred to as formative and/or diagnostic assessments. Assessment for learning is used to check student progress during a unit or block of instruction. Teachers build on the outcomes of this type of assessment to adjust their teaching objectives, practices and classroom instruction to suit the needs of the students. Similarly, students are provided valuable feedback on their own learning.
Assessment
A document that articulates the expectations for an assignment, lists the aspects important for successful completion, and describes levels of quality. Rubrics usually contain evaluative criteria, quality definitions for those criteria at particular levels of achievement, and sometimes a scoring system. They are often presented in table format and can be used by teachers when marking, and by students when planning their work.
Assessment
Commonly referred as summative assessment, assessment of learning is used to measure, record and report on a student’s level of achievement in regards to specific learning expectations. It is generally used at the end of a unit or module.
Assessment
Not false or copied; genuine; real. In language education, reflecting genuine situations of language use; may refer to situations as well as texts (spoken or written) and tasks.
Language teaching and learning
The quality of being authentic, i.e. genuine; real (see authentic).
Language teaching and learning
Having the freedom and ability to act independently, for example in education. The autonomous language learner takes responsibility for the totality of his/her learning situation. S/He does this by determining his/her own objectives, defining the contents to be learned and the progression of the course, selecting methods and techniques to be used, monitoring this procedure, and evaluating what s/he has acquired.
Language teaching and learning
Independence. Learner autonomy refers to a student's ability to set appropriate learning goals and take charge of his or her own learning.
Language teaching and learning
A detailed description of a specific level of student performance, often represented by samples of student work; used as a point of reference for decisions regarding students’ educational attainment.
Assessment
Building up a common understanding of qualitative levels of performance through discussion and the comparison of work samples in relation to standardised definitions and examples (benchmarks). (See, for example, the CoE Manual, Supplement D.)
Assessment
A list of descriptors for one level of proficiency and/or different communicative activities, for use in learners’ self-assessment and/or teachers’ continuous assessment.
Assessment
The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) is an internationally recognized system for describing language proficiency. The CEFR is designed to provide a transparent, coherent and comprehensive basis for the elaboration of language syllabuses and curriculum guidelines, the design of teaching and learning materials, and the assessment of foreign language proficiency.
CEFR descriptive scheme
A comprehensive overview of the philosophy of the CEFR, describing its general and communicative language competences, communicative language activities and strategies.
CEFR descriptive scheme
In linguistics, cognates are words that have a common etymological origin; words in languages that share a similar meaning, spelling and/or pronunciation. (The word cognate derives from the Latin noun cognatus, which means "blood relative".)
Language teaching and learning
The quality of parts meshing together to make up a holistic entity. For example, parts of a programme (objectives, teaching, assessment) or parts of a text (beginning, middle, end). Joined-up thinking.
Quality
To facilitate the organisation of courses and to describe progress, the CEFR presents six Common Reference Levels. The six levels are not intended to be absolute. Firstly, they can be grouped into three broad categories: Basic user (A1 and A2), Independent user (B1 and B2) and Proficient user (C1 and C2). Secondly, the six reference levels, which represent very broad bands of language proficiency, are very often subdivided.
Curriculum & syllabus Assessment
The distinction between the ability of getting a message across and the level of quality of the language used. Often referred to as fluency versus accuracy, the opposition highlights the need for targeted focus on either element at different moments of the teaching/learning process.
Assessment
The communicative language activities proposed by the CEFR are based on the action-oriented philosophy of the document and are close to real-life language use, grounded in interaction in which meaning is co-constructed. Activities are presented under four modes of communication: reception, production, interaction and mediation.
CEFR descriptive scheme
Communicative language competence refers to the qualitative aspect of an individual’s overall language proficiency. In the CEFR the communicative language competence comprises linguistic, sociolinguistic and pragmatic competences.
CEFR descriptive scheme
A means learners use to mobilise and balance their resources (general and communicative competences) in order to carry out activities and accomplish tasks.
The use of communication strategies in the different kinds of communicative activities generally includes Planning, Execution, Monitoring, and Repair. Communication strategies are distinct from learning strategies.
CEFR descriptive scheme
Objectives of the educational action that target the enhancement of learners’ active use and further development of their language(s) in a situation of real-life communication.
Curriculum & syllabus
A community of practice (CoP) is a group of people who share a craft and/or a profession, or a concern or interest for something they do, and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly. This definition reflects the fundamentally social nature of human learning.
Language teaching and learning
The ability to do something successfully or efficiently by applying one’s knowledge and skills.
CEFR descriptive scheme
A principle used for devising teaching and learning activities, and assessment tasks, that directly address the intended learning outcomes (Biggs and Tang, 2011). Coherence between assessment, teaching strategies and intended learning outcomes in an educational programme.
Curriculum & syllabus Assessment
The evaluation of a student's progress throughout a course of study, as distinct from a summative, final assessment.
Assessment
An overall description of the aims, content, and organization of courses in an educational institution (ministry, school, etc.) generally providing a framework of objectives for different levels and sometimes defining methodologies to be used.
Curriculum & syllabus
Cyclical is used to describe things that are regularly patterned or that occur in regular intervals.
Language teaching and learning Curriculum & syllabus
A cyclical approach to language learning means that you come back to things at regular intervals to develop them further.
Language teaching and learning Curriculum & syllabus
Methods and/or instruments used to investigate something from different angles, for example questionnaires, interviews or observations.
Research
The descriptors, or illustrative descriptors, in the CEFR are stand-alone statements used to clarify and characterize different aspects of language proficiency.
Curriculum & syllabus
A type of systematic but flexible research methodology, based on the collaboration between researchers and practitioners, aimed to improve educational practices through iterative analysis, design, development, and implementation.
Research
The systematic study of designing, developing, and evaluating instructional programmes, processes, and products that must meet criteria of internal consistency and effectiveness.
Research
Diagnostic assessment is a type of assessment which examines what a student knows and can do prior to a learning program being implemented. Assessment of students' skills and knowledge upon entry to the program helps the teacher meet individual students’ needs, optimize his/her planning and teaching, and provides a baseline against which to assess progress.
Assessment
Discourse (from Latin discursus, "running to and from") denotes written and spoken communications of different kinds with a focus of co-construction and negotiation of meaning between interlocutors.
Language teaching and learning
The act of spreading something, especially information, widely; circulation.
Research
The use of outside sources, documents, to support the viewpoint or argument of an academic work. The process of documentary research often involves some or all of conceptualising, using and assessing documents.
Research
Authority or power given to someone to do something. The process of becoming stronger and more confident, especially in controlling one's life and claiming one's rights.
Language teaching and learning
The process of observation and measurement for the purpose of determining ‘effectiveness’ (See Fit for purpose). Sometimes used synonymously with assessment, however usually includes a wider perspective (e.g. programme evaluation). In the current context, evaluation thus includes
the processes of (a) ongoing monitoring to check that progress is being made, (b) establishing whether the target is reached and (c) determining whether the programme itself optimises progress.
Assessment
The state or degree of being easily or conveniently done. Something that is possible to do; capable of being done or carried out.
Quality
Well-suited, appropriate for its designated role or purpose; shown to work.
Competences not specific to language, called upon for actions of all kinds, including language activities; defined in the CEFR as savoir (declarative knowledge), savoir-faire (skills and know-how), savoir-être (‘existential’ competence) and savoir-apprendre (ability to learn).
CEFR descriptive scheme
Goal setting involves the development of an action plan designed to motivate and guide a person or group toward a goal. Goal setting can be guided by goal-setting criteria (or rules).
Curriculum & syllabus
A good practice is not only a practice that is good, but a practice that has been proven to work well and produce good results, and is therefore recommended as a model. It is a successful experience, which has been tested and validated, in the broad sense, which has been repeated and deserves to be shared so that a greater number of people can draw on it.
Quality
A representation giving a clear and effective picture to illustrate a concept or procedure.
Graphic design is the process of visual communication and problem-solving through the use of typography, space, image and colour.
Matrix tools
See Assessment Grid/rubric
Assessment
The effect created by an approach or idea, model or procedure, including tests or assessment processes. Impact is considered both in terms of the influence on teaching and education in general, and on the individuals who are affected by the actions and results.
Research
A type of research that focuses on impact/effects of different approaches to language learning, teaching and assessment in different contexts and at different levels (individual, pedagogical, and structural).
Research
To put something, for example an agreement or a plan, into effect.
Language teaching and learning
The process of turning planning into action in a supportive, learner-focused environment. This also involves adapting the planned course flexibly and appropriately to circumstances and learner needs.
Language teaching and learning
Opportunities offered to learners or teachers to get involved, acquire perspective, make choices.
Quality
Facts and quantifiable data which can be measured and which will provide evidence about whether certain quality standards have been achieved. Very often, indicators are formulated as statements to which it is possible to answer Yes or No.
Matrix tools
Something that is put in, taken in and/or operated on; texts proposed to learners to hear, read or see, and/or texts they themselves deliver for the use of others.
Language teaching and learning
The core feature of oral or written communication between two or more people; requiring both receptive and productive competence but also social and pragmatic skills. In interaction, meaning is co-constructed.
CEFR descriptive scheme
Knowledge, awareness and understanding of the relation – similarities and distinctive differences – between the ‘world of origin’ and the ‘world of the target community’ and beyond; intercultural awareness is enriched by awareness of a wider range of cultures than those carried by the learner’s L1 and L2.
CEFR descriptive scheme
The ability to communicate and interact effectively and appropriately with people of other national, regional or social cultures.
CEFR descriptive scheme
Words or expressions having the same meaning, being used in several languages in more or less adapted forms. (See also Cognates)
Language teaching and learning
Thinking about a complicated issue in a holistic way that includes all the important aspects and elements (e.g. thinking of planning, teaching, resources, teacher development and assessment when planning a curriculum)
Curriculum & syllabus
A record of personal, language-learning history, typically including background information and accounts on intercultural encounters and language use.
Language teaching and learning
See Strategies (learning to learn)
Language teaching and learning
In language education the term ‘level’ usually refers to language proficiency level (e.g. B1). However it can also refer to different stages of the educational system (e.g. secondary level, tertiary level).
Assessment
Includes lexical, grammatical (morphological, syntactic), semantic, orthographic/orthoepic and phonological knowledge and skills.
CEFR descriptive scheme
Structured arrangement of an ensemble of elements, in form of a double entry table usually comprising lines and columns.
A policy implementation matrix, also called an action plan matrix, shows how each item in a policy will be implemented in practice.
Matrix tools
Mediation is one of the four modes of communication alongside reception, production and interaction. Mediation can happen within one language - for instance summarising and paraphrasing texts - or involve different languages or dialects (cross-linguistic mediation).
The CEFRCV operationalizes mediation into: mediating communication, mediating concepts and mediating a text.
Mediation is a broad concept that involves different dimensions (e.g. relational, cognitive, emotional, cultural, pedagogic) and aims to build bridges and connections.
CEFR descriptive scheme
Mediation combines receptive, productive and interactive activities; mediation activities involve mediating texts, concepts and/or communication itself.
Language teaching and learning
Metalinguistics is concerned with the analysis of facts and data of the language with the aim to investigate the structure of the language, its history as well as its implications (social, literary, cultural, philosophical, etc.)
Language teaching and learning
In education, the term ‘module’ refers to an instructional segment of a certain length with a durable learning impact. It usually comprises a series of (teaching) units. It has a final summative assessment.
Curriculum & syllabus
Procedures preceding the planning and/or revision of curricula and courses, used to collect information about learners' needs.
Curriculum & syllabus
In education, learning objectives are brief statements that describe what students will be expected to learn by the end of school year, course, unit, lesson, project, or class period. In many cases, learning objectives are the interim academic goals that teachers establish for students who are working toward meeting more comprehensive learning standards.
Curriculum & syllabus
A collaborative learning technique, in which students assess their peers’ work and have their own work assessed by peers; giving other students feedback on the quality of their work, often with ideas and strategies for improvement. At the same time, evaluating peers’ work can enhance the evaluators’ own.
Assessment
To test a scheme, project, assessment activity etc. before introducing it more widely. (A pilot usually refers to something less extensive than pre-testing).
Assessment
The plurilingual approach values and draws upon learners’ linguistic trajectories and funds of knowledge to boost their capacity to learn the target language and to develop their attitude of linguistic sensitivity and curiosity. The plurilingual approach allows and encourages a conscious and targeted use of multiple languages in the class.
Language teaching and learning
A plurilingual profile is made up
of different languages and language varieties at different levels of proficiency in terms of various competences and skills. It is dynamic and changes in its composition throughout the life of an individual.
Language teaching and learning
“A communicative competence to which all knowledge and experience of language contributes and in which languages interrelate and interact” (CEFR, p. 4).
Plurilingualism is distinct from multilingualism. The latter refers to the simple coexistence of languages in society or at the level of institutions and individuals without any focus on interconnectedness. Plurilingualism stresses the dynamic use of multiple languages in social situations and the complex and evolving linguistic repertoire of language learners/users.
Language teaching and learning
A student portfolio is a document in which those who are learning or have learnt for example a language – whether at school or outside school – can record and reflect on their learning and cultural experiences.
The European Language Portfolio (ELP) was developed by the Council of Europe to support the development of learner autonomy, plurilingualism and intercultural awareness and competence. Self-assessment, being a central feature of the ELP, provides the link between the ELP and the CEFR.
Language teaching and learning Assessment
The actual implementation or use of an idea or a method, as opposed to theories relating to it. In education, a stage when learners work actively on the language or an aspect of the language.
Language teaching and learning
Concerns the functional use of linguistic resources; the ability to use language effectively in a contextually appropriate way.
CEFR descriptive scheme
To test a scheme, project, assessment activity etc. before introducing it more widely. (Pre-testing usually refers to something more extensive, structured, and rigorous than piloting)
Assessment
Principles that inform the quality assurance of a project. Principles of quality such as relevance, validity, reliability, transparency and sustainability
are intended to guide the design of processes and products,
Quality
Production is one of the four modes of communication alongside reception, interaction and mediation. The expression or thought of information in oral or written language.
CEFR descriptive scheme
A regulatory mechanism which establishes, monitors, assesses, maintains and improves quality processes within an institution on an ongoing basis.
Quality assurance is performed during a project to help make sure the results meet the quality standards.
Quality
Formalised system of management of the quality of goods or services so that good standards are maintained (for instance in language education EAQUALS)
Quality
Quality of language refers to the ensemble of the characteristics of the language competences (linguistic, sociolinguistic, pragmatic) that learners/users develop through the different communicative activities they engage in. The quality of language is often used to describe and inform assessment of performance in communicative tasks (e.g., CEFR Ch. 5, Table 3).
Assessment
Tasks resembling as closely as possible to authentic activities accomplished in real-life contexts and situations, requiring active language use [real-life tasks are the key feature of the action-oriented approach of the CEFR].
Language teaching and learning
Reception is one of the four modes of communication alongside production, interaction and mediation.
Reception refers to receiving and processing a spoken or written input; understanding what is heard or read.
CEFR descriptive scheme
Someone in an educational profession, for example a teacher, teacher educator, head teacher, curriculum designer or textbook writer, actively reflecting on his/her practice in relation to his/her experience in the light different criteria. Principles of quality, such as relevance, validity, reliability, transparency and sustainability can support such reflection.
Language teaching and learning
The process of analysing the communicative objectives (often expressed through ‘can do’ descriptors) to identify and list the main language competences (linguistic, pragmatic, socio-linguistic) involved. Language competences need to be linked to communicative objectives at all levels (curriculum, module, unit, …) l
Curriculum & syllabus
Establishing and verifying the relationship between the coverage and performance standard of a text with the CEFR descriptive scheme and levels, following a principled methodology, e.g., as recommended in the CoE Manual.
Assessment
Relevance is one of the principles of quality. Relevance refers to meeting the needs, objectives and purposes of the users in a way which is appropriate to the social, cultural and educational characteristics of the context .
Quality
Reliability is one of the principles of quality. It refers to the degree to which the result of an assessment is accurate and can be trusted. Sometimes also referred to as an aspect of validity.
Quality
The range of languages or varieties of a language available for use by a speaker, each of which enables him/her to perform a particular social role; repertoires are dynamic and contextual phenomena.
Language teaching and learning
Systematic and documented investigation to establish facts and/or reach new conclusions
Research
See ASSESSMENT GRID/RUBRIC
Assessment
Scaffolding is the support given during the learning process which is tailored to the needs of the student with the intention of helping the student achieve his/her learning goals. Instructional scaffolding is a learning process designed to promote a deeper level of learning.
Language teaching and learning
A group of people with expertise in relevant areas, here regarding [language] curriculum structuring, implementation and evaluation.
Research Curriculum & syllabus
A process during which students reflect on and assess the quality of their own work and learning, judge the degree to which they reflect explicitly stated goals or criteria, and identify strengths and weaknesses in their work.
Assessment
A semi-structured interview is a qualitative method of inquiry that combines a pre-determined set of open questions (questions that prompt discussion) with the opportunity for the interviewer to explore particular themes or responses further.
Research
To arrange something in a particular order with the aim of enhancing students’ learning.
Curriculum & syllabus
The systematic process of analysing the situation before the curriculum is developed effectively.
A thorough analysis of individual as well as collective characteristics in order to optimize the planning of learning and teaching. Analysis of Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats – so called SWOT analysis – is an example of situation analysis.
Curriculum & syllabus
The CEFR presents the language user/learner as a “social agent”, acting in the social world, co-constructing meaning in interaction and exerting agency in the learning process. This implies a real paradigm shift in both course planning and teaching, promoting learner engagement and autonomy. Seeing learners as social agents implies involving them in the learning process.
CEFR descriptive scheme
Combining social and cultural factors; in language learning, for example awareness of level of formality and politeness, register, expressions for particular situations.
CEFR descriptive scheme
Refers to the conditions for language use in social situations; the ability to use language appropriately in the given social context (level of formality, register, politeness conventions, etc.).
CEFR descriptive scheme
A stakeholder is anybody who can affect or is affected by an organisation, strategy or project, for example an educational program. They can be internal or external and they can be at senior or junior level.
Quality
The process of making something conform to a standard; making things of the same type have the same basic features. “The process of ensuring that assessors adhere to an agreed procedure and interpret and apply criteria in a consistent and reliable way, for example when teachers are assessing students' language ability, or when inspectors are visiting an institution” (EAQUALS).
Assessment
Training for individuals and groups of individuals to improve, and elaborate on, a consistent and shared interpretation and application of the CEFR levels.
Assessment
A standard is a recognized shared definition used as the basis of comparison. Educational standards are concise, written descriptions of what students are expected to know and be able to do at a specific stage of their education (e.g. by the end of a course, grade level, or grade span) but they do not describe any particular teaching practice, curriculum, or assessment method.
Quality
Methods more or less consciously utilized by language learners to help them learn a language more effectively. Also, the ability to pursue and persist in learning, to organise one’s own learning, both individually and in groups; includes awareness of one’s own learning process and needs, identifying available opportunities, and the ability to overcome obstacles in order to learn successfully.
Language teaching and learning
“A [communication] strategy is any organised, purposeful and regulated line of action chosen by an individual to carry out a task which he or she sets for himself or herself or with which he or she is confronted (CEFR, p. 10).
Language teaching and learning
Sustainability is one of the principles of quality. If something is sustainable it can be maintained or confirmed over time. The idea that learning or innovation needs to be transferable, transformative, and long-lasting.
Quality
A descriptive, educational planning document that defines the content of a course. It usually includes a clear indication of the objectives and expected outcomes, as well as the time to be allocated to main elements.
Curriculum & syllabus
“Any purposeful action considered by an individual as necessary in order to achieve a given result in the context of a problem to be solved, an obligation to fulfil or an objective to be achieved.” (CEFR, 2001, p. 10)
“Tasks are a feature of everyday life in the personal, public, educational or occupational domains. Task accomplishment by an individual involves the strategic activation of
specific competences in order to carry out a set of purposeful actions in a particular domain with a clearly defined goal and a specific outcome” (CEFR, 2001, p. 157)
A task in language education involves a meaningful, (semi-)authentic assignment, in which learners fulfil a mission. A distinction is usually made between such ‘real-life tasks’ and ‘pedagogic tasks’ .
Language teaching and learning
A template is a predesigned document that can be used to create documents quickly and without having to think about formatting. May also refer to a wider range of purposes, e.g., pedagogical plans, courses etc.
Matrix tools
Testing is an aspect of the broader concept of assessment, meaning methods to find out what students know and can do with their language within certain areas, usually on a fixed point in time. Achievement testing focuses on aspects or areas that have been defined and taught beforehand, whereas proficiency testing offers more of an external perspective and is intended to focus on language use ‘in the real world’.
Assessment
Text’ refers to any piece of language, whether a spoken utterance or a piece of writing, which users/learners receive, produce or exchange. There are several types of texts with different purposes, for example descriptive, narrative, or expository texts. (Examples of different text types are listed in the CEFR, Section 4.4.2.)
Language teaching and learning
Transparency is a principle of quality. It refers to the public availability of key information in a clear, comprehensible form. Transparency is applicable to processes, ideas or concepts as well as to products used in language education.
Quality
Defined criteria that are understood and shared by users of different kinds.
Assessment
Competences of a general and transferable kind; acquired competences and skills that can be applied in new surroundings, e.g., language awareness, communicative strategies and learning to learn.
CEFR descriptive scheme
A tutorial is a paper, video, or computer program that enables to provides practical information about a specific subject, and/or guides on how to do something. As a method of transferring knowledge it may be used as a part of a learning process. More interactive and specific than a book or a lecture, a tutorial seeks to teach by example and supply the information to complete a certain task. .
Matrix tools
Also called teaching unit is a series of lessons that constitute a thematically and functionally coherent ensemble that allows to cover specific objectives that can be verified at the end. The length of a unit is usually between 5 and 10 lessons. A series of units may be organized in a module.
Although the details and activities vary according to the specific context, such as course and student level, most educational units include information about the topic, focus on student-centred learning activities and culminate in a project for students to demonstrate understanding.
Curriculum & syllabus
An ongoing process to check and potentially improve different aspects of the quality of the design, interpretations and use of processes and products.
Assessment
Validity is one of the principles of quality. It refers to the quality and credibility of a project, study or an assessment, focusing on the appropriate aspects and using the results in a way that enables optimal inferences, decisions, actions and effects/consequences at individual, pedagogical and structural levels. In the context of this project:
approach(es) to language education are visibly aligned to and consistent with the CEFR and take account of state of the art knowledge and the context. Practical implementation is developed cyclically on the basis of evidence.
Quality