Stage 1: Planning for mediation 

I. Setting the aims, topics and task type of the lesson 

In order for teachers to create their own mediation tasks, the very first step is to decide on the content and the type of activities to be produced on the basis of the aim and the specific objectives of the lesson. It is also important to consider learners’ (CEFR) proficiency levels in different languages, in general, and in the target language, in particular, together with the specific characteristics of the learners and the situational context. The teacher will also decide whether the focus of the lesson will be on oral (producing an oral text on the basis of another written or oral text) or written mediation (producing a written text). 

II. Selecting (or adapting) the relevant CEFR-CV can-do statements 

The CEFR Companion Volume can provide a valuable support to learning. This entails that the teacher decides which descriptor scales can be useful for his/her students in connection with a specific task. For instance, if the teacher’s goal is to teach summary writing in the target language through written mediation tasks, the set of descriptors relating to ‘Processing text in writing’ could be a starting point in order to design specific activities. An example of such a (B1 level) descriptor is: ‘Can summarise in writing the main points made in straightforward informational texts regarding subjects that are of personal or current interest.’ Choosing the appropriate and most relevant scales and descriptors is not an easy procedure. 

For this reason, the METLA team provides: 

A table with examples of METLA tasks aligned with CEFR-CV descriptors. For the teacher to be aware of the rationale behind METLA activities and to create similar ones for his/her own purposes, it is important to understand the way we have linked our activities to the CEFR-CV scales and descriptors. The first column provides the scales, the second column the proficiency level as well as the descriptors in the particular scale. The third column presents selected steps from METLA activities, which relate to the specific descriptors.

III. Selecting relevant, authentic and linguistically appropriate source (Language A) texts

The selection of (authentic) source texts is an important step when designing cross-linguistic mediation tasks since the whole mediation activity is based on sources. Apart from authenticity of materials, relevance of the topic and learners’ needs, age and interests, the teacher also needs to take into account: the genres of the source and the target texts: using genre-appropriate language is likely to be one of the goals of the activity. For instance, the language teacher may intend to help students practice writing an email in the foreign language

IV. Writing clear task instructions and creating a realistic context

Clear task instructions are a very important aspect of a mediation activity. The learner needs specific information about the context of mediation, the purpose of mediation and the addressee of the target text in order to relay the information that would be most relevant, useful or interesting to the target audience. 

VII. Using the METLA (or other) checklists for the process of creating a task 

The METLA team offers two checklists, a short and a more extended one, for teachers who wish to check to what extent they have considered the above-mentioned aspects of mediation task design. The use of self-assessment or reflection checklists will help teachers monitor their lessons in a systematic way.
 

Download Checklist 1 and 2