Common Reference Levels: qualitative aspects of spoken language use

C2C1RANGEACCURACYFLUENCY

INTERACTION

COHERENCE

Shows great flexibility
reformulating ideas indiffering linguistic forms toconvey finer shades ofmeaning precisely, to giveemphasis, to differentiate
and to eliminate ambiguity.
Also has a good commandof idiomatic expressions
and colloquialisms.

Maintains consistentgrammatical control ofcomplex language, evenwhile attention is otherwise
engaged (e.g. in forward
planning, in monitoringothers’ reactions).

Can express him/herself
spontaneously at lengthwith a natural colloquialflow, avoiding orbacktracking around any
difficulty so smoothly thatthe interlocutor is hardly
aware of it.

Can interact with ease andskill, picking up and using
non-verbal andintonational cues
apparently effortlessly.
Can interweave his/her
contribution into the joint
discourse with fully natural
turntaking, referencing,allusion making, etc.

Can create coherent andcohesive discourse
making full andappropriate use of avariety of organisational
patterns and a wide rangeof connectors and othercohesive devices.

Has a good command of abroad range of language
allowing him/her to selecta formulation to expresshim/ herself clearly in an
appropriate style on a wide
range of general,
academic, professional orleisure topics without
having to restrict whathe/she wants to say.

Consistently maintains ahigh degree ofgrammatical accuracy;
errors are rare, difficult tospot and generally
corrected when they dooccur.

Can express him/herself
fluently andspontaneously, almost
effortlessly. Only aconceptually difficult
subject can hinder anatural, smooth flow oflanguage.

Can select a suitablephrase from a readily
available range of
discourse functions topreface his remarks inorder to get or to keep thefloor and to relate his/her
own contributions skilfully
to those of other speakers.

Can produce clear,smoothly flowing,
well-structured speech,
showing controlled use oforganisational patterns,
connectors and cohesivedevices.

Has a sufficient range oflanguage to be able to give
clear descriptions, express
viewpoints on mostgeneral topics, without
much conspicuous
searching for words, using
some complex sentence
forms to do so.

Shows a relatively highdegree of grammaticalcontrol. Does not makeerrors which cause
misunderstanding, andcan correct most of his/her
mistakes.

Can produce stretches oflanguage with a fairly eventempo; although he/she
can be hesitant as he/shesearches for patterns andexpressions. There are
few noticeably longpauses.

Can initiate discourse, takehis/her turn whenappropriate and end
conversation when he/sheneeds to, though he/she
may not always do thiselegantly. Can help thediscussion along onfamiliar ground confirming
comprehension, invitingothers in, etc.

Can use a limited numberof cohesive devices to link
his/her utterances into
clear, coherent discourse,
though there may be some‘jumpiness’ in a longcontribution.

Has enough language toget by, with sufficient
vocabulary to express him/
herself with somehesitation andcircumlocutions on topics
such as family, hobbies
and interests, work, travel,and current events.

Uses reasonably
accurately a repertoire offrequently used ‘routines’
and patterns associatedwith more predictablesituations.

Can keep goingcomprehensibly, eventhough pausing forgrammatical and lexicalplanning and repair is very
evident, especially in
longer stretches of freeproduction.

Can initiate, maintain andclose simple face-to-faceconversation on topics thatare familiar or of personal
interest. Can repeat backpart of what someone has
said to confirm mutualunderstanding.

Can link a series ofshorter, discrete simple
elements into a connected,
linear sequence of points.

Uses basic sentence
patterns with memorised
phrases, groups of a few
words and formulae inorder to communicate
limited information in
simple everyday situations.

Uses some simple
structures correctly, butstill systematically makes
basic mistakes.

Can make him/herself
understood in very shortutterances, even thoughpauses, false starts andreformulation are very
evident.

Can answer questions andrespond to simple
statements. Can indicate
when he/she is following
but is rarely able tounderstand enough tokeep conversation going of
his/her own accord.

Can link groups of words
with simple connectors like‘and’, ‘but’ and ‘because’.

Has a very basic repertoireof words and simple
phrases related topersonal details andparticular concrete
situations.

Shows only limited control
of a few simple
grammatical structuresand sentence patterns in amemorized repertoire.

Can manage very short,isolated, mainly
prepackaged utterances,with much pausing tosearch for expressions, toarticulate less familiar
words, and to repair
communication.

Can ask and answer
questions about personal
details. Can interact in a
simple way but
communication is totallydependent on repetition,
rephrasing and repair.

Can link words or groups
of words with very basic
linear connectors like ‘and’or ‘then’.

B2+

B2

B1+

B1

A2+

A2

A1

Council of Europe (2001) Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Leaning, teaching, assessment. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.