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A scale for describing levels of developing language skills

A scale for describing levels of developing language skills

A scale for describing levels of developing language skills

The descriptive scale is an application developed in Finland of the scales included in the Common Framework for Language Learning, Teaching and Assessment developed by the Council of Europe. The scale is usually described as a table.

Skill level A1: Concise communication in the most familiar situations

A1.1 Mastering the basics of language skills

Understanding what is heard

  • Understands a very limited number of common words and phrases (greetings, names, numbers, instructions) in everyday contexts.
  • Even with effort, he can't understand more than the most basic language subjects.
  • Needs a lot of help: repetition, pointing, translation.

Talking

  • Can answer simple questions about themselves in short sentences. The interaction is dependent on the other person, and the speaker may use native language or gestures.
  • Speech can contain many long pauses, repetitions, and interruptions.
  • Pronunciation can cause major comprehension problems.
  • Knows a very limited basic vocabulary and some learned standard expressions.
  • The speaker is not capable of free production, but the few formulaic expressions he does master can
    be fairly flawless.

Reading comprehension

  • Knows the alphabet, but understands very little of the text.
  • Recognizes a small number of familiar words and short phrases and can associate them with pictures.
  • The ability to understand a previously unknown word, even in a very predictable context, is extremely limited.

Writing

  • Can communicate immediate needs in very short expressions.
  • Can write the letters and numbers of the language in letters, record basic personal information, and write some familiar words and phrases.
  • Knows a number of separate words and phrases.
  • Unable to produce freely, but can write a few words and phrases correctly.

A1.2 Developing basic language skills

Understanding what is heard

  • Can understand a limited number of words, short sentences, questions and requests related to personal matters or immediate situations.
  • Has to make an effort to understand even simple statements without clear situational clues.
  • Needs a lot of help: slowing down speech, repeating, showing, and translating.

Talking

  • Can communicate briefly about some immediate needs and ask and answer questions about basic personal information. Often needs the help of a conversation partner.
  • There are pauses and other interruptions in the speech.
  • Pronunciation can often cause comprehension problems.
  • Knows a very limited basic vocabulary, some situational expressions and basic grammar.
  • Even in basic free speech, there are many errors of all kinds.

Reading comprehension

  • Understands names, signs and other very short and simple texts related to immediate needs.
  • Recognizes individual pieces of information from simple text if able to reread if necessary.
  • The ability to understand a previously unknown word, even in a very predictable context, is limited.

Writing

  • Can communicate immediate needs in short sentences.
  • Can write a few sentences and phrases about themselves and their immediate family (e.g. answers to questions or memos).
  • Knows some basic words and phrases and can write very simple main sentences.
  • Memorized phrases may be written correctly, but even the most basic free output contains many errors of all kinds.

A1.3 Functional basic language skills

Understanding what is heard

  • Understands simple statements (personal questions and everyday instructions, requests and prohibitions) in routine conversations supported by context.
  • Can follow simple conversations related to immediate situations or personal experience.
  • Understanding even a simple message requires slower than normal, general language speech that is targeted at the listener.

Talking

  • Can briefly talk about themselves and their close circle. Can cope with the simplest dialogues and service situations. Sometimes needs the help of a conversation partner.
  • The most familiar episodes flow smoothly, while elsewhere the pauses and interruptions are very obvious.
  • Pronunciation can sometimes cause comprehension problems.
  • Can use a limited number of short, memorized phrases, essential vocabulary and basic sentence structures.
  • Even in elementary speech, there are many basic grammatical errors.

Reading comprehension

  • Can read familiar and some unfamiliar words. Understands very short messages about everyday life and routine events or giving simple instructions.
  • Can find the individual information they need in a short text (postcards, weather reports).
  • Reading and understanding even a short piece of text is very slow.

Writing

  • Can survive by writing in the most familiar, easily predictable situations related to everyday needs and experiences.
  • Can write simple messages (simple postcard, personal information, simple dictation).
  • Knows the most common words and expressions related to personal life or concrete needs. Can write a few simple sentences.
  • Even in a basic free output, many kinds of errors occur.

Skill level A2: Basic needs for immediate social interaction and short narrative

A2.1 Initial stage of basic language skills

Understanding what is heard

  • Can understand simple speech or follow conversation on topics of immediate relevance.
  • Can understand the main content of short, simple, personal conversations and messages (instructions, announcements) and detect changes in the topic of TV news.
  • Understanding even a simple message requires plain language spoken at a normal speed and clearly, which often also requires repetition.

Talking

  • Can describe his/her immediate circle in a few short sentences. Can cope with simple social encounters and most common service situations. Can start and end a short dialogue, but is rarely able to maintain a longer conversation.
  • Produces some familiar sequences fluently, but there are many very obvious pauses and false starts in the speech.
  • The pronunciation is understandable, although the foreign accent is very obvious and pronunciation errors can cause occasional comprehension problems.
  • Knows basic, easily predictable vocabulary and many key structures (such as past tense forms and conjunctions).
  • Master the simplest grammar in elementary free speech, but still makes many errors even in basic structures.

Reading comprehension

  • Understands simple texts containing the most common vocabulary (private letters, short news, most everyday instructions).
  • Can understand the main ideas and some details of a text of a couple of paragraphs. Can locate and compare individual pieces of information and can make very simple inferences using context.
  • Reading and understanding even a short piece of text is slow.

Writing

  • Survives the most routine everyday situations by writing.
  • Can write short, simple messages (personal letters, notes) related to everyday needs and simple, list-like descriptions of very familiar topics (real or imaginary people, events, personal and family plans).
  • Can use concrete vocabulary related to basic needs and basic tenses, as well as parallel sentences connected by simple linking words (and, but).
  • Writes the simplest words and structures fairly correctly, but repeatedly makes mistakes in basic matters (tenses, inflection) and produces many clumsy expressions in free output.

A2.2 Developing basic language skills

Understanding what is heard

  • Understands enough to be able to satisfy their concrete needs.
    Can follow the main points of a clear-cut factual discussion very roughly.
  • Can usually identify the topic of conversation around him/her. Can understand standard vocabulary and a very limited range of idioms in context-specific speech on familiar topics or general information.
  • Understanding even a simple message requires common language, spoken slowly and clearly. Repetition is needed quite often.

Talking

  • Can give a short, list-like description of his/her immediate circle and its everyday aspects. Can participate in routine conversations about personal or personal matters. May need help in conversation and avoid some topics.
  • The speech is sometimes fluent, but various interruptions are very obvious.
  • Pronunciation is understandable, although a foreign accent is evident and pronunciation errors occur.
  • Can use a fairly good range of common, everyday vocabulary and some idiomatic expressions. Can use several simple and also some more complex structures.
  • In more general free speech, there are many errors in basic matters (e.g. in verb tenses) and they can sometimes hinder intelligibility.

Reading comprehension

  • Understands the main points and some details of messages of a few paragraphs in somewhat demanding everyday contexts (advertisements, letters, menus, schedules) as well as factual texts (instructions, small news items).
  • Can easily obtain predictable new information on familiar topics from clearly structured text of a few paragraphs. Can infer the meaning of unknown words from their grammatical structure and context.
  • Often needs rereading and aids to understand a passage of text.

Writing

  • Can survive by writing in ordinary everyday situations.
  • Can write very short, simple descriptions of events, past activities and personal experiences or everyday aspects of their environment (short letters, memos, applications, telephone messages).
  • Knows basic everyday vocabulary, structures and the most common conjunctions.
  • Writes simple words and structures correctly, but makes mistakes in less common structures and forms and produces clumsy expressions.

Skill level B1: Survival in everyday life

B1.1 Functional basic language skills

Understanding what is heard

  • Understand the main ideas and main points of speech on topics regularly encountered in school, work or leisure, including short narratives. Understand the main points of radio news, films, TV programmes and clear telephone messages.
  • Can follow speech based on common experience or general knowledge. Understands standard vocabulary and a limited range of idioms.
  • Understanding a longer message requires slower and clearer speech in general language than normal. Repetition is needed occasionally.

Talking

  • Can also give some details about familiar things. Can cope with the most common everyday situations and informal conversations in the language area. Can communicate about matters that are important to him/her, also in slightly more demanding situations. Long presentations or conceptual topics cause obvious difficulties.
  • Maintains intelligible speech, although pauses and hesitations occur during longer periods of speech.
  • The pronunciation is clearly understandable, although a foreign accent is sometimes evident and there are some pronunciation errors.
  • Can use a fairly wide range of everyday vocabulary and some common phrases and idioms. Uses a variety of structures.
  • In broader free speech, grammatical errors are common (e.g. missing articles and endings), but they rarely hinder intelligibility.

Reading comprehension

  • Can read a wide variety of texts of a few pages in length (tables, calendars, course syllabi, cookbooks) on familiar topics and follow the main ideas, key words and important details of the text, even without preparation.
  • Can follow the main ideas, key words and important details of a two-page text on a familiar topic.
  • Understanding of topics and text details that differ from everyday experience may be inadequate.

Writing

  • Can write understandable text that conveys some level of detailed everyday information on familiar, real or imagined topics of personal interest.
  • Can write clear, coherent text by linking separate phrases together to form sequences (letters, descriptions, stories, telephone messages). Can communicate familiar information effectively in the most common forms of written communication.
  • Can use sufficient vocabulary and structures to produce texts needed in most familiar situations, even if the texts contain interference and obvious roundabout expressions.
  • Routine language material and basic structures are already relatively error-free, but some more demanding structures and word combinations cause problems.

B1.2 Fluent basic language skills

Understanding what is heard

  • Can understand clear factual information related to familiar and fairly common topics in somewhat demanding contexts (indirect inquiries, work discussions, predictable telephone messages).
  • Understand the main points and most important details of the wider formal and informal discussion taking place around them.
  • Comprehension requires a common language or a fairly familiar accent, as well as occasional repetitions and reformulations. Rapid conversation between native speakers and unfamiliar details of foreign topics cause difficulties.

Talking

  • Can talk about common, concrete topics by describing, analysing and comparing them, and also give explanations of other topics, such as films, books or music. Can communicate confidently in most common situations. Linguistic expression may not be very precise.
  • Can express himself/herself relatively effortlessly. Although there are pauses and interruptions, the speech continues and the message is conveyed.
  • The pronunciation is very understandable, although the intonation and stress are not exactly in line with the target language.
  • Can use a fairly extensive vocabulary and common idioms. Also uses a variety of structures and even complex sentences.
  • There are some grammatical errors, but they rarely hinder wider communication.

Reading comprehension

  • Can read texts of a few paragraphs on a wide variety of topics (magazine articles, brochures, user manuals, simple fiction) and can also cope with texts requiring some reasoning in practical and personally important situations.
  • Can search for and combine information from several texts of several pages in length to complete a task.
  • Some details and tones of long texts may remain unclear.

Writing

  • Can write personal and more public messages, report news and express thoughts on familiar abstract and cultural topics, such as music or films.
  • Can write a few paragraphs of structured text (notes, short summaries and explanations based on a clear discussion or presentation). Can provide some supporting information for the main ideas and take the reader into account.
  • Master the vocabulary and sentence structures needed for a fairly wide range of writing. Can express parallelism and subordination.
  • Can write understandable and reasonably error-free language, even if errors occur in demanding structures, text structure and style, and even if the influence of the mother tongue or another language is obvious.

Skill level B2: Coping with regular interactions with native speakers

B2.1 Basic level of independent language proficiency

Understanding what is heard

  • Understands the main ideas of complex speech on concrete or abstract topics, both factually and linguistically. Can follow detailed narratives of general interest (news, interviews, films, lectures).
  • Understands the main points of a speech, the speaker's purpose, attitudes, level of formality and style. Can follow extended speech and complex arguments if the flow of speech is clearly marked by various means of articulation (connecting words, rhythm). Can summarise or express key points and important details from what has been heard.
  • Understands much of the conversation going on around them, but may find it difficult to understand conversations between several native speakers if they do not make it easier to understand what they are saying.

Talking

  • Can give clear, precise descriptions of a wide range of matters within his/her field of experience, narrate feelings and give personal meaning to events and experiences. Can participate actively in most practical and social situations and in fairly formal conversations. Can interact regularly with native speakers without appearing unintentionally amusing or annoying. Linguistic expression is not always entirely elegant.
  • Can produce speech sequences at a fairly steady pace, with only rarely longer pauses in speech.
  • Pronunciation and intonation are clear and natural.
  • Can use a wide range of language structures and a broad vocabulary, including idiomatic and conceptual vocabulary. Demonstrates a growing ability to respond appropriately to the formal requirements of the situation.
  • The grammar is fairly good, and occasional errors do not usually hinder comprehensibility.

Reading comprehension

  • Can read independently texts of a few pages (magazine articles, short stories, entertainment and non-fiction, reports and detailed instructions) on topics within one's field or in general. The texts may deal with abstract, conceptual or professional topics and contain facts, attitudes and opinions.
  • Can identify the author and the purpose of the text, locate several different details in a long text. Can quickly identify the content of the text and the usefulness of new information to decide whether it is worth studying the text in more detail.
  • The only difficulties are idioms and cultural references in long texts.

Writing

  • Can write clear and detailed texts on a wide range of topics of personal interest, familiar abstract topics, routine factual messages and more formal social messages (reviews, business letters, instructions, applications, summaries).
  • Can express information and views effectively when writing and comment on the views of others. Can combine or summarise information from different sources in their own text.
  • Has a broad vocabulary and sophisticated sentence structures, as well as linguistic means to produce clear, coherent text. Flexibility of tone and style is limited, and in a long presentation there may be jumps from one topic to another.
  • Has a fairly good command of spelling, grammar and punctuation, and errors do not lead to misunderstandings. The influence of the mother tongue may be evident in the output. Difficult structures and flexibility of expression and style cause problems.

B2.2 Functional independent language skills

Understanding what is heard

  • Understand live or recorded, clearly structured standard speech in all situations of social, educational and professional life (including formal conversation and lively conversation between native speakers).
  • Can integrate complex and detailed information from extensive discussions or presentations for demanding tasks. Can infer unspoken attitudes and socio-cultural cues and critically evaluate what has been heard.
  • Understand foreign speakers and language forms. Considerable background noise, linguistic humor, and rarer idioms and cultural references may still cause difficulty.

Talking

  • Can give a prepared presentation on a wide range of general topics. Can interact effectively socially with native speakers. Can discuss and negotiate on a wide range of issues, present and comment on complex lines of thought, and link what he or she is saying to what others are saying. Can express himself or herself confidently, clearly, and politely as the situation requires. Presentation may be formulaic, and the speaker may occasionally resort to roundabout expressions.
  • Can communicate spontaneously, often very fluently and effortlessly, despite occasional hesitations.
  • Pronunciation and intonation are very clear and natural.
  • Has a broad command of linguistic means to express concrete and conceptual, familiar and unfamiliar topics confidently, clearly and with the degree of formality required by the situation. Expression is very rarely limited by linguistic reasons.
  • The command of grammar is good. The speaker often corrects his/her own mistakes, and the errors do not hinder intelligibility.

Reading comprehension

  • Can independently read complex texts of several pages in length, written for various purposes (daily newspapers, short stories, fiction). Some of these may be only partially familiar or unfamiliar, but relevant to the person.
  • Can identify the author's position and the purpose of the text. Can locate and integrate multiple conceptual pieces of information in complex texts. Understands enough to summarize the main points or express them in other words.
  • The only difficulties are the rarer idioms and cultural references in long texts.

Writing

  • Can write clear, detailed, formal and informal texts about complex real or imagined events and experiences, mostly for familiar and sometimes unfamiliar readers. Can write an essay, a formal or informal account, notes for follow-up assignments and summaries.
  • Can write a clear and structured text, express their position, develop arguments systematically, analyze, reflect on and summarize information and ideas.
  • The linguistic vocabulary does not noticeably limit writing.
  • Has a good command of grammar, vocabulary and text structure. Errors may occur in rare structures and idiomatic expressions, as well as in stylistic matters.

Skill levels C1- C2: Coping in many demanding language situations

C1.1 Basic level of proficient language skills

Understanding what is heard

  • Can understand with relative ease even longer speech or presentations (films, lectures, discussions, debates) on a variety of familiar and common topics, even when the speech is not clearly structured and contains idiomatic expressions and register changes.
  • Understands a wide variety of audio materials in detail, recognizing the relationships and intentions between speakers.
  • A foreign accent or a highly dialectal spoken language will cause difficulties.

Talking

  • Can give a lengthy, prepared formal presentation. Can actively participate in complex conceptual and detailed situations and lead routine meetings and small groups. Can use language for a variety of social interactions. Difficulty with variety of genres and language forms.
  • Can communicate fluently, spontaneously and almost effortlessly.
  • Can vary intonation and place sentence stress correctly to express even the most subtle nuances of meaning.
  • Vocabulary and structure are very extensive and rarely limit expression. Can express oneself confidently, clearly and politely as the situation requires.
  • Grammar is good. Occasional errors do not hinder understanding, and the speaker is able to correct them themselves.

Reading comprehension

  • Understands in detail long, complex texts from various fields.
  • Can vary their reading style as needed. Can read critically, evaluating stylistic nuances, and recognize the author's attitude and hidden meanings of the text. Can locate and combine multiple conceptual pieces of information from complex texts, summarize them, and draw demanding conclusions from them.
  • The most demanding details and idiomatic passages may require multiple readings or the use of aids.

Writing

  • Can write clear, well-structured texts on complex topics, expressing oneself precisely and taking into account the recipient. Can write on real and fictional topics in a confident, personal style, using language flexibly and at multiple levels. Can write clear and extensive accounts on demanding topics.
  • Demonstrates mastery of many methods for structuring text and promoting coherence.
  • The linguistic vocabulary is very extensive. Has a good command of idiomatic expressions and common sayings.
  • Has a very good command of grammar, vocabulary and text structure. There may be occasional errors in idiomatic expressions and stylistic matters.