Description

This workshop invites language educators to explore assessment and evaluation through the lens of the recently updated Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). Grounded in the protection and promotion of human rights, equity, and democratic participation, the CEFR is a comprehensive tool for reflection. Based on decades of research, it brings coherence, transparency, and purpose to language education. The CEFR’s action-oriented approach (AOA) sees learners as social agents with real-life tasks to accomplish. With the AOA, educators (and learners) set and communicate goals, describe and monitor learner progress, and design purposeful communicative tasks that reflect real-world competences while fostering creative and strategic thinking.

In this workshop, we will examine how adopting the AOA can enrich and streamline assessment and evaluation practices. A key focus will be constructive alignment — how teaching, learning, and assessment can work together coherently. Participants will analyze rich, authentic scenarios — along with accompanying assessment tools — that draw upon the CEFR’s criterion-based descriptors to drive constructive alignment and reduce bias in assessment and evaluation. Throughout the workshop, educators will see how CEFR-informed practices integrate smoothly with government curricula, strengthening accuracy, coherence, and learner development in language education.