It is important to distinguish between four fundamentally different types of descriptions:

The validated and scaled CEFR descriptors provided in the drop-down menu under this tab. These are taken from the CEFR Companion volume, which updates and extends the 2001 versions.

Supplementary descriptors from Appendix 8 of the CEFR Companion volume. These are also validated and scaled to the CEFR levels but were omitted from the final version, mainly because of repetition. They include a lot of descriptors for mediation at Level B2.

Other supplementary descriptors on this page that can clearly be related to the CEFR descriptors and the Common Reference levels.

Descriptors which are not related to language proficiency and the CEFR levels; lists of learning strategies or descriptions of cultural or intercultural experiences belong to this group.

This page contains links to a variety of documents presenting CEFR-related descriptors that have been produced for other purposes such as European Language Portfolios' models (ELP).

Video

CEFR Companion volume - Collated descriptors for young learners (2018: Tim Goodier) (14:37)

Documents

Collated representative samples of descriptors for young learners (Ages 7-10) (2018) by Tim Goodier and Tunde Szabo.

Collated representative samples of descriptors for young learners (Ages 11-15) (2018) by Tim Goodier and Tunde Szabo.

A bank of descriptors for self-assessment in European Language Portfolios (2004), Günther Schneider and Peter Lenz: these descriptors were drawn from a selection of the first ELP models to be validated. They are categorised by level and language activity.

Introduction to the bank of descriptors for self-assessment in European Language Portfolios by Günther Schneider and Peter Lenz, University of Fribourg, Switzerland, 2004: this paper explains how the authors created the Bank of descriptors.

Self-assessment descriptors for learners in lower secondary education (2009): developed in Switzerland for the Lingualevel project (www.lingualevel.ch), this set of descriptors is divided into sub-levels: A1.1, A1.2, A2.1, A2.2, B1.1, B1.2

Self-Assessment Checklists from the Swiss version of the ELP (2000)

EAQUALS descriptors (2008)
This set of descriptors resulted from a revision of the descriptors from the original EAQUALS/ALTE ELP model. It includes descriptors for “plus levels” (A2+, B1+ etc.) and for strategies.”