The CEFR is a descriptive, not prescriptive, framework – all countries are encouraged to “localize” or adapt CEFR components to meet local needs. The design process for the Israeli Framework involved a number of stages and will be revised if necessary throughout the implementation process.
Stage 1
The Israeli partners of the ECOSTAR team studied the CEFR intensively to understand its approach, to learn the terminology and to review the can-do statements. They also consulted with the ECOSTAR partners from institutions of higher education in Europe. An exploratory study was conducted to determine the relationship between the Israeli proficiency levels (from Trom Besisi Aleph to Mitkadmim Bet) and the CEFR proficiency levels.
Stage 2
The ECOSTAR team chose and in some cases adapted can-do statements that were most suited to the Israeli higher education context according to expert judgments of experienced EAP lecturers involved in the ECOSTAR project. Can-do statements describe a coherent progression of what language learners can typically do at the six CEFR levels. These descriptions describe levels in terms of what students can do and how well they can do it – linguistic and sociolinguistic features they may master at a specific CEFR level and where they are likely to demonstrate only partial competence. These scales can help teachers to judge what realistic expectations at each level are and can therefore be used as a tool for comparing levels of ability among learners.
Some of these can-do statements were then combined (collapsed) in order to reach a manageable number that could be used in a needs analysis survey (described below). The can-do statements included in the Framework for English Teaching in Higher Education in Israel were further refined using two different methods:
- A needs analysis survey (reviewed and approved by the Research Ethics Committee at Tel Aviv University).
Three groups of respondents participated: students, EAP teachers and content lecturers. They were asked to rank the relative importance of each can-do statement in relation to the question:
What should a graduate of an Israeli institution of higher education be able to do in English?
The student and content lecturer surveys were translated into Hebrew and Arabic, enabling respondents to answer in English, Hebrew or Arabic. Links to the online surveys were sent out to EAP Department Heads of all institutions of higher learning, with a request to distribute these surveys to the three groups of respondents in their institutions. The results of the needs analysis were analyzed and revisions to the Framework were made accordingly.
- Rankings by European ECOSTAR partners
The chosen can-do statements were sent to the European ECOSTAR partners, who were asked to rank the can-do statements in order of importance and also to comment where they felt more discussion was needed. Discussions continued at consortium meetings in which Israeli and European ECOSTAR partners participated. The Framework was further revised according to the feedback received.
Stage 3
The can-do statements were finally checked for coherent progression across the three highest proficiency levels of Elementary (Besisi), Lower Intermediate (Mitkadmim Aleph), and Upper Intermediate (Mitkadmim Bet), and further revisions were made where necessary.
The proposed Framework is still a ‘work in progress’ and we invite all H-INET teachers to ‘join in the conversation’ by sharing their ideas, experiences and recommendations.
