Why do the CEFR vocabulary lists seem like such a “mixed bag”?

CEFR wordlists include a very wide range of words. This is partly because the  CEFR focuses on learning and teaching language activities contextualized within four different ‘domains’:

 

Domain	What does this cover?
Public	Everything connected to ordinary social interaction (business, administration, public services, cultural and leisure activities, the media, etc.)
Personal	Complements the public domain – family relations and individual social practices.
Occupational	Everything related to a person’s occupation and workplace.
Educational	Learning/training contexts (usually related to an institution) where the aim is to acquire specific knowledge or skills.

 

These diverse domains contribute towards the wide variety of words in the CEFR vocabulary wordlists. For tertiary level teachers who teach EAP, many words on these lists, especially words related to leisure (see example below) and food, may seem less relevant to their students’ needs.